and a look at the spikes
December - the end of the 2008 orchid season
And here is a preview of Dendrochilum cootesii, the first 2 spikes are open. I will post a plant pic when in full bloom.
The plant is compact and manageable, just as the javieri is. ( In contrast to magnum )
Wonderful!!!
Ok hare is the pix of the new cyms
and the other
Gorgeous, chubbyD! When they get big enough to divide, let's arrange some trades for my mini cym Peter Pan Greensleeves!
A lot of my orchids in the greenhouse are coming into spike now. I should have some photos to post in early January. Most of them will be NOIDS that I rescued from plant bargain racks, but a few may have tags. There is one MASSIVE 4 ft tall dendrobium that is maybe the same as what Phicks showed us several months back. I bought it from an orchid greenhouse, but if it came with a tag, I must have lost it. I recently divided it into about 10 plants and some of those are also blooming (though not yet as big as Mama Dend).
Jeremy
Gave several of my MTSSA. Charles M. Fitch 'Izumi' divisions to friends this past week. Most of recipients have a few orchids and none in this family. One recipient is a newly transplanted (no pun intended) couple from the north who have become nursery junkie friend of mine and haven't tried orchids yet, but have a perfect treed backyard for hanging some pots. That's what I LOVE about gardening and working with plants.... you can share your passion relatively inexpensively and enjoy others gardening creations.
FLStu - Getting to share cuttings and divisions is also one of my favorite aspects of gardening. I have an easy-to-grow, orange-flowering, terrestrial Epidendrum orchid that I have dubbed the "friendship orchid." It grows new branches so profusely each year that I always have plenty of it to snap off and send home with whomever visits my garden (with the caveat that I must deem them capable of correctly tending a plant - LOL). The Epidendrum is very durable, grows great in an ordinary plastic hanging basket, and enjoys more sunlight than most other orchids. I did a basic orchid care talk at a local garden club last year and was able to take along a paper grocery sackful of the orchid stems to hand out, and I started with only a few sprigs of it given to me about 4 years ago. It makes roots all along the stems, so it is easy to plant the stems, but will grow new roots when stuck in potting soil, even if there are no roots present on the cutting. I think it is either E. radicans or E. fulgens, but I've not yet done a comparison of the blooms to these or other Epidendrums to come up with an exact I.D. It is a great "starter" orchid for those that are intimidated by orchid growing.
Jeremy
Have that one.... was given to me by a friend whose other half was lost to AIDS. His other half had many pots of it on their patio and remembered that I had commented about it. It has been with me since (about 1991) and one old western-styled metal bath tub was planted with them this past fall as well as two large pots are on my lanai. It's been shared with MANY. Love it.
Two new blooms for the new year.It is so long since the dark purple one bloomed I forgot I had it.Only one flower unfortunately..a bud fell off.I'd love to grow some of the orange ones that Stu showed.JOY
Now the purple phal.
This one has taken forever to open. Only one of the stalks has blooms on it.
Den. mohlianum x Den. sulawesiense.
Janet
Joy.... Actually, Jeremy showed his (orchid, that is). Maybe someone north of the border can spare a couple. I'd be happy to send some, but not sure if there are any shipping issues of plants to Canada.
I am proud to say Jeremy found me capable of caring for the "friendship orchid" as i have 3 very healthy cutings from him!!
And of course we can do some division trades!!
He sent one to me a few years ago, before I really got into growing orchids, and I managed to kill the unkillable orchid!! I think I didn't put it in the sun. Kept it mostly shaded. *sigh*. Well, maybe one day I will make it to Jacksonville.
Janet
Hi all - I've got a lovely Paph. primulinum to share. It opened earlier this month. I bought it from Norito Hasegawa when he was in Calgary for our show in October.
Grow-Jo beautiful paph!!!
Wow! It's about time this thread ends in a few days.
I have a question. Is there any knowledge out there as to why a florescence won't appear out of a growing sheeth. I guess you call those things sheeths, right? For example: I repotted Blc Ellen Kobayashi back in April. It had a large root system and I used a pretty big pot. During the summer there were several attempts to bloom but nothing came of it except a brown sheeth like in the picture.
