Must have orchids!! They’re easy, fragrant and gorgeous!!!

Hi friends, this is Melissa from Melissa Loves Orchids and today's video is going to be an answer to a question that I get a lot. I get, what orchid do I need to have? But wait a minute, not just because it's beautiful, but I need to know something that is easy to grow, hardy, blooms maybe more than once and smells terrific. So if any of you know what you think I'm going to say, leave it in the comments because that's what this video is about today. I'm going to pick one orchid that's a must-have even for beginners, so stay tuned. Okay guys, so I'm sure a lot of you guessed it, a lot of you said Brassavola nadosa and I have a beautiful one right here. She is growing inside of a cone pot, so she's very hardy. She's commonly known as lady of the night because she has a wonderful sweet fragrance. It kind of smells like jasmine, very, very sweet, delicious, not overbearing, not overwhelming, at least not in my opinion at night. Yes, very easy to grow. This one is great for beginners, very easy if you mount her, you can even have her in a cone with no media at all, just water her once a day, very easy. I'm going to show you some that I have around and some Brassavola hybrids that are so easy you're going to want to get one or two or three or maybe even ten. So this is the first one I have to show you. Look at how beautiful this flower is. So they say that the flower looks like a heart and yes it does and then you have a beautiful star shape in the other petals. Look how pretty. Now I like the way this looks so much and I had another cone right there. It just so happens that my brother gave me this one so I wanted to do the same kind of look and I put her right in the center of this cone. If you could see down in there, I don't have any media, it's just her and maybe some lava rock at the bottom. Yes, I have some cats all around just for fun but I know that she's going to grow big and I'm not going to have any problems with her. I water this cone as well as this cone every day and they bloom probably twice or three times a year. Very easy. So Brassavolas can bloom or should bloom twice a year but if they have great care they might bloom more. Most of the time they will bloom in autumn or winter. Here I have another one. This one's called Brassavola Little Stars. Beautiful, highly fragrant in the evening. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous, easy to grow. I have her here on a wood mount. See I basically just put her on. Oh she lost her name but I know where she is. I made another tag. This one is I believe from Home Depot Bag Baby and I love her. Look at all, look at all the buds ready to go. So easy. So this is, I'm giving her as much light as she can take, maybe a little more. So when you see this reddening, you know that she's getting a lot of light right towards the edge of, let's just say she has a suntan now. But that's going to make sure that she blooms a lot if I give her a lot of light. If I give her less light, she'll probably bloom less. But I'm telling you, so easy. Everybody needs one of these. So this is Little Stars. Here is another cross. This is Lime Sherbert and Nadosa. So this one, look at how beautiful. I'm glad that I was able to show you this bloom. A little different. The labellum is kind of rolled, little tubular, not like the heart shape but still beautiful. This opens up a little lighter in color and as it gets older, more mature, it gets into a deeper yellow. And then this is when it's about to fall off. But this is another one. Really, really easy. The leaves are a little thicker. So when the leaves are a little thicker, they take a little less light. When the leaves are a little more thin and tubular, they can take more light. So this is another cross containing Nadosa. This is Cattleya Lepoldii and Nadosa. And she's very beautiful. Look at these. This color combination is fantastic. Easy to grow. I put her on a mount so I will be watering her daily because that's what I chose to do. But you can put her in a pot and put different media to retain moisture if you want to water a little less. I didn't even realize that I had another one over here. And unfortunately, what happens? The tag falls off and I can't remember what she is. But this is another beautiful cross. But like I said, they're so easy. There's basically no way to kill them. I mean, I'm sure there is a way. But this is another beauty. This one is the Brassavola Digviana. Look at how gorgeous. This is actually my first bloom from her. So the flower is a little wonky, which can happen. But in any case, I'm enjoying her just as well. The scent is fabulous. Think of the regular Nadosa scent, but elevated a little, a little more elegant, gorgeous. Here we have another that I found that I kind of forgot about in her beautiful pot with hearts on it, with crazy roots. This one is a cross with Gorianthi Beringiana, Cerulea and Brassavola Grand Star Karen. So this one I'm still waiting to get a first bloom on this one. Over here we have another one that is a Showstopper and she is in bloom. So this is a beautiful, beautiful BC Mary Dodson. Look at the speckling. Look at the color combo. Oh my goodness. Heavily scented. Not at this time because it's in the evening, but I still try anyways. She is mounted from Vicky's Orchids on a basically a little round piece of wood. I have no idea what wood it is, but it has like doubled in size since I got her. And again, very easy. She gets water. She's next to the Vandas, so she gets watered every day and she blooms twice. I want to say three times a year. And what more can you ask for? Beautiful, easy to take care of, three times a year blooming and smells divine. This is called BC Mary Dodson. Right above, getting a lot of light, we have B Little Stars, which is Nadosa crossed with Cordata. And let me see if I can take her down so you can take a look. Look at this. Look at how beautiful. And there are those beautiful buds ready to go. I have her in a basket. So I've tried every which way to cultivate Brassavolas. This one has charcoal, a little bit of bark, a little bit of Orchata. Basket, very airy. The only bad thing about the basket is that they don't last forever. So eventually that basket is going to have to be changed out for something else. But look at these blooms. She blooms all the time. I basically just hang her up here, leave her there. Vandas are right there and she gets water every day. And all I have to do is walk under here. And I smell a fragrance and I know she's doing it