I read the article on Fragrant Orchids, it was very informative, I am now looking for Sharry Baby, I was told they carry them at Trader Joes for a very reasonable price.
Thanks for posting......
Which orchids do you have?

None at the moment, waiting on what jimshy makes of his brassavola when it comes into flower in the next few days. Fairly convinced on the nodosa and encyclia radiata though. I'd get the encyclia fragrans and neofinetia falcata if I could find a source in the UK. Sharry baby has been on ebay numerous times, I should have got one when the chance arose.

I got a big Sharry Baby (that is the chocolate orchid, isn't it?) from a local nursery for a decent price a couple months ago. It was in bloom when I bought it. The fragrance is really sweet and strong. And I like the deep red color of it. The fragrance is not alway detectable, though. Sometimes strong, sometimes quite week. Now it is in rest now and I hope I will not have to wait long for it to rebloom. Peace. Changsong

Yup, it's the oncidium. Supposed to smell of vanilla or chocolate. Do you have any other fragrant orchids?

Lots of Catts and Vanda'( I mean hybrids) are fragrant. My favourite phal- phal bellina is very fragrant too.

Thanks RisingPower1. The Royal Horticultural Society is always a font of information. As is Kew Gardens - they also have a website for info.

One good orchid nursery I used to buy from is Oak Hill Gardens near Chicago. I just found that they have 6" Sharry Baby for $20. Now in terms of fragrance, most orchids can not compete with landscape trees or shrubs like Daphne odora or Boronia megastigma. For one thing, orchids usually do not put out a lot of flowers; and the fragrance of most of them are kind of clogging. IMO, the best orchid species for fragrance are:

Cymbidium ensifolium
Rhyncholaelia glauca
Sedirea japonica

All three give very clean fragrance that you will not feel tired of smelling even when exposed for a long time, unlike a Sharry Baby.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oak Hill Sharry Baby

Well, I've got a brassavola nodosa, encyclia radiata and an osmoglossum pulcellum. Dendrochilum cobbianum or glumaceum looks tempting after seeing one at wisley.

A note on enc. radiata -- the scent is powerfully intense. I took a blooming radiata to work one day in my car and had to drive with the windows open. Like many perfumes, not everyone is fond of the scent. Nice thing about it is that the plant is compact and has a tidy growth habit, unlike Sharry Baby which grows like a weed and gets monstrous.

I'm looking to get more than a few others too incuding an encyclia fragrans.

FYI, my quick list for easy, fragrant, compact orchids. Top half grow warm, bottom half are intermediate/cool. (Left out catts and catt hybrids -- too many to list).

Brassavola nodosa
Brassavola Little Stars
Phalaenopsis schilleriana
Phalaenopsis violacea
Phalaenopsis bellina
Oncidium ornithorhynchum
Oncidium cheirophorum
Cymbidium ensifolium
Encyclia radiata
Encyclia cordigera
Encyclia Green Hornet (fragrans x cochleatum ?)
Neofinetia falcata
Neostylis Lou Sneary
Sedirea japonica
Masdevallia Celtic Frost
Dendrobium kingianum
Miltoniopsis vexillaria
Miltoniopsis phalaenopsis

Brassavola nodosa isn't a warm grower is it? Nor are the phaelenopsis I thought. These are some i'm after:

Encyclia fragrans
Dendrochilum cobbianum
Maxillaria picta
Rhyncholaelia glauca
Stanhopea jenischiana
Lycaste aromatica
Bulbophyllum lobbii
Bulbophyllum macranthum
Bulbophyllum echinolabium
Maxillaria ochroleuca
Coelogyne ochracea
Oncidium Sharry Baby

That's a cool list -- I've stayed away from bulbos since the few I've seen in person blooming had horrible scents!

The 3 phals I listed are native to Malaysia, Borneo, Philippines -- all hot & humid tropical. The nodosa lives in low-lying areas in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, etc. It is listed as a warm to intermediate grower but I get higher flower counts when I give it full sun & warm conditions.

Well apparently the macranthum smells of strawberries, not sure about the echninolabium or lobbii though. Maybe those are a miss then apart from the macranthum. I'll see whether anything looks appealing at kew in a week or so.