Friday Cat Orchid Blogging

It's a rare day when the orbs align...



And now for a little more cat love. First, we have Sushi's new bed - my new suitcase. The cats liked my old suitcase, but it broke, and anyway this new one has more hard parts on it, and Lord knows why, but the cats like to lay down on hard edges, especially with their heads. Very strange. Can't get Sushi off my suitcase:



Well, that is, unless Sushi is in Chris and Joelle's bedroom trying to stop them from taking their vacation tomorrow. Their cats are very good at gleaning when you're packing your suitcase. They then jump inside, whether to stop you, come with, or something. In this case, Sushi discovered the pile of stuff that Chris and Joelle are packing for their 3 week trip to the south, and Sushi wormed his way in:



Nasdaq, on the other hand, is guarding the bed. Diligently.

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Friday Orchid Blogging

Colmanara Wildcat (in full bloom)

You may recall that about a month ago I blogged about this flower just as it was starting to bloom. Well, now it's in full bloom, with about 70 flowers, give or take, so you can see it in its full splendor. This is what orchids do when they get all the light they want and need. Pretty cool. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Colmanara Wildcat

I love this flower. In orchid-land, this is considered one of the more "common" orchids (i.e., nothing special). Well, let me tell you. This is one of the first plants I ever got, and it's still possibly my favorite. I mean just look at the thing (this is my actual plant, photographed today). Look especially at the photos below, that show a close-up of one flower, and then the entire plant (there are literally 40 flowers getting ready to open on that second stem alone). I actually had trouble growing this guy for a few years, until I moved it over to the semi-hydroponic form of growing I'd mentioned before (basically, growing it in a plastic Chinese delivery container, with holes an inch above the bottom, and filling the pot with hard-baked clay pellets that absorb the water and keep the area moist yet open and airy. The thing LOVES it. This is the best it's bloomed for me, ever. Of course, it will probably fully open up in 2 weeks when I'm out of town. Anyway, really a spectacular plant. Oh, and a mouse chomped down on it too a few months back and it STILL looks like this. One more thing, orchid plants themselves are often quite hideously ugly, as plants go. Check out the plant itself in the bottom photo. Nothing special. Anyway, enjoy. JOHN



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Friday Orchid Blogging

Doritis pulcherrima (I'm pretty sure)

This is a real cutie, and not one of mine. As you can see, that's my thumb next to the flowers, the flowers are very tiny, but there are a lot of them, so it makes up for it. I'm running out to dinner, so not going to add much more. Enjoy :-) JOHN Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Phal. Haur Jin Diamond 'Ching Hua'

This is a beautiful plant I bought at a home show here in DC probably 3 years ago. The plant has never thrived under my care, but it hasn't died either. Just kind of limps along, growing VERY slowly. And this year it finally flowered. Sure, it only has two flowers (one is still coming, so only one is in bloom), and sure, it should have like 10 flowers, but I remember now why I bought this plant. I mean, is that a great flower or what? Some people hate this style of orchid, called "harlequin." It's a genetic mutation that was cultivated, and now there are tons of these splotchy harlequin orchids around. I've always loved them. So, while I'm still a bit annoyed that my plants is still baby sized (it should be huge at this point), I'm really happy to see that it can flower, and that the flowers are so grand. Really a lovely plant. Oh, I've also posted another picture, below, of the entire plant. Orchid people don't often publish the entire plant, you'll often only see the flowers (at least in this country - in Japan, you'll often see the entire plant in photos). It kind of gives you more perspective on the flower, I think. Enjoy. JOHN

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Friday Orchid Blogging

Phalaenopsis manii

This is a Phal. manii, or a close kin. Phals are the orchids people tend to buy at the supermarket, the "moth orchid," as it were. So manii's are in that same family, but they're a lot cooler. Only problem, they're not as floriferous as a plain old supermarket phal. So I don't really own them because I like big and showy. This photo I took last week at Al's Orchid Greenhouse out in Leesburg, VA. Al has great stuff, but unfortunately had a fire a few months back, so he's rebuilding his stock. Still, he has a lot of nice plants, so if you're in the area, and into such things, it's worth a visit. Well that's about it for this week. Enjoy. JOHN Read More......

Friday Mutant Orchid Blogging

(Normal flower on left, mutant on right)

Peloric Phrag. Besseae (aka A Mutant!)

