If you are interested in Orchids from Brazil, you came to the right place. Here you will find different subjects ranging from Taxonomy to Botanical Illustration and also a list of selected plants available. For this and more just ENTER Started: February 5, 2000 ___________________________________ 4763 Polk City Road, Haines City, FL 33844 Tel.: 863-852-4290 / Fax: 863-662-5224 e-mail: fmiranda@att.net	! NEWS ! Scroll down for not-so-new news... 2013/04/27: We have been very busy lately. April started with speaking at the Saint Augustine Society, and enjoyed visiting with our friends there. Our open house was a success, and lots of people had a chance to get selected divisions of Cattleya species besides our regular list items. The SEPOS Show in Philadelphia was also excellent and so was the trip to Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. All this made for a very entartaining month of April. As for May, we will be attending the REDLAND FESTIVAL on 17-19th, look for us at Floralia's booth. Thus, we are accepting pre-orders for the event and any questions please let us know. 2013/02/28: We have the dates for our first open house of the year. We pushed it a bit forward from our original plans so it will be held on April 5-6. This is actually better as it is the same weekend as the Central Florida Orchid Society show so people can attend both. What we are going to do is to have a big sale on Cattleya species as we have a lot of stock and plants are getting really big. Plants will be sold as bare-root mature divisions for excellent prices so this will be the chance for getting high quality Cattleya species. A lot of stuff will be in flower so there is a good chance you can see what you are getting right away. Of course everything else that we have for sale will be available. Keep checking for more details. 2013/01/10: 2013 is shaping up as a very busy year, with shows and lectures getting confirmed. Also several trips to Brazil are on the plants, and a new pre order list is on the making for our first shipment of the year from Brazil next March. Planning is also on the way for our first open house of the year next March. Dates are still being decided but as we have lots of large plants we will have a lot of divisions available for very low prices - a species treasure hunt. Information is being sent soon. 2012/12/08: Our Price List has been updated, with removal of out of stock items and addition of new ones. This, plus the addition of the current Division List completes the updates for this year.We again thank you for your support and wish you a Happy Holiday Season. And as a special gift, all orders over $50.00 from our regular lists will have an extra 10% discount added until the end of December. 2012/12/07: We are back after a busy Fall season that saw us moving to the nursery premises which was our plan from the start. We also had a good trip to Brazil that included the Joinville Show with all the purpuratas and AOS judging. Several changes are on the way now, and for today we have a new land number which is 863-662-5224 so the old 863-422-9398 is being phased out. The best way to reach us though is through our mobile 863-852-4290. The list is being updated and a new one is going to be on the air in the next couple of days. Stay tuned. And here is the link to our current Division List. This time it was uploaded as a .doc file instead of a web page. This way it can be viewed and/or downloaded. In case of interest, please consult for availability as plants are available on a "first come first served" basis and many of them have limited availability. Any quastions please let me know. 2012/08/26: We had a chance of updating the Price list, and this is a very thorough update. Not so much in terms of number of new items, but mostly due to the quality of them. For example, the coerulea forms of species are probably the most we ever had, and include items that people have been asking us for years like Laelia pumila coerulea and Cattleya bicolor coerulea. But enough words already, hope you also enjoy those pictures in the banner to the left as these are items coming down the pipeline. 2012/06/20: We have just prepared a new division list addendum that includes some of those spectacular tenebrosas and a couple of eldorados, all of which are flowering now and with fresh pictures. Some of these can be seen at the picture bar to the left. If you are interested in looking at it just let me know. 2012/06/10: The new preorder list for the next shipment is ready. As the shipment is coming early next month there is not much time to pre-order but at least it gives an idea of what will be coming anyway. It can be found here. 2012/06/07: The tenebrosas are flowering like clockwork, all at the same time. All those six on the banner are from the seedling batch. Will remove the purpuratas soon, too many pictures. 2012/05/30: The purpuratas are in the middle of the season. The pictures on the first row of the bar are just examples of the incredible color variation of the species and how far the improvements have gone on the different color forms of the species. The second row shows how far we've gone and how a really good purpurata should look like these days. I think I am fortunate to be able to enjoy all this twice in some years. Next, the tenebrosas and leopoldiis. 