again. Now, right over here, we have from Curlsmith, BC Gulf Shore Beauty. Now, when this opens, the petals are a lot darker. They're more limey green. Now they look yellow because she's actually, believe it or not, on her way out. She's been in bloom for a very, very long time. Let me see if I can bring her down so you can see her better. Oh, how gorgeous. And this cross is, that is BC Gulf Shore Beauty Green Dean Crosswith This is another one that is a must have. Blooms a lot, smells divine, easy to grow. And that plant, I put her there last year and she has gotten so big. I think I should have put her in a bigger pot, but it's okay. Because if anything, I could just drop that pot right into a bigger one of these. I can see that she has lava rock, so that's not going to decompose in there and we'll be good to go. So I was looking for more and I bumped into this beauty. Oh, with a new growth right over here. This is Teresa Ritchie. So this is Hippodamia and Acclandiae. So Catlea Acclandiae, I love. I love the spiciness. I love the spots. And then Hippodamia, of course, the same spots, spiciness, fragrant, beautiful. So very, very easy. I put her with my normal mix, which is very little bark, but a lot of lava rock. So almost bare rooted. She's doing well. She's already bloomed. And guess what? I forgot that I had her. So I have another. And here is another Teresa Ritchie. You know that she's going to come out with spots because she has all the spots on the leaves. Okay. That's not bad spots. Those are the good spots. You know what I mean? So she's here on this wooden mount growing up a storm. Then I thought I was done, but I found another Key Lime Stars on a mount like this. This is Procatavola Key Lime Stars. And here we have another Gulf Shore beauty, but it's a little different. This one is the Cultivar Torino on a beautiful Orchid 365 Bumblebee mount. I almost forgot to walk over to the greenhouse and show you this beautiful, beautiful one that's in bloom. Oh my goodness. You're going to be stunned. So elegant. So lovely. Take a look. Let me pull him out to the sun. All right. Look at this. Look at that. So his name is Walter August. Here's the tag. BC Walter August. So this is Ndosa crossed with Summer Spots. And just reading Summer Spots, I just remembered I have a few more. Oh my gosh. I didn't know that I had so many. But you know what? They're easy. They don't die. Easy to keep. Easy to bloom and smells delicious. I almost forgot to show you this species. This is the Brassavola Cuculata. And look, it has cylindrical leaves. And this one has bloomed quite a bit for me. I put her in a basket and some bark. I was told this one likes a little bit more moisture. So instead of the lava rock, I chose the bark. So it looks a little different. But when she blooms, I'm going to see if I find a picture. It is gorgeous. It looks very elegant, very sophisticated. And at first, I thought I was going to have trouble being a species. But you know what? Nope. Pretty easy. Pretty easy. I recommend. All right. This one I know I have a video of. This is the BC Little Mermaid. Beautiful pink flower. Very, very easy to keep. I have her on a wooden mount. And I'll insert some pictures so you can remember what the flower looks like. And right over here, I have a plant. I have an orchid. I have a Brassavola with a special connection. Special connection. This is from my friend Joanna. And we did a video where we took divisions from her mother plant. Look at all of this that is coming soon. You could even see the spots through the buds. It is gorgeous. Pink with spots. Easy to grow. Quit growing. Look at this sheath. Loaded sheath in there. Basically, the roots have completely surrounded this mount. It's so happy there. Can't wait to show you the blooms. See if I can find some films, some video. Some video. Beautiful. And what was this again? Oh my gosh. Here's another one. This one is orangey. This is B. Nodosa cross with RTH Young Ming orange yellow. So this is like a yellow orange. Again, the same characteristics of Nodosa with the longer leaves and narrower leaves. Can take a lot of sun. Blooms a lot. Smells delicious. So this next cross is called BCT This is Brassavola perinei and Caliente chocolate drop. Two of my favorites crossed together. But you don't have to see this picture. Let's see it live and in action. Look at this. Look at how gorgeous she is. I got her at the Spring Festival from Pearl Smith. And that color combination does it for me. Let me know in the comments what do you think. I care for her in a shallow terracotta pot with some lava rock watering every day. Fertilizing once a week. Weekly, weekly. I do supply cow mag and she does great. She does great. Another gorgeous hybrid is the Copper Queen. This one starts off kind of reddish. I have a couple of these. This is from Bredrin. So if you get Brassavolas, if you start getting into the Richard Mueller hybrids, oh my gosh, you won't go back. I mean look, it just bloomed. Oh my god, I see buds. I see buds. I can't believe. You see? You see? Those are the kind of things you need to find. So that's one in my lovely basket from Roxy. And then I don't know what I was thinking when I had a bunch of broken pots. I put them together in a basket and created like this. This is Yellow Bird over here. That's another one. And this I believe is Rustic Spots. Very similar to Copper Queen. So I just put them together and now they're just one happy family. They're like cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents all together in the basket. And it looks beautiful when they bloom. Different shades of yellow. I can't believe I found yet another one. This is Cattleya Raingreens Orange Delight with Nadosa. So this one, beautiful, easy, light yellow, not light yellow, light orange, yellow orange. Beautiful. I bought her tiny for my daughter and she's bloomed for me a couple times a year. When she's bigger, I expect this is going to be an even bigger show. But same good qualities, except with a little more color. So the more I looked around, the more I found that I have a ton of Brassavola Hybrids. A ton. So what do you guys think? Are you convinced? Are you running out to buy your Brassavola Nadosa? If not, you should because I haven't been disappointed yet. Easy to grow. Again, easy to grow. Smells delicious and you really can't kill it. And she's beautiful. So get yours. Tell me in the comments which ones you like. What crosses do you like? Which ones are your favorite? And I'll see you next time. Make time for things you love. Bye.