Phaius

 Phaius tankervilliae, also called Phaius grandifolius (nun's Orchid)

These Orchids produce brilliantly colored flowers in combinations of yellow, white and red, often as large as 4 inches across, growing on a single stalk. Blossoms are characterized by tubular lips. Most species are earth dwellers, found in swampy soil, but some are tree-growing. The plants are notable for their leaves as well as flowers, since they may become 3 feet tall and add a tropical touch to a greenhouse or to a garden in a warm climate. Nun's Orchid has short egg-shaped pseudobulbs; heavy, folded 3-foot leaves; and a 4-foot flower spike that bears 10 to 20 fragrant flowers in the spring and summer. The sepals and petals are white on the outside and reddish inside, with yellow edges. Ruffled and tubular, with a short spur, the lip is white; it has a yellow throat and sides colored dark burgundy and purple.

 HOW TO GROW. Intermediate to warm temperatures suit the nun's Orchid. In the winter it grows well if it is given temperatures of 65 to 75 degrees in the daytime and 55 to 60 degrees at night; in summer, if kept moist and shaded, it adjusts to higher temperatures. Provide filtered sunlight or 1,000 to 1,500 foot-candles of artificial light for 14 to 16 hours daily, with humidity of 40 to 60 percent or higher. Pot plants in a mixture of 2 parts coarse peat moss, 2 part sandy loam and 1 part each perlite and fine bark; this terrestrial plant requires liberal watering with good drainage. Fertilize the plants at every third watering with a balanced Orchid fertilizer, such as 18-18-18, dilute to half the strength recommended on the label. Repot phaius Orchids every two or three years. To propagate additional plants, divide plants at the end of a growing season so that you can place at least three pseudobulbs in each pot. To make new plants from cuttings or "slips", after flowering has stopped, cut the flower stalks into 6-inch pieces, each with at least two joint like nodes. Place these cuttings on moist sand to root.