I was hoping that my NOID Oncidium blooms would start to open up on my birthday (June 13) as they did the last time the plant bloomed two years ago. Well, that didn’t happen, but they did begin to open up the morning after…so, close enough! Compare what the buds looked like yesterday morning…
Over the holidays last year I received a lovely gift from my in-laws: a gift certificate for Santa Barbara Orchid Estate. My husband and I visited the place way back in May 2011; it was my first ever visit to an orchid nursery, and I loved it. I didn’t buy anything when we visited because I was worried about transporting orchids safely on a plane (which I have since done successfully). So I was excited to have the opportunity to have some orchids shipped directly to me from the estate!
My orchids have, sadly, been rather dormant ever since we moved into our current apartment at the end of last June. The “orchid room” window faces southwest rather than south like it did in our last apartment, so the light isn’t quite as bright here. There has been a fair amount of new leaf, root, and pseudobulb growth, but spikes are another story. So I was thrilled at the end of March to discover a spike on my NOID Oncidium that last bloomed for me two years ago! If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might already be aware of this development.
The spike was hiding inside the folds between the leaves and the pseudobulb, and it was a little bent but still totally viable. It was about an inch and a half long by the time I found it.
Well, it’s been far too long since I last posted, yet again. Sorry for that, folks! It’s been a pretty crazy summer, with the biggest news being that we moved into a new apartment in a new neighborhood at the end of June. We lived in the same apartment in Park Slope for four years and our landlord chose not to renew our lease, so we spent the end of May and beginning of June frantically looking for a new place. Once we signed a lease on an apartment in Windsor Terrace we had to actually go through with the moving part, which was NOT FUN AT ALL…but we survived. As upset as we were about having to move apartments, we adore our new place and neighborhood—it’s so quiet and lovely!
So that’s how my orchids ended up with a new growing location, which doubles as the orchid room and my office. I wanted to share my new orchid setup here, along with some photos of what’s been going on with some of my orchids since the move.
A blog post two days in a row; this is most definitely a recent record for me!
I got a very nice surprise this week when my friend had a visitor from Costa Rica: he brought me two types of in vitro orchids! I have never tried growing orchid seedlings before, so this will be a really cool challenge for me.
What are in vitro orchids, anyway? They are orchids that have been artificially produced from seed in a lab under highly controlled conditions. The seedlings are transplanted into vials or flasks containing nutrient-rich gel and should be allowed to grow inside for a certain amount of time (these specific species’ instructions stated two to four months) before being removed and potted. It’s important to note that these orchids are not grown from seeds taken in the wild; that would be illegal. The package states that “they come from the reproduction of the very best mother plants of Costa Rica.” And apparently, these packaged in vitro orchids are even available at the airport in Costa Rica. Sounds like I need to take a little vacation down there. 🙂
So, let’s take a look at my new goodies, shall we? The first is an Epidendrum schomburgkii:
Wow, it has been WAY too long since I last posted here. I started my own personal blog a little while back, and I got all excited about that. I think I had burned myself out on writing about orchids after doing quite a bit of freelance writing about them, and I’ve needed some time to reclaim that energy. I don’t think I’m totally there yet, but I do have a couple very cool things to share with you (one of which I’ll save for a separate post).
This morning, my husband and I went to Whole Foods to pick up some stuff for a picnic in the park today (yay!). When we entered there was a big display of Phalaenopsis orchids for $12.99 (they usually sell them for about $19.99) and they had several peloric orchids. I’ve talked about peloric orchids a bit before, and I have a gorgeous semi-peloric Phal that’s currently in bloom:
