My Growing Orchid Collection and Some Blooms

Apparently, writing about the orchid of this week this morning put me in an orchid hunting mood, because after I wrote that post, I took a walk to the Ikea in Red Hook (it’s sooo gorgeous out today!) to see what their orchid selection was like. It was crap. So I took the bus back toward Park Slope and on the way there I popped into Lowe’s to see if they happened to have any good orchids. And they did! I couldn’t stop myself…I ended up leaving with THREE new orchids! I promptly repotted them when I got home, like the good orchid geek that I am. All three are those Better-Gro orchids that come packaged in net and plastic, and each cost $13.97. Behold my post-repotted haul:

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My New (and first) Rhynchostylis

I went to Lowe’s on an errand for my boyfriend this weekend and when I saw that they had received a new shipment of Better-Gro orchids, it was pretty much inevitable that I would walk out of the store with at least one.

I ended up selecting a Rhynchostylis Gigantea ‘Peach’ that looked pretty healthy from what I could see through the packaging.

Rynchostylis Gigantea ‘Peach’…sorry for the yellow-tinged pic

As I’ve discovered with my other Better-Gro purchases, the potting medium was pretty gross. So I repotted the plant with fresh sphagnum moss when I brought it home and trimmed away a few rotten roots. I’ve never grown a Rhynchostylis before, so this is a first for my orchid collection. Let’s hope that I can get this baby to bloom!

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
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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

Better-Gro Oncidium Ampliatum
New orchid #1
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Expanding My Orchid Collection…Again

This morning when I was still in bed, my boyfriend texted me with this photo of mini oncidiums that he saw for $9 while running an errand at Lowe’s:

Mini oncidiums!

Well, that got me out of bed pretty quickly. I ate yogurt and cereal and gulped down some coffee, then went on the orchid hunt. Conveniently, this Lowe’s is only about a 10 minute walk from my house. And suddenly, I was in orchid heaven…

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Post-Move Update: Orchids Lost, Orchids Gained

Orchids in their new home

I finally got my internet connection set up, nearly two weeks after moving into my new place. You know that that means: back to blogging! Because I’ve been away from the computer for awhile, this is gonna be a pretty epic post.

My orchids all did well on moving day, which was two weeks ago as of tomorrow. I packed the plants in several boxes but left the tops open; my boyfriend and I moved them ourselves in a U-Haul van along with his saltwater fish and corals, which he placed temporarily in giant buckets of water. This cargo was too precious to allow our movers to handle.

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