2012/05/12: The division list has been updated. Actually, this is not exactly true. I decided to leave the division list as it is, even though several items have been sold. It is too much work to keep adding and removing items while trying to keep track of inventory. So, what I decided to do is to publish addendum pages with recent items and the first one is ready. If you want to see it just let me know, and as for items on the original list, let me know of your interest and I will look to see if it is still available. Thanks, hope this makes things easier for people so they can see what is actually recently added instead of having to scroll through the long list and guess what is actually new. 2012/04/29: UPDATE: The nursery will be open at the time of the Redland Fair but we will also be at the fair. If you want something delivered there is plenty of time. 2012/04/16: Lots of lecture trips this year, updates have been slow to the website due to the work on the new version. Expected list update with the next big shipment from Brazil scheduled for late June or early July. Meanwhile, the nursery will be open during the time of the Redland Fair next month, so if you are driving to or from the event you are welcome to stop by. Lots of stuff should be in flower by then. 2012/01/26: We have a new telephone for contact (863-852-4290), the old number now dedicated for faxes. You still can leave a message there though. 2012/01/21: We are going to visit the Tamiami Show in Miami next weekend. It will be a good opportunity to get potted plant delivered in person. 2012/01/17: As a lot of you have noticed, the link to the new pre-order list was not working. The problem is solved now, and I would like to thank all of you that pointed me the problem and helped solving it. 2012/01/13: Our new preorder list is ready for the shipment that will arrive in early March. We decided to do it again after the very positive feedback from the first one last year. You can check it out here. Also, we updated our main division list, which includes only plants that we have pictures of. If you are interested, just let me know. I will send a message regarding these by the weekend. 2012/01/01: Finished removing the out of stock items, several new items have been added. Everything else is being included on a pre-order list for the next shipment in late February / early March.
Orchid Shows - We will be visiting the Redland Festival next month, see 'News' sidebar. Lectures - June 13 - Florida West Coast OS, Largo FL - July 9 - Jacksonville OS, Jacksonville FL - July 11 - Tallahassee OS, Tallahassee FL - July 21 - COOS Speaker's Day, Miami FL - November 17 / 20 - Montreal, Ottawa, Canada
Updates: March 28, 2011 - As mentioned on the "News" section, we just posted a major update on the Price list, there are new plants of some items that we had before but were out of stock for some time, but more importantly there is a lot of new stuff. Our Selected Cattleya List is now about twice as long as it was in the past so we hope people can find something they like. On the Other Brazilian Species, we added a few pseudolaelias for the first time. As we are new growing them, I still don't have any pictures of them but for this I would like to post a link to the excellent article from our friend Delfina de Araujo's site where all the species are described and pictured. You will certainly enjoy. February 11, 2011 - As mentioned in the "News" , we have our first Open House of the year scheduled for March 25 (Friday) and 26 (Saturday), from 9 AM to 5 PM. We are going to have snacks and refreshments (and free parking of course), and flowering should be heavy on Cattleya intermedia and hopefully other species. Orchid Society members have a 10% discount on our list prices, just bring your society card. We will be posting more details as time goes by, as we are planning for example classes on Cattleya culture and maybe other things too. - It is about time for an update on the photo tours to Brazil. Firstly, the one planned to the Chapada Diamantina on April is postponed for next year at the same time. The main reason is that there are still several important details that have to be decided, and what I am going to do is to make that trip by myself sometime this year to be able to see these things. I don't want my guests to be a test group and want to make sure everything goes great. On the other hand, the trips to Minas Gerais are confirmed for May, July, September and November. These are areas that I know like the palm of my hand and can be sure that the experiences are going to be most enjoyable. The places we'll go are essentially the same, but time on each varies depending on the time of the year according to the main plants in flower. As an idea, this trip in May will include a visit to one of the best Cattleya walkeriana shows in the country (some people say it is the best, I tend to agree) amd visits to Itutinga and São Tomé das Letras to see Laelia endsfeldzii and L. flavasulina respectively. Itutinga and STL are out of the schedule of the other trips as the main species