Ballado Orchids

I still remember when I climbed a small hill one Saturday morning of May, 1985 in the State of  Veracruz, Mexico. It was fog, the grass and trees looked fresh from the dew. The peculiar smell of the rain...we're walking for some hours into the mountains. Then my eyes could not believe the spectacular fragrance that came above one tree...."there! I exclaimed, what a beauty"! The scent was almost like honey dew, sweet. Several flowers blooming from a plant growing on the branch of a tree, one indigen said to me: "this is not an orchid, we called them parasites" they destroy our trees". So I picked it very carefull to avoid any damages. It grows in a cluster of twenty plants,so once I've got it in my hands the color of the 3 inch flowers looked like sea shells of purple stripes inside, the scent was totally out of this world! The foliage was soft bifoliar, elongated pseudobulbs and thin roots attached to some pieces of moss.... "Yes, it is an orchid! they do not destroy the tress, they used them to sustain, they take the nutrients from the water, air and insects to survive". This orchid was called: coco shell, scientific name: Encyclia radiata, why? well the purple rays formed inside the shell. From then on I've learned the methods and techniques how to propagate them.