Glorious New Big Box Phals

This morning I was in the mood for more orchids, so I took a walk to the Home Depot over in Gowanus, which is really not easy to get to on foot. It’s rather sketchy over in those parts (very industrial), but I made it there and back in one piece and with TWO new orchids! The Lowe’s was on my way home so I figured, what the hell, I may as well stop in there too. And, well—as usual—I couldn’t resist. The orchid I got at HD is this lovely dark red Phal that looks more on the magenta side in this photo:

Beautiful deep red blooms

Then at Lowe’s, I picked out this lovely yellow specimen for its unique petal shape. Most orchids you’ll find at big box stores have those big round petals, but this orchid’s petals are almost angular, giving the blooms a star-like shape. And I liked the coloring, too—yellow with just a hint of green, and white and pink in the center.

Starry Blooms
A little more detail

During this visit to Lowe’s I didn’t feel like such a crazy orchid freak, because there was another woman there obsessing over which orchid(s) to buy. She even made a comment to me, saying “I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with finding the right one!” We agreed that most of the orchids there were in pretty good shape, which made it hard decide which one to take home. At least we weren’t fighting over the same orchid…that could have gotten ugly.  🙂

Below you’ll see a photo of both of my new orchids—you can see the true color of the red one a bit better in this photo. AND, each plant has TWO flower spikes!

Double spikes all the way!

I need to repot these babies and trim away any of the rotten material. I also need to clean off the leaves, as both plants have some white spotting on the foliage (nothing to be concerned about, sometimes that’s just from minerals in the water). I’ll take a paper towel soaked in vinegar to wipe the spots off—a nice eco- and plant-friendly way to clean them.

Happy New Orchid Day to me!  😀

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10 comments

  1. Nice Blog, I just stumbled on you this morning.

    Congrats! Both lovely, especially that large, yellow phal. I love the pink/red tinge in the yellow field. NOID or does it have an ID? How large is your collection?

    If you need some orchids get back to me, I’ve been thinning out my collection over the past few months here in our Brooklyn apartment, too many orchids, way too few windows.

    David

    1. Hi David, thanks for your comment! Both of my new phals are NOID. I don’t think I’ve ever found a phal with an ID at Home Depot or Lowe’s…though that would be nice. I have 33 orchids! My apartment gets lots of southern exposure, it’s perfect for orchid growing. 🙂 What kind of orchids are you looking to get rid of?

  2. 33 orchids is a nice collection. That’s about the size of my collection. A few on the probable list to go are:

    One of my Psychp. Butterfly var. alba ‘Canary’ (I have 4 Psychopsis)
    Dtps. Mino Princess “Watercolor Artist”
    Phal. amabilis var formosanum
    possibly… Phal. Timothy Christopher

    Our small orchid show at my wife’s spa ends at the end of this month, that’s when all of the orchids on display have to return to the limited space by the windows in our apartment.

    http://sagebrooklyn.com/orchids.html,

    1. What a small world – I live near Sage Spa and my boyfriend has a gift certificate for a massage there! Is the orchid show open for walk-ins?

      Psychopsis are amazing…well…let’s be honest, all orchids are pretty amazing. 🙂

  3. Show not open to walk-ins but I know the owner. You’re also invited to join your boyfriend while he gets his massage, you can sip tea and admire orchids. Let me know if you decide to stop by.

    1. I’ve read about blue Phals that had dye injected into the roots. I’m actually going to be around 28th St. next week and was planning to stop in some of the flower stores…I’ll have to keep a lookout for these!!

  4. From Orchidboard.com re: Blue Orchids

    Stopped at the Estero farmers market today. This phael caught my eye. I asked the vendor whether it was painted or dyed? He replied that it was technically neither, but the result of a new patented Dutch process. He said they inject a silver solution into the orchid. It is supposed to rebloom at least three times as a blue orchid and will then fade to white each bloom after. He also said vendors were sworn to secrecy until yesterday, when it was intorduced at the Ft Lauderdale show (where they apparently had a huge display).

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