First Spike in our New Apartment!

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.

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St. Louis Visit: Mom’s Beautiful Orchid Blooms

Happy Black Friday Day After Thanksgiving, everyone! My husband and I flew to St. Louis yesterday to visit with my parents for a few days and had a lovely dinner with them last night (thanks, Mom!).

Like me, my mom is an orchid enthusiast, and she currently has 15 orchids in the house. They’re spread out over a few different rooms, but most of them are getting southern exposure and are looking quite well. Two of them are blooming like gangbusters at the moment, and they’re so gorgeous that I wanted to share! Apologies for the iPhone quality photos—I actually FORGOT to pack my camera for this trip! Who am I?! I never forget my camera!

First up is a nice, large Oncidium Intergeneric Green Valley Honey ‘Sweet Lady’ which has one spike in full bloom and a second spike in development:

A very nice-sized orchid plant!
A very nice-sized orchid plant!
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A Few Updates: New Zazzle Products, Makeover Coming Soon, and Underwatered Orchids

I'll be rolling around in these fields soon....Photo credit: Jack Brauer
I’ll be rolling around in these fields soon….Photo credit: Jack Brauer

Lots of things going on around here! I love lists, so I present you this post in a list format.

  1. New products in the Brooklyn Orchids Online Store: It’s been way too long since I last updated the products in my store, and I finally have some fun new things for sale—all using my original photographs. I’ve added all kinds of items like thank you cards (my personal favorite is this toothy-grinned Dendrobium, luggage tags (inspired by my upcoming belated honeymoon to Italy*!!), and even some random stuff like nail wraps (NAIL ART YESSSS), a cosmetic bag, and a throw pillow. The coupon code BACK2SCHOOL2 gets you 15% off all products (the deal ends tomorrow, August 20th, at midnight PT). If there are any of my orchid photos that you’d like to see on a particular type of product, let me know in the comments and I can whip one up for you!
  2. Makeover is coming: I’ll admit that I’m the last person to embrace change, but my blog has had the same look for way too long and I’ve decided it’s time for a little spiffing up. Because I’ll be traveling to Italia soonish, I may not get around the all the changes until after I return, but for now just know that you will hit a completely different-looking Brooklyn Orchids at some point in the future. ETA TBD.
  3. Pour one out for the dearly departed: I’m not referring to the disappeared people from The Leftovers. Today, I made the decision to send two terribly ailing orchids to the Great Orchid Farm in the Sky (aka my compost bin). One was the Phalaenopsis that my husband and I received from his parents in an arrangement for our engagement party last year (I hate admitting that I killed that one!) and the other was a Better-Gro Cattleya from Lowe’s that has fared quite poorly lately. I should probably not buy Better-Gro orchids anymore because most of them have died on me, although I do still have three that are doing pretty well—they just haven’t bloomed yet.
  4. In case you were wondering what an underwatered Oncidium orchid looks like, let me show you:
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First Visit to U.S. Botanic Garden + My Latest Orchid Blooms

Well, here I am again with yet another apology for having neglected my blog. But I have some lovely orchid photos to share with you, so hopefully I’ll be forgiven.  🙂

Over Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I went down to D.C. for a little weekend getaway and some sightseeing. Our first destination was the United States Botanic Garden, which was the first-ever visit there for the both of us. And it was oh so glorious! First of all, it was a gorgeous day, and we strolled around the outdoor rose garden, sniffing the heavily scented blooms. From there, we went on into the Conservatory, which is just a wonderland for plant lovers. While we enjoyed every part of the Conservatory, you know what my favorite portion was. I spent quite a bit of time in the orchid room, marveling at the displays of orchids both familiar and unfamiliar to me.

Of course, I took tons of pictures so I could share them with you. Here are some of my favorites:

Vanda Doctor Anek ‘Fuchs Guoy’
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My Oncidium Pacific Sunrise ‘Hakalau’ Has Bloomed!

One day after my birthday, my Oncidium Pacific Sunrise ‘Hakalau’ really opened up! It’s actually not at all the orchid that I thought it was…but it’s still very lovely. This is what happens when you buy an orchid that’s not in bloom and then you don’t Google the orchid’s name. You think the flowers are gonna look like this:

Fragrant Oncidium
Not in fact the Oncidium Pacific Sunrise!

And then the buds start to form and they look much smaller and darker than you’d expect:

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