Our May Day Orchids

Time for a new thread as I just returned from my 13 and a half hour Master Gardener marathon. I'm too old for this. We came from http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1249978/. Please join us as we share photos of our May orchid blooms.

I'll start off with my big Grammatophylum scriptum. I'm a little disappointed as it only put out one spike this year. I've had as many as six. Each spike is three feet long and has about 50 flowers or so. The plant itself is about the size of a bowling ball and about as heavy as well.

Jim

Here is a NOID Dendrobium that was begging to have its picture taken.

Jim

And my favorite, Dendrobium anosmum.

Jim

After taking a month or so off, the Spathoglottis plicata are starting to rebloom.

Jim

Jim, that spotty little Gramma looks like a little leopard with its mouth open wide! That's such a cool plant.

Big purple floofer is smelling like cookies again now. Hope the raccoons aren't around! There's an Angel's Trumpet out there blooming, too so maybe that perfume will overshadow the delicious orchid fragrance.

Here's one I bought that I'm enjoying quite a bit. I like all the colors in it. It's called Pot (Miya's Passion x Carolina Splendor) x Blc. Red Glo.

Melanie

Gorgeous color, Melanie. It has what Jim calls 'good floof' too, the frillies along the petals and lip.

Couldn't resist another shot of my little Encyclia alata x Early Bird with only two buds to open yet. Nice fragrance, too.

I suppose I'm a fan of "good floof" myself!

I wish I could smell all these wonderful flowers through my computer!

Melanie

Yes, good floof there Melanie and I like the color as well.

I am really drawn to Encyclias as of late. That is a good one there, Elaine.

Jim

I found a couple of new bloomers today. This is Lc Prism Palette X (Gaiety Flambeau X MECarter) X walkeriana. I bought it as a re-potting special from Jim Krull up in Apopka about a year ago when I was there with Laurel and Steve. It seems to have adjusted well to its new pot and home.

Jim

My Bollopetalum Midnight Blue 'Cardinal's Roost' took a couple of weeks off and then promptly put out a new spike. Note the second picture was taken with a flash which made a big color change.

Jim

The haul from the show this weekend. Also some CPs , Glox, Geraniums....and a Bat Plant rhizome

Angraecum didieri first photo white flower
Bratonia Shelob in spike
Encyclia bractescens in spike
Masdevallia coccinea Red in spike
Vanilla planifolia
Zygopetalum Big Red (Prayoon x Cool Room) 2nd photo
Intergenetic, so says the vendor 3rd photo. A little more yelo in real life


This message was edited May 2, 2012 7:45 PM

Bollopetalum, Zygopetalum, encyclia cordigera, they all look so much alike.

Nice haul, Ted. I'll be anxiously awaiting a picture of that Encyclia when she blooms.

Jim

Here's one I got at the Green Thumb Festival. It's Blc. Mildred Hollingsworth "Sun Bulb".

My orchid club is attending a sale this Saturday at one of our sponsors (Louis del Favero Orchids) so expect me to have more in a few days!

Melanie

Jim, I forgot to mention how much I like that Lc Prism Palette X (Gaiety Flambeau X MECarter) X walkeriana. Very nice colors in it!

Melanie

Very nice yellow on your Catt, Melanie. Louis carries a nice selection of species orchids, especially Dendrobiums. Have fun shopping.

Funny story on that Lc cross. I found it on one of Jim Krull's back tables in Apopka. Part of it was stuffed into a tiny pot but the rest of it had long since escaped and was crawling across the table. I asked him what he wanted for that miserable, homeless specimen and he laughed and gave it to me for $5. Here is a picture of it when I first brought it home a year or so ago.

Jim

Well, c'mon now, Jim! Let's see what the whole plant looks like now, with a year's worth of coddling under it's belt (or pot).

Melanie, I love that yellow Catt, too. Pale yellows are so elegant.

Found a curious picture on my local orchid orphanage's Craig's List page: take a look at the last one of the 4 little thumbnails at the bottom of the page. http://sarasota.craigslist.org/grd/2948495715.html Could it be a 'Medusa' ? I think I'm going to toddle over there tomorrow morning. All the orchids are half off what they were selling for, and that was already pretty cheap!

Elaine

I don't think so, Elaine. It looks more like Bulbophyllum vaginatum. Here is picture of mine as well as a picture of my medusae.

Jim

Think I'm now adding a medusae to my "NEED" list.

OK Jean but I must warn you that it is not the easiest orchid to grow and bloom. You may want to read up on it a bit.

Jim

Masdevallia coccinea Red. More crimson in real life. Not quite open all the way. Either she will open more as the days go by or maybe not enough light. Could be from the show or I have her in too shadowed an area. We'll see.

Jim, I will be sure to take pix of Encyclia bractescens when it blooms. It is a smaller plant with only 4 PB and is mounted on a stick. But I think this one likes the morning sun it gets where I have it - a second spike has shown its face.

I can't wait for this one. This is a Iridifolius x Zygostatus Alleniana Ornithocephalis mini that I picked up on a whim at the Santa Barbara Orchid Estate last Sept. Got two that looked good, bare root out of their bins. Just stuck them in a large piece of cork with a Masdevallia ( bought the same way) and some bromeliads and Tillandsia. This thing can't be more than two inches across. The picture shows about 2/3 of the plant. And I think that is a spike in there. It's a dark picture, but I just had to share

OK, Elaine. Here is what the Lc cross looks like now. It still wants to crawl a bit but seems very happy. If I had used a larger pot in order to cram all of the roots inside, I don't think it would have been happy. I'll save the bigger pot for next time.

Jim

Here is the Spathoglottis plicata in yellow.

