It is well past time for a new thread so please come over and post your August blooms here. We came from http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1268769/
I'll start off with L. purpurata werkhauserie 'Monte' X C. gaskelliana. It opened while I was up in the mountains and it is one of my favorites.
Jim
I've had this Brassia for several years and it is a very reliable bloomer. It is just beginning to open a long spike. Here is Brassia Ftitz Boedeker 'Witch Doctor':
Jim
And the third orchid that opened for me while I was gone is Miltassia Luke Skywalker. The best part about going on a trip is returning to new orchids.
Jim
So lovely, Jim. Welcome back! We missed you.
Has the lake receded to where it belongs yet?
Also, thanks for starting the new thread, but . . where did July go? (not the thread, the month . . )
My Lc. Amberglow 'Magnificent' is doing a funny mirror-image with its two flowers.
Welcome home, Jim. Hope you had a great vacation. I am just back myself but digging my way out of email and phone calls.
Little Restrepia striata is back to blooming.
Little Restrepia must really be tiny as I don't see it. :>)
Jim
Elaine, really nice color on the Amberglow. I love it.
Jim
Neofinetia falcata has started to bloom. First time it has this many spikes and I have had this plant from at least 2005 and pictures of blooms from 2007.
Hope you had a good time while away Jim. Nice Brassia
another flower on Villosum and Small World x Future World is still open.
Beautiful slippers as usuall, Bree. I wish I had your talent for them.
Ted, you are doing very well with the neofinetias. I only have one and it just sits there.
I mentioned before that I picked up Restrepia striata 'Jumbo' at the last orchid club meeting. The intention was to give it to Laurel when I saw her last week. It was in bloom but by the time it bounced around the car in a paper bag for 11 hours, the blooms were history. I took a few pictures before the trip so here is Laurel's new Restrepia striata doing her thing:
Jim
I was stumbling around the greenhut today and forgot to take a photo of the Restrepia. Will try to remember tomorrow. So much work to do in there after months of neglect. Aside from the huge basketed Catt that came down from the roof and made a mess, I've got leaves allover the floor. I put aluminum pans on the floor to collect excess water from the automated misters and did my best to keep them emptied. Spent the morning emptying and picking up the pans. The floor, which is already difficult to navigate in such tight quarters, is an obstacle course. Honest, the orchid police are coming after me.
I did manage to get a shot of Vanda denisoniana x V. Udom's Gold. It is has great colors and spots on a very large plant!
Almost missed a tiny Cleisostoma saggitatum in bloom.
Ascocenda Arthorn loves to bloom frequently.
I love the yellow Vanda, Laurel. Did it come from one of our trips to Apopka?
Jim
It came from a trip several years ago and is just now blooming. Ya' know, I've learned with Vandas it's a good thing to look down those leaves for an old bloom spike remnant. Otherwise you may be rockin' in your chair at the old folks' home before you see blooms.
I agree. I have a ton of Vandas that are all just hanging there. I'm disappointed in the lack of blooms. I thought I was doing something wrong.
Jim
No, it is not you. There are Vandas, and their hybrids, that take a zillion years to bloom. I am not expert enough to tell you which ones but did hear a talk on the topic several years back which clued me in. Well a little research and some email will let me know so I don't angst about it. Now, when I see a huge and beautiful Vanda, greenhouse grown and with no previous blooms, I have an "Uh oh" moment. Not saying I'll avoid it but I know it may be years, if ever, 'til bloom.
Hmmm...I've got at least one vanda that bloomed twice last year for me. It surprised me because I thought they only bloomed once a year. I wish I could remember which one it is. I just hung mine off some small oak trees and let them be. They seemed to do fine except for the squirrels (argh!). Of course, now they're in the shade house so we'll see if they like the change (or not).
Melanie
I am specifically referring to Vandas whose species specific backgrounds are known to require many years to bloom. Such is not the case with all Vandas and I did not mean to suggest that Vandas take an inordinate time, compared to other orchids, to bloom.
Mellie, I don't know what your shade level is in your shade house but Vandas need more light than Ascocendas or Ascocentrums. I have a 18' long by 24" wide strip in the greenhut, with no shade cloth at all, and that is where the Vandas hang. They are close to the roof and never burn regardless of the heat and the greenhut faces true south so they get very intense sun. How often often your Vanda blooms is related to the parents of the cross. If you have a cross where one blooms summer and one fall you will, with good care, have one that blooms twice a year.
Well, I was afraid I would have nothing to contribute picture-wise for a while, but one of my recent purchases surprised me by blooming! This is Lc. Tsutsung Beauty "Three Brothers".
In other news, I'm going to have to repot some of my orchids. Some of them came potted in too heavy a mixture and they're not drying out fast enough. I'm afraid I've already lost one. : ( I think I can save the others, though. It's just been raining so much lately; I haven't watered my orchids in over a month!
Melanie
Nice colors on that Catt, Melanie, congratulations. Be careful about not watering, or at least misting your Vandas and other mounted orchids every day. The hot weather can dry the exposed roots quickly.
Jim
I don't have any mounted orchids so that's ok. The vandas all looked healthy when I was out there; it was just some of the cattleyas that got too wet.
Melanie
Nice flower Melanie. Love the lavender
In the middle of heat wave here now. In the 100's all week at work, which is in one of the valleys here and HIGH 90's here at home hitting 100 Friday. No relief until the end of next week. Watering and misting constantly. It's times like these that I wonder why I put so many plants on sticks and cork!!! lol Still, not as bad as most of you have it. so I'll just keep spraying. Hopefully a little cooler by Carol. She's closer to the ocean than I.
Latest bloom, Masdevallia Sunset Jungle is what the tag reads. But all I can find on line is Sunset Jaguar. It almost seems it stopped opening. It has been as you can see for a week now. If you look you can see a second spike in the background and it has been growing daily
Haha! It hasn't gotten that high here yet. I was looking at Andy's site today, and they have a special for terreriems and viveriems. All of them are things you grow! Where do you get that humidity? As you said, I am closer to the ocean, but my humidity drops radically in the afternoons.
Some of the Masdevallia are on trays. Some I keep in pots on a hanging planter on the fence. The planter is one of those black metal rectangular things and I line it with coconut liner material and fill it with potting soil. The potting soil holds moisture, but the pot just sits on the top of the soil so the plants roots are not soaking. The coconut keeps the soil from getting too soaked. Right now - 8:08 PM Pacific - the temp is 80 and the humidity is at 46% under my sunscreen. The sun has set and it is just a red glow in the west. I will check Andy's out. Have not been there in a while.
This message was edited Aug 7, 2012 8:12 PM
I had 67% humidity inside my house the other day! I hate to think what it is outside. But I guess the orchids like it.
Melanie
Sure...rub it in Melli. I figure I'm good if the humidity is in the 40s in the afternoon. I'm only 10 Mi. from the beach and the humidity is extreemly high at night, but during the day it's the Sahara desert.
After two changes of clothes, a swim and a shower today, I can tellya, "It's a sauna out there".
Weather man had 93% humidity in Tampa last night. Great weather for orchids! Humans? Nah.
ted- theres a Masdevallia Sunset Jaguar
and here i am in the cool, its winter. here.hehe! Shouldnt laugh summers coming and it'll be hot and humid here.
The humiditiy is still ok here in winter, its now 57% at 5pm this afternoon, suns neally going down.
I agree with Elaine. Yesterday was a bear. It wanted to rain but couldn't and there was no wind to stir the air. I am once again becoming a prisoner of my AC and there is so much to do in the garden. The lake is down enough to mow the back 40 without sinking down to the axles which is good. All of that water encourged the sedge and wild vines so the battle is on again.
Jim
So far, today is worse, even! The sun is out but all that water is still in the air. Let's hope the faithful sea breeze kicks in this afternoon!
I am moving orchids out to their vacation homes today, and getting the temp irrigation set up for them. Phew! Taking a break, then heading to Home Depot for some last-minute supplies. Leaving Friday for a week up in Canada. DH will be here but has to leave before I get back so no help from him for plants, for sure!
They had an orchid in bloom there that I think I may rescue, I'm recalling it looked a lot like your Miltassia Luke Skywalker, Jim.
If it is Luke, he's coming home with me. Just love that color.
You're right about the heat and humidity, Elaine. I'm hiding in the house next to an AC vent. I have to go to the Extension office tomorrow teach a class for the new Master Gardener class. I hope we don't have to go outside.
The Psychopsis sisters are blooming in sync again.
Jim
Love those silly sisters. I had a MG project this morning, a new school garden at the local elementary school. Even at 9am, it was cookin' out there!
I didn't get to bring Luke Skywalker home, sadly. Someone else has already rescued him from Death Row at HD. They still have the sign up with the "Easy care -3 ice cubes per week" there and I talked to one of the nursery staff - also an orchid lover - about it. She said it's the grower who puts up that sign, and she thinks it's crazy advice as well. We think that grower has figured out how to sell more orchids, both by fooling people with the 'easy care' idea and helping them to kill off their orchids faster.
Got to go place the last of the 'chids out in their spots in the garden. Not much cooler now, but at least there's a breeze.
Sorry you folks in Fl are melting! For us summer has finally hit. For you it's hurricane season...for us earthquake season. Both seem to arrive with the heat, for some reason. We had a 4.4 last night that felt like an explosion, and a 4.5 this morning. Poor Ted is very close to the epicenter, so he's probably still rocking and rolling with aftershocks. On the plus side though, I have my first rebloom on my first Phaph! I bought this in Sept., 2010, and this is the first time it has bloomed for me.
Phaph. 'magic lantern'
A couple of other things in the orchid shack are Den. yellow song 'canary'
A sharry baby that I thought was a gonner, and some noid Phals. That first one is a noid Den. Mybad!
Wow! Congrats on the Paph, Carol. Still, Canary is my favorite, it is just a luscious color.
Hang onto your hats out there, we heard about your earthquakes on the news tonight as well!
Haha! They were just little ones. No damage as far as I've heard. Just startling!
I brought the Phaph inside so I can enjoy it. I just hope the tiny bud beneath the frower doesn't blast due to the move.
Quick check in. Carol, the shack seems to be doing a good job. Are you happy with it?
Two views of Bl. Richard Muller x C. aclandiae. It had two flowers on this spike and two on a previous recent spike. Didn't have time to take a photo. There are two more coming so maybe I'll catch a pair of flowers. Nice fragrance.
I like that canary as well. But to get a paph to bloom...good going.
We are about 7 miles as the crow flies from the epicenter of the recent quakes. Like Carol said, they were not real big ones. But enough to wake you up at 11:30 at night. Our bedroom is on the second floor and it did swing. We felt the one at 9:30 this morning and maybe two or three babies. Interesting, but it seems we used to have a lot more,like every couple of months you'd feel one or more. Neofinetia falcata is just taking off so here is another shot of the whole plant