Was this because of the repotting or the heat and humidity of the summer? The plant is now sending new growth up and the sheeths seem to be healthy and the first has opened. Maybe the plant was in need of rejuvenation via the report?
here is the whole plant
and the flower just starting to open today
This message was edited Dec 29, 2008 11:15 PM
Beautiful flowers fredrump. Lee
More openings today. Must be the cooler weather.
Lc Green Veil 'Dressy' (Lc. Cuisseag x C. Landate) bloomed back in July and here we are again.
Nice Cats Fred and way to go Jo...that primulinum is stunning!
Beautiful Catts, Fred and love the Paph, Jo.
Fred, I don't know the exact reason for some Catts to produce dry sheaths, but many Cattleyas/their hybrids flower on a mature growth from the previous year do that - like Cattleya skinneri. It flowers the next Spring on the dry looking sheaths from the previous Summer. Come to think of it, in contrast all of my Catts which flower in Fall/Winter ( not in Spring) on the Summer's growth produce green sheaths.
Did I hit on something here?
Janet, I have the same Dendrobium hybrid, I love it. It is much easier to bloom and grows more readily than either species for me. And the blooms last a long time. Good one!!
I guess I'm lucky then because my Den. sulawesiense is almost always blooming. It does take a while to open it's buds. As far as sheaths go, I get green ones mostly but they don't always produce buds. Lots of em just dry out. I will hafta watch better for patterns.
Fred my Lc Green Veil 'Dressy' just finished last week-we're in synch. Thanks for the parent names. I thought the flowers didn't stay open as long this time 'round. Let me know how long your are open, okay? Speaking of how long flowers last. What is normal for your Tuberolabium, Ursula. It was pretty quick here, but may have been because the plant was acclimating from leaving Andy's in CA. The Eria flowers went fast, too, (also from the same order) but the first bud to open sulked about the move and the rest seemed content tho short lived.
I just bought Understanding Orchids by Cullina. It was recommended by the women at J & L. I read the 1st chapter and think it's going to be very good info for me. I already learned a few things I didn't know.
Gotta by a fan today-my 4 year old one has died. (I use the little heater/fans and leave them on 24/7.) Good work by my little loyal fan!
Hello boo, Your mentioning the fan made me remember I, too, need one. All I need is a 6-8" one. Hope you are well. Lee
Hi Lee. Mine are all little too.
My daughter is visiting so I am romping around and spending too much money. I might go to the Smith College Greenhouse today to see which orchids are blooming there. Very windy here!!! We also got a dusting of snow last night. May get lots tomorrow. I guess it really is winter now. I'm hoping this means less snow in spring......I know, I know!
My HSIN Sun Beauty phal was in bloom when I bought it 3 months ago. I left the spike alone after the flowers were spent, mainly because I was waiting for it to turn brown and I was distracted by the new spike it was throwing. Well that spike never turned brown and is forming buds again. I guess it is happy in it's winter home. I am NOT moving it! As a matter of fact I moved all my other phals over to the same location too. We will see what happens. My Ludsia is about to bloom too! And my Nun's orchids are putting up shoots/spikes too!! Happy day!!
*editied for typos as I am not wearing my glasses and blind as a bat with out them!
This message was edited Dec 30, 2008 9:13 AM
Definitely behind on all of those here! Can't wait for your preview!
Yes, I, too hope to have a few open up to post in the January thread. My Den. sulawesiense is a hybrid, and is a small plant with very thin stalks. I got it back in the summer. So hopefully as it matures it will produce more stalks with blooms. I have no idea of the age of the plant. Wish I did. Fred, Love the Lc Green veil. I like the green and the blue catts best. Just started growing catts, though, so we will see.....
Janet
Pardon me for missing the Christmas festivities but my router went down on Christmas eve and it took Verizon until just now to get a new one out to me. I went into serious withdrawal, the shakes and all that. LOL. Thanks Fred for your message and thanks to all for making my year just a bit better. You are a wonderful bunch and I wish you the best in the new year. They published the newspaper article about my MG of the year award and you can view it at http://carrollwood2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/24/cw-gardener-earns-an-honor/news/. It's all there except for the picture, which was of me sitting in my rose garden. I haven't been able to find the picture on their website.
