I'm 1/3 through my camera book. I feel much more fluid on the camera (better motor planning, more realistic about what I can achieve) even though I'm not sure the quality of my shots are any better.
February Valentine Orchids and beyond
the manual for my D200 is about an inch thick and leaves me in a confused state of mind. I think I need a hand-on class as to all the options to set. Mostly I just leave things alone and change lenses as needed. I've mastered that.
I've been away for a while but am back with my garden and orchids now. The phals are all in high spike or blooming right now. Tough to photograph the long flower spikes. Here's an attempt at a white one.
Fred
Well I had to do some culling..the mealies are so out of control at work I had to toss 4 phals. They are a plaque for me...I knock them back then they come back with a vengeance...the phals are the most problematic. The bugs must be hiding in the bark as I certainly destroyed all those on the foliage. The other orchids don't seem too bad but the phals were just too infested to bother with. Guess I'll have to wait until our local supermarkets bring some new phals in and I'll start again.
My few phals are waking up. I killed lots of them but not from mealies. Would love to blame them. I am also buying at big box stores if I want new ones. Here's the latest.
Here are a few more just popping up ( I won't bother gathering the names)
fred
and
and this one which doesn't seem to want to post
colm. Wildcat 'Rainbow'
Beallara Tropic Lilly 'Ice Palace'
a first bloom of seedling hybrid Lc. Cariad's Mini-Quinee
Just one flower on this young plant and it is almost over
C. Summer Spot 'Carmela'
Let's see. How about this missing label (B. Nodosa?)
Have a few more. Rlc. Recordando en Blanco is still blooming after two months
This is another first bloom of a hybrid seedling
(Pot. Little Toshie 'Gold Country' x Blc. Goldenzelle 'High Noon)
fred
Fred & all - thanks for posting your beauties!
Also, thank you all for sharing what kind of cameras you have. I am thinking of making the move from a point and shoot to a DSLR. I'm reading "Digital SLR Cameras & Photography for Dummies" right now and I've picked up a couple of photography magazines that have the latest and greatest in them. I may have been bitten by yet another bug...LOL
Joanne
Fred you have some winners there! That bluish cat is wonderful as well as that Colmanara (it is now classified as a Odontocidium Wildcat BTW)
Fred, nice Show you got there!
Kathy, don't get discouraged. Your photos are wonderful. I always look forward to your new posts. DH loves wide angle but I generally use the 60mm macro for my posts. There were several tripods in the house at one time. One kid or another must have made off with them. I'm having to stack up books or stop breathing. :) I'm disappointed when I can't get close enough to the minis...even with the macro.
Ursula, I had Hoosier orchids in another orchid life and am sad that I've none now. It's a responsibility to carry the species forward. Who knows when they won't be available at all?
Fred, I'm crazy about C. Summer Spot 'Carmela'. Can you share the parentage? You've got a lovely B. nodosa hybrid there. B. nodosa species is white. I was wondering how you fared the recent cold down there.
L
Thanks for the encouragement, Laurel!
I have C. Summer Spot 'Carmela', too. It was blooming in Dec-Jan.
50% aclandiae, 25% loddigesii, 12.5% intermedia, 10.9% mossiae, 1.6% warneri.
I love C. aclandiae and was thinking that when I saw Fred's 'Carmela'. It's one of those orchids I'd like to replace from my former collection. The other mini parent %'s make 'Carmela' pretty complicated, huh?
Great show, Fred. You are doing much better than I am at the moment. How badly did you get hurt with the cold weather?
Jim
Laurel,
I bought that Carmela from Carmela in Hawaii about a year ago. http://www.carmelaorchids.net/
Cattleya Summer Spot (Cattleya Summer Stars x Cattleya aclandiae)
So you agree to my suggestion that the unnamed plant is a hybrid of B. nodosa? Somehow labels have a tendency to be eaten by my orchids. I hate it when I can't put an exact name on a plant but what is one to do?
Todd,
the bluish cat is one of a set of nine seedling hybrids I bought from - the mind goes blank - the guy in Washington state who has his own genera but has escaped my feeble mind at this moment. These seedlings were all of different parentage attempting to breed various blue orchids. This is the first to bloom of the bunch. I love to see the results of such attempts and have no problem with waiting. The price for seedlings is also better. :-)
Joanne,
I'm probably going to sell my D200 to get a D300s. If you're interested let me know.
Fred
Oh,
on the freeze. My garden is a mess but I've gotten over it. It's just very starnge how some plants show little or no damage and others look dead. I have vandas which are blooming 'now' after they were outside, attached to a tree, while others look a mess but might survive. Some of my outside catts are fine while others are pretty much dead. I had protected every orchid but that didn't seem to make a difference to them. It's all about specific location and micro climate.
I moved all my potted orchids into the sunroom (see below for a portion). They are all outside now. I'm building my third 4x8 table for them now. I also built a PVC rack for hanging some plants. Then there are other tables and storage areas. In other words, I've brought all my orchids (except those attached to something) under the lanai and my immediate and daily view. I just hope the 50 tight screening will appeal to all of them. The phals are in the most shaded corner. In the morning I make a quick inspection and say hello to all of the plants just outside but they might as well be inside. The lanai is great. The pool will soon be used. It's still only at 72 degrees and a bit too cold for me but I might turn the heater on any day now. :-) We use the outside spa quite often already.
Fred
Well Fred, we are in the middle of a blizzard in my area....16" snow, winds to 50 mph and windchill 5 F. A 72 F pool sounds pretty good about now! Only good thing is I have a snow-day off work...unfortunately, I have LOTS of shoveling ahead of me tomorrow.
No snow here today. Wow 16" is a lot. We always bake bread in a blizzard. Sorry for the big job tomorrow, Todd!
Wish I could just play but I have homework (reports) and taxes to work on. Your orchids look great Fred!!! Glad you are dealing well with "the mess". What else can you do? You certainly did your best!! You did much better than greenhouses I know of up here (2 sellers I know lost everything last year because their alarm systems didn't work).
We have snow "scheduled" mainly for tomorrow around here. The experts are still debating how much white stuff we are getting.
Hopefully it won't be so bad to drive since there is a nice Orchid Show going on in Holmdel NJ. The Deep Cut OS has their annual show at Dearborn Farms. I went there yesterday, the show goes on to Sunday. Beautiful displays to enjoy and there were lots of nice Orchids to be had. I thought the price-tags were a bit lower this year.
Here is my loot.
From Glen Decker a Mexipedium xerophyticum, a healthy looking 2-plant pot.
Blc Dan O'Neil 'Jubilee' HCC/AOS from Waldor, small plant, pretty orange blooms
From J&L - Oberonia ensiformis and Gastrochilus acutifolius
Ecuagenera - small Masd. strobelii, Trichopilia marginata, Cryptocentrum peruvianum, Konantzia minutiflora
The grassy Dendrochilum tenellum is sitting in a moss-covered mount of sorts, very pretty. ( from Heart's Ease in Tewksbury, NJ)
Phal. amabilis with variegated leaves.
Isn't the Gastrochilus acutifolius a cutie?
The Blc Dan O'Neil 'Jubilee' HCC/AOS
Have some plant-mounting to do today. Ecuagenera brings their Orchids simply wrapped in a bit of Sphagnum and rolled into paper.
Phal amabilis below.
so you buy tiny seedlings too. I've never even seen a variegated phal. At least I can't remember doing so. I don't care to have too many small orchids as they get lost in the shuffle outside. They are for a more intimate surrounding like a greenhouse. :-)
Fred
PS lots of luck with the snow folks. My son was driving to a meeting in northern VA in the snow yesterday when he hear that up to 24 inches can be expected. He promptly cancelled everything and drove back home to Charlotte, NC. Turns out everyone else closed and cancelled too. They basically are shut down.
Ursula, you need sunglasses for that Blc! And the variegated phal is wonderful even if it never bloomed!
Well our 16" of snow is falling on essentially bare ground...we had no winter to speak of up to this point. I have a drift in the back 3 feet high already yet half of the garden is still bare of wind-blown snow.
One of my recent purchases from Paramount should be opened in about a week...Paph. Lyro Petit Fleur...looks like it will be a mini charmer!
Heard that too. Washington DC area's getting hit. Ursula, you prolly are getting an edge. South Jersey is worse. http://news.yahoo.com/video/weather-15749664/17987614
I am dying to get out there and shop like Ursula. That Gastrochilus acutifolius is a cutie!! I did buy another Chiloschista (segawae) on ebay yesterday http://orchids.wikia.com/wiki/File:Chiloschista_segawae.jpg It will come Wed with 4 spikes. I also got a noid epi. Pics later. I have a show in NH next weekend and Amherst the weekend after that. That should wear out my buying shoes for a while. I do this every Feb!
The variegated one is a pink flower, right. Won't that be so pretty?? I have Dendrochilum tenellum from Bill H, but no action on flowers yet. I think it likes to be damp (re: moss), so water it well. BTW, Ursula, where did you see a video on Bill. He didn't know about it and I wanted to send it to him.
I saw a yesterday at Black jungle in bloom. Wish I had time to go back and shoot a pic. This one had 2 spikes. Just gorgeous small flowers coming out of hershey kisses bulbs. I need to find one.....
Ha ha what did I see at Black Jungle? We could make it a guessing game. I was looking it up and got distracted yet again.....
Ancistrochilus rothchildianus! http://www.orchidspecies.com/orphotdir/ancistrrothchildianus.jpg
My Ancistrochilus......let's just say that at the moment it is resting.
Kathy, google William Hutchinson, Orchids. Or even Bill H...
http://movies.apunkachoice.com/names/wil/william_hutchinson/cid_44144/videos/
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_4996_grow-orchids_-breeding-dealing.html
You are saying he doesn't know about these?
Thanks for letting me know about your extra camera Fred - I'll keep it in mind.
And Ursula - I echo Todd's comments on your gorgeous Blc and the wonderful foliage on your Phal. Very nice both.
Joanne
Ursula, love the Gastrochilus acutifolius and the variegated phal. I've never seen one before either. It just started to rain here. We are getting the tail end of the big storm in the north. It's 70 degrees so no snow for us.
Jim
Can anyone give me a name of the little whiskers on the lips of Phals?
Looked on google but couldn't find it.
New epi.
Whole plant. Bought it at Black Jungle yesterday.
Is Ancistrochilus rothchildianus hard to grow??