This one is kind of fun in a creepy genetic way (click the image to see a larger version). It's a flower I've shown you before, from this very plant probably, but one day it bloomed a bit funny. The plant threw up a mutant flower that had an extra pair of female organs on the petals. Very creepy. Since it did it just this once, and the other flowers were normal, it was not a permanent genetic change in the plant, but rather something that went wrong with that particular flower (probably some chemicals I treated the plant with while the flower was developing). Still, it's kind of cool. I took a great photo of a flower that did something similar a while back, I'll have to find it to post it another day - but basically, if the thing could have been calling "Help me!" it would have. Totally bizarre mix of genetic mess. Anyway, so that's our Friday night mutant orchid blogging, for something a little different. Enjoy. JOHN Read More......

Another orchid shot

Someone mentioned in the comments that I really ought to snap my orchid photos with a solid background. I totally forgot that I had bought some black velvet for this very purpose. So, here's the same flower as last night, with the better background. (The flower's true color is much redder, but as I mentioned last night, it's nearly impossible to capture the color with a digital camera - anyone up on why digital cameras have problems with some colors? I've noticed the same problem with either blue or purple flowers, it screws up their coloring as well.) Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

I wanted to get this in before midnight...



Phrag. Fox Valley Fireball

I got this little guy 3 years ago, or so, and he finally bloomed. And he's a nice one. A good 7.9 cm across, and the color is stunning, and rather difficult to capture on film. It's actually a bit darker and more yellow than this - almost velvety. But I put the flower next to the monitor when adjusting the photos, so this is very close. I grow this one, like most of my plants, using the semi-hydrophonics method (it grows in baked clay in a tall plastic cup with holes about an inch up from the bottom, so the extra water runs out when I water it - the water then moves around by osmosis). Anyway, I'm quite happy with this one. It's just beautiful. Enjoy. JOHN Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Renanthera

I took this shot at a show a while back. It's stunning. And ungrowable, by me at least. I wouldn't even dare. You have to grow them in wood slat baskets. Yeah, right. It's hard enough explaining the orchid lights (read: pot lights) to the neighbors. I don't need wood slatted baskets hanging from the ceiling. Anyway, this is truly one of my favorites. Exotic, stunning, creepy, but also beautiful. Enjoy :-) Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Epi. Gay Rabbit

Yes, it's really called a "gay rabbit." The first person to register a name for a certain hybrid gets to make that name permanent. And somebody must have thought this thing had rabbit ears and, well, I dunno. Anyway, a friend gave me this several years back, it never grew a lick for her, so I took it, and now, several years later, it finally has flowers. And very cool flowers at that. The stem is probably a good foot and a half high, and the flowers are lightly scented. I grow this in semi-hydro, like my other orchids (basically, the roots grow in a very open baked clay pellet medium that ends up being moist by airy). I'm pretty pleased with this one. Enjoy :-) JOHN Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Oncidium Millennium Gold 'Geon' AM/AOS

This is a funny one. I bought it an orchid show a few years ago because I liked the big oversized yellow flowers on the demo plant. I think the flower spike (the long stalk that the flowers grow on) was maybe 2 feet, or possibly 3. I thought it was kind of cool being that long, so I bought it. It's been a few years, no flowers, a bout of rot, and finally, again with the new lights, the plant started to take off. I noticed several months ago - we might be talking 4 months ago or even more - that it was starting to develop a flower spike. Cool, I thought. And the months passed, the spike grew longer, and no flowers. I kept moving the plant farther and farther away from the curtains, so it wouldn't hit the window (it grows towards the light, and then the things started branching off into more spikes, but still no flowers. Finally, a few weeks ago, the flowers starting, and the damn thing just kept growing. It stills lots more flowers to go - I counted around 45 to 50, but more keep growing at the tips. As you can see in the photo to the left, it's now taller than me, and I'm around 5-10. Check out how small the actual plant is. Oh, and this is the first time it's bloomed. That generally means, it's going to be far more spectacular in future blooms. The funny thing is, I'm not even sure if I like it anymore! That's a problem with orchids, they tend to stick around a while, the flowers do, so after a while you're like, okay, enough already. Anyway, it's kind of funny how big this thing has gotten, and is still getting. So, enjoy. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Phrag. Elizabeth Castle

I got this guy as a freebie baby plant from someone after another plant they sent me didn't do so well. I looked it up online and kind of yawned. Little did I know that I either looked up the wrong plant, or this plant has a lot of variation in it. The red is pretty striking, it's actually almost a purple-red, and it has a very very very slight scent, almost a bit citrusy (like many orchids, at least I've found). The flowers tend to bloom sequentially, one comes out for a few weeks, then drops off in perfect shape and another blooms, and on and on for 4 or more flowers over a few months. Seems to be a hardy grower, for me at least, so it's a keeper. Enjoy. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Paph. Norito Hasegawa

