I’m back on track with Orchid of the Week today! This week, I’ve chosen the very unique-looking Dendrobium spectabile. You may be familiar with Dendrobiums that look like this:
Orchid of the Week: Dendrobium Spectabile
Orchid Retail Therapy
Some women shop for clothing, shoes, and other accessories when they need a little retail therapy. Not me—I shop for orchids to get a little pick-me-up. On Thursday, I took a walk over to the Lowe’s in Gowanus, using orchid shopping as an excuse to get out of the house. OK, so the last time I bought orchids from that Lowe’s, they came down with a bad case of aphids and I ended up tossing them in the garbage. I went into this excursion cautiously, with those creepy little greenish-white creatures in mind. And when I got to the store I discovered that all the packaged Better-Gro orchids were 50% off! I’ve only bought one of these before, an Iwanagara Appleblossom, but these were such a good price that I ended up buying THREE of them (for only $7 apiece!).
Oncidium Ampliatum
Blooms and Spikes and Leaves—Oh My!
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any updates on my orchid collection because there hasn’t been a whole lot going on other than the blooming of the mystery dendrobium, which, by the way, now has two blooms. Each has taken on a more pinkish and greenish tinge in the throat than when they first opened. The faint coloring is a little hard to capture in a photo, but you get the idea:
My Mystery Dendrobium Has Bloomed!!
Sorry that I’ve been MIA for awhile—I have just been lame and not doing my Orchid of the Week posts, and then for the past week and a half I’ve been sick. I’m still sick—might have pneumonia, actually—but something exciting happened yesterday that I have to share. My mystery dendrobium that I bought early this year at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden shop has finally bloomed! It’s a pretty, small white bloom:
It may be a little hard to see, but there is a very faint pink tinge way back in the throat of the bloom:
As you can see, a second bud is developing so this bloom will soon have a buddy. At this point, it only looks like the spike is putting out two blooms. Hopefully it will produce some more in the future!
I am so proud that I’ve kept this orchid healthy enough to bloom for me! The other orchid that I bought at the same time, an odontoglossum, bit the dust awhile back.
OK, back to resting and drinking lots and lots of water. Once I’ve fully recovered I am going to get back on the orchid blogging horse and will work on updating more regularly!
Mystery Dendrobium in Spike
Wow, so I totally skipped doing an Orchid of the Week post last Friday, for no good reason. I guess I just wasn’t really in the mood. But something that has gotten me in the mood to post is that my mystery Dendrobium is in spike! Check out the nubbin I noticed within some of its leaves a couple weeks ago:
I bought this guy on sale for $12 at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden shop, along with an Odontoglossom Geyser Gold that has since died. This Dendrobium, which wasn’t in bloom when I bought it, has been flourishing and putting out new growths every so often. And now, it looks like it’s gearing up to finally bloom for me! The nubbin has turned into a spike for sure:
Getting this orchid to bloom is particularly exciting for me, because it had no tag when I bought it and I have absolutely no idea what its flowers are going to look like. For all I know it’s not even a Dendrobium (though its foliage and canes suggest that it is).
So I will wait patiently for the mystery blooms to open up. Whatever they end up looking like, they will be a nice surprise. Stay tuned!
Lots of New Orchid Growth!
I was checking out my orchids this morning and I discovered that my Iwanagara Appleblossom is already starting to put out two new roots, which is super exciting because the plant was left with only three decent roots after I cut away the bad ones. Knowing the state of the orchid’s roots, I was a little unsure whether I’d be able to nurse it to health, but things are already starting to look up:
As I mentioned yesterday, there is a whole lot of new growth going on with my orchids, and I’m so thrilled that, of course, I have to share some pics here! Click on each photo to see a larger version.
Great things are happening! It makes me so happy!