2024 Update — I describe this plant as a giant. Now, it is four smaller Coelogyne plants after an ambitious division last year, one of which is very healthy and blooming. The remaining three are sad and limping along. I will try to get them going again but if they do not improve by the end of summer, they will find the compost pile–they take up too much room! 6.23.24
I’ll highlight a greenhouse veteran for day three–my giant Coelogyne cristata orchid. This plant and I started in a love/hate relationship after I ordered it off of eBay. In one of my houseplant books, an Australian grower had a giant one of these orchids that covered itself with fragrant bloom every year–so that was the dream.
Mine grew and bloomed a bit those first few years, but then got shy. It continued to grow, however. I think I’ve had it for about ten years now. I repotted it into a much larger basket about four years ago and it has continued to grow, but still was shy blooming. I got to the point of listing it for sale, I was so frustrated with it. And then, of course, it bloomed beautifully. And it has continued to do so for several years in a row now.
Here is how the plant looks today:

It is over two feet across and has hundreds of pseudobulbs.
Here is it in bloom–photos from last year and the year before:





Care for this plant is still rather hit-or-miss for me. I keep it in the greenhouse all year. It takes a lot of water to keep the pseudobulbs plump in warm weather. I’m lazy about fertilizing it. I just put handfuls of balanced organized fertilizer into the pot once in the spring and again in the summer.
The most important lesson I’ve learned with this plant is to keep water away from the flowers. They open a pristine, bright white color. Water causes black/brown spots and also causes them to deteriorate much faster than flowers that have been kept dry.
Next plans for this plant are to cut off a few back bulbs and pot them separately to see if they will root and grow. This doesn’t seem to be a common orchid around here, so it could be popular at plant sales.