won't be in flower by then. July will see us spend more time in the Caraça for some incredible hiking on the dry season. September and November are the times when most rupicolous laelias flower, so we will spend more time in the Diamantina region. I am finishing the detailed schedules, and will post here when they are confirmed... which will be very soon. - Finally, we are accepting pre-orders for our trip to Canada in April. So far, lectures are confirmed for Edmonton and Calgary, but plants can be shipped to other parts of the country from wherever I am going to be. More info about this trip soon. December 19, 2010 - As mentioned in the "News" sidebar, we made a one-week trip to Minas Gerais to see what was in flower and as preparation for next year's tours. Of course I knew that we would see a lot in flower at this time of the year, I just didn't remember that it would be raining a lot... I mean A LOT. But come to think of it, during Fall and Winter it gets very dry and cold at the higher elevations so plants have to do with very little water during this time. I have been seeing the way the plants live so to overcome these conditions, but they have to compensate for this during Spring and Summer. The result is that we had to try to protect ourselves and our cameras a bit but it was definitely worth it. Below are a few pictures of what we saw, essentially rupicolous laelias and other rock-growing orchids and other plants... a good snapshot of what to expect. We went to the Caraça Sanctuary and through the Cipó Mountains all the way to Diamantina. As the main road from Espírito Santo to Belo Horizonte was closed the day before due to some serious landslides, the options was to go to Belo Horizonte through Caeté. Now, I know better than to do that, as all the highway traffic with plenty large trucks going through the narrow streets of little Caeté would be total chaos. Mind you, this is one of the main highways in Brazil so I feel for the truck drivers having no other option. For us in a small car though, I decided do go through the back roads around Itabira. I have done this only once in the past, and many years ago so I forgot about a few things. The most important one is that there are about 80 miles of dirt roads and I thought it would be ok to endure the dust but I forgot that with all this rain our problem wouldn't be the dust... In fact, a couple of times we had to go through areas where even trucks couldn't pass as the muddy sections were uphill. In the end, this affair took us the best part of a day and with this we couldn't really stop for long in the Cipó. We arrived in Diamantina at night and the next day was the really wet one. That is why we need more than a week to do this right and really enjoy the surroundings. But rain or no rain, there were so many Laelia briegeri plants in flower it was not even funny. I have been there so many times and never saw so many in bloom, but thinking back I remember that last time was in 2000, a fairly dry year. It is amazing what the amount of rain can do to the plants, when there is not enough rain the plants look like halfway dead and we see fewer in flower. But with all the rain this year they just exploded in flower... nice! But this is enough wording, let's see some pictures. I am thinking about creating a page just for trip comments, but I will probably end up making a new website just for that. we'll see... Hope you enjoy. Besides the orchids, there are some nice places for us to enjoy the view. This is the "Cascatona" (meaning "Big Waterfall), the highest waterfall in the Caraça and a good 4-mile hike (each way) through rock fields and altitude forest where we can see quite a few orchids. This picture only shows a bit more than half of it.   There was a lot of rain, but the blue sky actually showed up a few times. Carapuça Peak, Caraça.   Laelia longipes (lucasiana) is one of the favorites in flower this time of the year. Caraça.         The most common Oncidium species in the Caraça range is O. blanchettii and all in flower this time of the year.   Ever wonder what a Vellozia looks like? Well, there it is. There are lots of species of Vellozia in the region, quite a few in flower at this time.         Another favorite species in full flower this time of the year is Laelia ghillanyi. Here we see the form without flares on the segments. Cipó Mountains.   Now this is something you don't see in every day, but we were able to find Constantia microscopica in full flower. See how small they are, barely noticeable among the little lichens.         The main species in flower in the Diamantina region was Laelia briegeri. There were flowers everywhere, and as you can see these ledges are easy to explore.   Here we see Laelia briegeri growing in a crack of the ledge, with no protection except on the rhizome and roots.         In this case, Laelia briegeri was growing inside a large Vellozia clump, so only the flower spike could be seen. This is the way a lot of plants of the species grow.   