Vespera
Vanilla planifolia
Vespera is a very small young vanilla orchid. Her story is only beginning.
Her botanical world
Vanilla planifolia belongs to the orchid family. Its native range reaches from southern Mexico to northern Brazil, where it grows in wet tropical forests.
It is a climbing vine, with fleshy aerial roots that hold on to trees. The familiar scent of vanilla comes from its fruits after they have been dried and cured — a long journey from a green orchid to something so recognisable.
Growing journal
The beginning of Vespera's story
Today we stopped to take a closer look at Vespera, our little vanilla orchid.
She is still very small, her green stem curling around its support, with young leaves emerging at different points along the vine. She lives in a clear pot filled with chunky orchid bark, a rather modest beginning for a plant with such an extraordinary botanical history.
We are learning about her as we go. For now, there are no grand achievements to report, only a young plant finding her place and our curiosity about what she might become.
We shall photograph her as she grows, record the changes we notice, and share the successes and mistakes along the way.
Every growing story must begin somewhere.
And this is hers.