Mounting Phrag. besseae

[Mahon]

Well, I decided to take one of my best plants of Phragmipedium besseae and mount it on wood. In nature, the species is primarily a vertical lithophyte, not a terrestrial nor an epiphyte.

This mounting project took over 5 hours yesterday, the longest orchid mounting yet. Personally, I think it was worth it, despite the fact Phrag. besseae doesn't grow on trees. A bit of time was taken to study the water retainability on the mount, in order to actually allow this species to grow and thrive. The rest of the time was fixing the mount up to look "natural".

Well, here is my mount, and another Phrag. besseae of mine in bloom (which I haven't posted yet)...





And another picture which shows a little more detail...



-PM

[cb977]

That looks really cool!
I like it...a lot!!!

[xscd]

Yes, beautiful.

Do you care to share any tips and advice on how to create such a nice mount?

[Tindomul]

That looks like an excellent mount! I hope it appreciates your work for it.

[justatypn]

Pat you did an excellent job mounting, extremely time consuming but worthy with its appearance. What are your secrets on such a great looking mount?

[orcdfrk]

That is a great looking mount Pat. 5 hours to do that? I'm impressed with your patience.

[Barbara]

It looks pleased as pie. This isn't a far cry from its natural growing habitat since it grows in damp places at high altitudes. Nice job.

[Craig]

wowee i dig it, love the forest moss, i gotta do some mounts, this is so neat!! thank you for posting pics!

[Phantasm]

I'm wondering if the plant is still alive after two years on a mount? Phrag besseae needs wet feet and the only way to do that with a mount is to have it soaking in water.

[kavanaru]

I was wondering exactly the same...