I'm actually quite proud of this one. We're now getting into the realm of orchids that are a bit harder to grow, and flower, than your usual run of the mill phal (the moth orchids, which I often tend to kill), though this guy has a reputation of being pretty easy (well, that's orchid easy). This guy has been growing for a few years and just recently bloomed. The flower has been open for a good couple of weeks so far. The supposedly sometimes smell like pine. Mine doesn't. But it's still pretty cool, and a good size too - about 3 3/4 inches at its widest.

It's pretty cool, I have a number of plants either flowering or getting ready to flower. I got some hideous compact fluorescent lights last winter or so, and while the set up looks like a home-grown pot garden (most of the home orchid folks get their advice on home garden lighting from the pot people, who are apparently experts at it), and I have to wear an eye mask so they don't wake me up at 6am when the lights go on, it's done wonders for the plants. Heck, that one plant I mentioned a few weeks ago, the spike (the flower stem) is getting close to 6 feet long, with about 30 flowers on it. It hasn't fully bloomed, but when it does I'll take a picture. The reason they're doing so well is that they're finally getting the light they need - a simple sunlight window isn't enough for some species of orchids. So yeah, my apartment is bright, but hey, how many people have flowering plants indoors in February, and an added bonus, at least I won't be getting that cabin fever depression they get in Alaska! Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Phrag. besseae

This is a flower that was only discovered about 20 years ago. The red is incredibly vivid, the photo does not do it justice. I find this one not too hard to grow, it needs good light, and decent water. And for me at least it blooms every winter. It's a small thing, maybe 1.75 inches across. And the petals glimmer in the sunlight. It's quite a cool little flower. Enjoy. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Below are the two parents of this flower, so you can get a sense of the breeding that goes on here - I don't own the parents:



This is a Paphiopedilum Freckles 'Pinkie' crossed with an Amanda 'Joyance.' It's a first bloom from this rather young plant, and is showing great potential. It's a cute little thing, under 2 inches across, and if I can keep the plant alive, it should be even better next year time it blooms (which may not be until next winter). This is the season for a lot of orchids of this type, paphs, to bloom, so I'm looking forward to several of mine opening up any day now. I also have another plant that I can't wait to show you. It's rather insane. It's throwing a spike, as we call it, the long thin shoot that the flowers will eventually be on, but the damn spike is five feet long and growing. The spike was maybe 2.5 feet long when I bought the plant a few years ago - this is the first time it's bloomed since, and boy what a whopper. I can't wait for this thing to bloom, then to get pictures to show you, with me standing next to it so you'll get the full sense of it. Plants really can be amazing sometimes. They're not Carmela the wonderdog, but still, they're pretty cool. Enjoy. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Odontocidium Wildcat

I'm quite proud of this one. I nursed it back to health from near death about 3 or 4 years ago. It finally bloomed a week ago. I love this plant. It's quite an ordinary orchid, among orchid growers, but it's such a beauty. I mean look at this thing - it looks like, well, a wild cat. Enjoy. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

(click photos to enlarge)




Took these photos at Al's Orchid Greenhouse a few weeks back, out in Virginia (Leesburg, I think). Great place. I honestly don't know what this is, though I think it might be a variation on Doritis pulcherimma. Anyway, it's nothing special, but at the same, there's something captivating about it. Meaning, I wouldn't want to own it, but looking at the photos is still kind of breathtaking. Enjoy. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Oncidium sphacelatum

This is an enormous oncidium at a local orchid greenhouse in Virgnia - Al's Orchid Exchange. Al is great, and we really like his stuff. I cropped the pic of my friend, since I didn't get his permission to post his pic, but you can get a sense of how huge the plant is - Al started this thing only a few years ago with a few bulbs. If you look carefully, you'll see the plant is actually the very long leaves to the right - those are smaller other plants in front of it. Pretty amazing. And pretty insane. But also pretty damn cool, if you've got the space for it. And if you don't, you just cut the damn thing in half every time you repot and give half away. Read More......

Friday Orchid Blogging

Okay, these are the latest photos of the Paph Temptation that I've been showing you the past several weeks. It's now almost fully open - four of the five flowers are open - and now you get a sense of the majesty of the plant in full bloom. Simply amazing.

Click each photo to see a much larger version.





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