And here is Laelia briegeri by the pool. Those rock depressions can hold water for months and the plants frequently extend their roots to use this valuable source of moisture. September 16, 2010 - Here is a larger picture of this exceptional labiata pictured in the "News" section. Hope you like it. August 14, 2010 - The Price List has been updated, with the inclusion of new items and some that are available again. The Division List has also been updated, and will be again on the next 2-3 weeks. At this point we included several labiatas, which is a species that is starting to flower now. August 1, 2010 - At this very hot time of the year, we have been doing regular maintenance on the site like removing out of stock items on the Price List and updating the Division List. Have been traveling quite a bit, and especially the last round of lectures in the Carolinas was a success. We are preparing now for a couple of lectures this month and also a week-long multi lecture trip to Texas in October. A couple more different presentations should be ready by then. June 13, 2010 - The purpuratas are still going strong, but at this time the tenebrosas and leopoldiis are starting to come into flower too, so color on the benches is shifting from white, pink and purple to brown and magenta. The photos in the bar above are all from first blooming seedlings. June 9, 2010 - As the purpuratas continue to bloom, we have just updated our Division List to reflect the inclusion of new plants of the species. Next species to flower are tenebrosas and leopoldiis, and we hope to be able to include some divisions of those soon. Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy. - For our California customers, we are going to attend the Santa Barbara Orchid Fair so we can deliver pre-orders at the event. May 31, 2010 - The purpuratas are starting to bloom. Please check frequently the photo bar above as we are going to be updating it frequently. Hope you enjoy. Have to love first blooming seedlings... May 20, 2010 - We just made a major update to our Price List, with more than thirty high quality items added. Most of these are, as always, cattleyas and laelias but a few other things sneaked in. As we mentioned before, this year we will be updating the list more frequently, so keep watching. Repotting is well underway, so the Division List will continue to be updated more frequently. Hope you all enjoy. - As for other subjects, we are finishing a couple of new presentations, the first one to be ready is on the habitats of Cattleya nobilior in Central Brazil. April 9, 2010 - Cattleya intermedia continues to flower in full force, a few weeks late this year. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days. And before I forget, this is the perfect time of the year to come visit and take a look at these plants in flower. I will be in the U.S. until the 19th so if anyone wants to stop by just e-mail or call us. April 2, 2010 - We just updated our Division List. At this time, most items added were of Cattleya intermedia (although not all). The reasons are very simple and two-fold: first of all, this is the species we grow in more numbers, for several reasons, and secondly they are all in flower now so are being photographed for the list. In the next two-three months, as other species flower we will certainly add more variety to the list. In the meantime, enjoy the vast array of shapes and colors of Cattleya intermedia. March 12, 2010 - We just updated our Price List, hope you enjoy the several high quality items added. We hope to keep updating the list quite frequently this year, so to have lots of new stuff available. Repotting time is also starting, so the Division List will also be updated accordingly. Older Pictures and news that are still new: April 5, 2009 February 22, 2009 June 19, 2008 And here we have one of the watercolors that was added to the Botanical Illustration page. It depicts the regular color form of Laelia dayana, a very interesting Hadrolaelia species. Size is 30 x 27 cm. April 15, 2008 - We have been having some incredible flowerings of Cattleya intermedia on recent years, and for the delight of the Cattleya species lovers among you we are including some pictures from lest year's season. Not that many pictures this year as I was in Brazil during the season's peak. However, some more incredible intermedias flowered for the first time this year, and these we were able to photograph. So here it goes, hope you enjoy! - From 2007: and from 2008: February 02, 2008 - The new multi-CD is ready and shipping. It includes Catasetum, Cattleya and Laelia, and for more information, please go to the CDs page. Here is an excerpt from what is there.   Box and CD view: This is the cover view on the box and CD. The CD of course is round, but have essentially the same information. Everything is printed in real colors.         Back cover view: This is the back cover of the box. The picture shows Laelia purpurata in the natural habitat. - Due to increased FedEx shipping charges during the last 8 years, which effectively almost doubled in price, we have to increase a bit our shipping and handling charges for the first time, from US$15.00 to US$20.00. This will not be enough to cover shipping, especially on small orders, but it is a reasonable compromise. For the same reason, the minimum order also increased from US$25.00 to US$35.00. Thanks for the understanding. TOP