Jim
Oh my, without a modem so many days. I would not have been a happy camper either. I am always amazed how much we need computers!!
Very nice article!!. I will add the pic in my mind!
Since the month still has some time left - here is my Masdevallia tovarensis. I am just grateful for having kept it alive during our warm Summer outside here and it is budding and flowering now! Not a great flowering, but just enough to please me. Unfortunately the blooms smell quite unpleasant, so it stays upstairs in the greenhouse where the scent is "drowned out".
And if you feel reading this little clip about this plant:
It is an excerpt from here
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17155/17155-h/17155-h.htm
Excitement does not often run so high as in the
times, which most of those present can recall,
when orchids common now were treasured by
millionaires. Steam, and the commercial enter-
prise it fosters, have so multiplied our stocks,
that shillings or pence, often enough represent
the guineas of twenty years back. There are
many here, scarcely yet grey, who could describe
the scene when Masdevallia Tovarensis first
covered the stages of an auction-room. Its
dainty white flowers had been known for several
years. A resident in the German colony at
Tovar, New Granada, sent one plant to a friend
at Manchester, by whom it was divided. Each
fragment brought a great sum, and the purchasers
repeated this operation as fast as their morsels
grew. Thus a conventional price was established
one guinea per leaf. Importers were few in
those days, and the number of Tovars in South
America bewildered them. At length Messrs.
Sander got on the track, and commissioned Mr.
Arnold to solve the problem. Arnold was a man
of great energy and warm temper. Legend
reports that he threw up the undertaking once
because a gun offered him was second-hand ; his
prudence was vindicated afterwards by the mis-
fortune of a confrere, poor Berggren, whose second-
hand gun, presented by a Belgian employer,
burst at a critical moment and crippled him for
life. At the very moment of starting, Arnold had
trouble with the railway officials. He was taking
a quantity of Sphagnum moss in which to wrap
the precious things, and they refused to let him
carry it by passenger train. The station-master at
Waterloo had never felt the atmosphere so warm,
they say. In brief, this was a man who stood no
nonsense.
A young fellow-passenger showed much sym-
pathy while the row went on, and Arnold
learned with pleasure that he also was bound for
Caraccas. This young man, whose name it is not
worth while to cite, presented himself as agent for
a manufacturer of Birmingham goods. There was
no need for secrecy with a person of that sort.
He questioned Arnold about orchids with a blank
but engaging ignorance of the subject, and before
the voyage was over he had learned all his friend's
hopes and projects. But the deception could not
be maintained at Caraccas. There Arnold dis-
covered that the hardware agent was a collector
and grower of orchids sufficiently well known. He
said nothing, suffered his rival to start, overtook
him at a village where the man was taking supper,
marched in, barred the door, sat down opposite,
put a revolver on the table, and invited him to
draw. It should be a fair fight, said Arnold, but
one of the pair must die. So convinced was the
traitor of his earnestness with good reason, too,
as Arnold's acquaintances declare that he slipped
under the table, and discussed terms of abject sur-
render from that retreat. So, in due time, Messrs.
Sander received more than forty thousand plants
of Masdevallia Tovarensis sent them direct to
the auction-room and drove down the price in one
month from a guinea a leaf to the fraction of a
shilling.
Whoa! Those were the days of the cowboys of the orchid world, eh?
Love that tovarensis flower. What exactly does it smell like?
Janet, here is a pic of my Den. sulawesiense plant. The whole plant is about 2.5-3'.
Boojum...atre those humidity trays on the floor? Hubby stated that once the bathroom fiasco renavation is over he will help me build a green house, because I'm afraid of power tools that cut ( am VERY clumpsy and me and sharp cutting tools just won't mix well). I already have an ideal spot picked out.
Holy smokes - that is a large sulawesiense plant. It looks great!!
The tovarensis smell - consider a sort of Ammonia combined with a touch of fishiness.
Ursula...sounds stinky.
Those trays catch the water I spray with a hose from the bathroom sink. So I guess the short answer is yes, humidity trays.