Coelogyne pandurata - how difficult?

[Chihiro]

Hi,

I think I am just sort of advanced: In the last 2 years I managed to grow Oncidiums, Encyclia radiata and Maxillaria tenuifolia without any complaints and quite a few blooms. (I also own a baby Stanhopea, but only for a few weeks). Now a friend of mine is offering a mature Coloegyne pandurata... but I'm not sure, if I dare to have her. So far, I've only dealt with "beginners orchids". And she keeps the parent in a greenhouse, while I can only offer the conditions which the ones listed above seem to enjoy: I live in a 4th floor maisonette with roof windows (not sure, if that's the correct English word - I mean the slanted ones, that open "skywards"). The upstairs faces east and west. On the first floor, we have a south-west facing mostly open balcony, which is enclosed by a wall. It get's really really warm in summer - about 10 degrees Celsius above street level (the highest summer temperatures are around 30 Celsius/86 Fahrenheit, but up here we get usually "Fahrenheit 100s"). The orchids do not get exposed to that, though - throughout the day they hang comfortably in a "blind angle" with no sun, attached to a large Cobaea Scandens, which lives together with some kind of Lysimachia - together they take care of the humidity level, I keep them well watered and spray the leaves regularly. The sun hits the spot around six p.m. which so far seemed fine for everybody hanging out there. So what do you think? Would a potentially hot summer with a lot of help in the humidity department and a southfacing winter in a moderately heated room do for them? Or are they really only for greenhouses/artificial lighting in winter? I'd love to hear some experiences!

[V_coerulea]

I've only grown it in a greenhouse and it is not fussy at all there. I give it cattleya light and moisture. It is very fast growing producing large leaves and rapidly growing over the edge of the pot. Flowers are produced only with higher light levels.