Dendrobium bensoniae

Dendrobium bensoniae is a small to medium-sized species from Thailand, Myanmar, and Assam.  It grows warm to cool (even freezing, supposedly, though I wouldn’t do it myself), and prefers moderate light.  I grow it mounted and water regularly, i.e., nearly every day when it’s warm, and about every third day in winter.  D. bensoniae prefers to be a bit cooler and drier in winter, but doesn’t require real cruelty to bloom.  Flowers are big and white with a bright yellow throat and two maroon eyes.  They are fragrant and arise off of the mature, naked canes in the spring.  New growths are bright green and leafy, but the leaves will fall off when the canes are mature.

I fell in love with Dendrobium bensoniae right away because it’s a super vigorous grower and very easy to bloom, too.  My only issue was that I had a bunch growing next to each other, and the roots grew so fast they all became one happy colony of interconnected mounts!

Plants are mounted; multiple mature growths