Jim

Miltassia Aztec Toni opened yesterday. I've had it for years and it always blooms right on schedule.

Jim

What a nice beginning to the month! Thanks, Jim. Looks like everyone is orchid shopping but me. Jim, that Gram is a stunner. It's like your version of a Lincoln Continental with fins. The Spath. too. It's nice to have orchids in the landscape. I used to have a tree full of orchids and aeroids growing up in S. FL.. That water oak is still there but people ripped off the plants. Can you believe?

Ted, You have become an expert hauler. :) Beautiful Masdie and intergeneric. Love the Angraecum too.

Mellie, glad to see you jumping right in. Love your attitude. Are you sleeping in your buying shoes? Sneaking around with Jim?

Elaine, Bulbo. medusae has much larger leaves than vaginatum.

Qwilter, you need one of each.

We are back in Atlanta. Maypop garden is almost in. Summer heat follows so closely on the heels of spring we start planting arugula, broccoli and cabbages and don't stop until we're up to zucchini. Get it? abc...z. Okay, that was bad. I am working tomorrow. Orchid photos are coming...promise.
Laurel

Laurel, there has been a plant festival every week for the last four weeks! It's craziness! But things should slow down here while we all try to make it through the heat of summer (orchids included).

Here's one I bought in bud last week that opened up today. The squirrel only ate one bud out of three - how considerate. It's called Rby. Hawaiian Leopard x Grt. Why Not.

This message was edited May 5, 2012 1:40 PM

And there's the two I bought today. The red one is Pot. Samantha Duncan "Paradise" and the pink one is Slc. Love Castle "Happiness". Oh, and the pink one is growing sideways, it's not that I forgot to rotate the photo. : )

Melanie

Just opening, one of my all time favorites, Lc George Baldwin X C Trithena.

Jim

Also just opening, a classic, Rhyncholaelia digbyana. More to come.

Jim

It's a nice night to be outside. There is a brilliant Venus in the west and a huge moon in the east.

Jim

Haha! Thanks for the moon shot, Jim! By the time it rises here, the "marine layer" will have rolled in, and all we'll see is grey. That's ok though...I'll take the humiditity whenever I can get it. I can look at the moon on TV.
By the way, great pics to start off the month! Love that shot of the Lc george Baldwin X! All of you eastern growers are way ahead of us on the west coast. We seem to be in our typical "May Grey" mode, but "typical" is welcome after the wierd weather we've all had in the past year.
all i' ve got that's new (and a bit unusual) is the Euchili citrina I bought bare root last fall. From what I've seen on the net, it doesn't open much more than this. Hard to get a picture, but it really smells lemony.

I just came in from a little 'gardening by moonlight' too. The weatherman was saying that the moon is at its perigee - closest position to Earth - this week. It's pretty. Love that digbyana, is it fragrant?

Picture shows the reason for my moonlight foray - Sri Lanka weevils are munching my roses. They're easy to catch with a flashlight after dark. In the daytime they're under the leaves but at night they come out to dine . . . sure hope they don't develop a taste for orchids.

I wish they'd make oval-shaped orchid pots for plants like your Lc. cross that want to crawl in one direction! I've got two Catts that do that, too. No sooner do I get them into a new pot than they start scrambling and sticking roots out again. Maybe a little rectangular clay window box would work?

Jim, I can see why that's one of your favorites. Purple is my favorite color so maybe I'm biased, but I really like that one, too.

Melanie

Wow I've missed alot. Air card bit the dust and I'm doing alot of catching up after getting it replaced. Beautiful blooms everyone.
Elaine, what kind of roses do you have..we have Knockout's and I've never seen that Sri Lanka weevil here. Do they go for anything else? I'll be on the look out for them !! Yikes !

All I have new is my little mounted Tol blooming...
2nd is close up...

The little Tol looks great, Mj. Wondered where you'd gone.

The Sri Lanka weevils have so far stayed on only the roses at my house. I have yellow Knockouts and Easy Does It, another landscape rose but so far they're only eating the Knockouts. Ten feet away the plumbago that they were eating like crazy last summer is untouched! They liked my Lychee tree last year too, but not so far this year. Also the neighbor's Loquat was heavily damaged last year. Picky eaters, I guess.

Maybe it's been colder winter temps that have kept them from invading your area, so far. Keep an eye out, though. You'd think coming from Sri Lanka (close to the equator) they'd be cold sensitive. They first appeared before the two cold winters, and though we hoped the cold would eradicate them, it didn't. They lay eggs in the ground, so even if the current generation of adults get frozen, if there are eggs in the ground, they survive.

I got some new pale mauve Spathoglottis at Lowe's. Wish they'd bring in some yellow ones!

This message was edited May 6, 2012 11:32 PM

I am so thrilled, my sweet gift plant from Jim has opened its first flower. Well, almost! Many more buds to come.

Encyclia tampensis aka 'The Florida Butterfly Orchid' - one that will hopefully do well in my wild Florida garden!

Love that Tampa Encyclia! I've spotted one in the wild and I was just so thrilled to see an orchid growing natively in Florida. It's hidden pretty well; I know poachers can be a problem.

Dad and I went to Home Depot today and got materials for the orchid house. We have to move some stuff out of the way before we get to building, but I'm already excited. Let's just hope I can keep the squirrels out.

Melanie

Carol, I had to look up Euchili citrina as I have always known it as Cattleya citrina. Anyway it likes your climate much better than mine. The flower is very nice.

The tampensis is a beauty, Elaine, I hope it gives you years of blooms.

Melanie, why don't you open a seperate thread and post pics of the progress of the new greenhouse. I'm sure we would all like to see it rise from the ground.

Jim