New Apartment, New Orchid Room, & An Update on My Orchid Collection

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.

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Wild Fairy Slipper Orchid Spotting in the Oregon Forest

This past weekend, my husband and I traveled to the Oregon forest for a lovely wedding. The festivities took place in Camp Sherman, but on the drive back to Portland the day after the wedding we decided to take a little detour to Sahalie and Koosah Falls in Willamette National Forest. It hadn’t occurred to me until we arrived at our hotel in Portland the first night that because we’d be staying in the forest we could potentially see native orchids in bloom! I furiously started googling “native Oregon orchids” and discovered that a few species that do indeed bloom there around this time of year.

With all the wedding celebration I didn’t really spend any time wandering in the woods over the weekend, but our little hike to the falls the day after the wedding turned up a really nice surprise…

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My New In Vitro Orchids from Costa Rica

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:

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What Is a Peloric Orchid?

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:

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The Orchid Show 2015: My Member Preview Day Visit

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Orchid Show 2015

Happy Orchid Show Opening Day, everyone! I had the good fortune to be able to attend the NYBG‘s annual show yesterday on their member preview day. My friend is a member and was allowed to bring guests, so being the resident orchid nerd of our group of friends I was a shoo-in, along with another friend who happened to be free on a Friday.  🙂 Yesterday marked my seventh annual visit to this Orchid Show! I can’t believe it’s been that long since I first attended and fell head over heels in love with these plants.

I’ve already posted some photos from my visit on The Social Medias, so if you aren’t already following @brooklynorchids on Facebook and Instagram, please do so!

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Orchid Spotting in South Florida

Yesterday I posted photos from my visit to R.F. Orchids, a lovely orchid nursery and showroom in Homestead, Florida. Today I’d like to share with you the rest of the orchids I photographed throughout our travels in Miami and the Florida Keys. Lots and lots of photos ahead!

Within an hour of arriving in Miami’s South Beach, we were eating lunch on the sidewalk at The Pelican when I spotted two orchids (probably Oncidiums) mounted on a nearby tree trunk:

It's kinda sad-looking, but I do see a couple new growths!
It’s kinda sad-looking, but I do see a couple new growths!
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