It’s a dreary day in Brooklyn today, but at least it’s not freakin’ snowing again. I’ll take warm and wet over dry and frozen any day. Because I can feel a touch of spring in the air, I’ve chosen to feature a cute little orchid with springy colors: Paphiopedilum micranthum.
In the past week, THREE of my orchids have bloomed, starting with this adorable harlequin orchid on Valentine’s Day:
One year ago today, I started Brooklyn Orchids! In that year, I’ve published 107 posts (including this one) and received close to 14,000 views! I’m very proud of what I’ve done with this blog so far, and I plan to keep it up. It’s nice having a hobby that I can share in this format with friends, family, and People of the Internet in general.
Since that first post a year ago, my orchid collection has grown from 9 to 31. My kill count has—unfortunately—increased from 2 to 7, but when your hobby involves growing living things, this is inevitable. Also in the past year, my orchids survived a move from Sunset Park to Park Slope and are now (for the most part) growing happily in my very own Orchid Room.
Over the last 365 days, I’ve written 28 Orchid of the Week posts, a couple posts on unfortunate orchid names, and a whole bunch of informational posts about growing orchids. I must admit that I’ve been slacking on those informational posts lately, and my goal is to get back in to the swing of writing them.
I hope you’ve been enjoying reading my blog as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it! Here’s to many more years of orchid obsession and blogging. Ta-ta for now. 🙂
I missed posting an Orchid of the Week yesterday because my boyfriend and I made a trip to Spa Castle, a really awesome and affordable Korean Day spa in Queens. I’m posting today instead, and my visit to the spa got me thinking about how some spas use white Phalaenopsis orchids in their advertising. And in movies/on TV, a lot of spas and massage places have white orchids as part of their decor. I suppose these orchids with long sprays of giant, pure white blooms are synonymous with relaxation and pampering in the spa world. So…this week’s orchid is the Phalaenopsis White Dream, apparent spa orchid of choice:
Amazingly, I don’t have one of these in my own collection, though they are popular and sold almost everywhere I go to buy orchids. However, my friend recently received a big white orchid (actually 2 plants potted together) at work from a vendor, and I’m going to pick it up from her office so that I can pot the plants separately and care for them at home. I will be the proud owner of these “spa orchid” beauties very soon! 🙂
One thing I loved about growing up in St. Louis (born & raised!) was the Missouri Botanical Garden, or “Mobot” as it’s known to locals. I have great memories of wandering the garden and collecting Osage Oranges, checking out the Climatron, visiting the amazing Japanese garden, and feeding the HUGE koi. What I don’t remember about Mobot is that they throw an annual Orchid Show—I’m not actually sure when they started doing it. This year’s Mayan-themed show began on January 29 and runs through March 27.
I wish I was in St. Louis right now so that I could go to this show! Fortunately, my mom (also an orchid lover/owner) is going to attend soon, so I’m sure I’ll get the full scoop, with photos, from her. Any readers out there in the St. Louis area—this is definitely something to check out!
To whet your appetite, Mobot has posted a video of last year’s Paris-themed Orchid Show:
Gorgeous!
My brother is currently traveling in Thailand during a break from teaching in China. So this week I decided to feature an orchid native to Thailand, where in the next few days my brother is going to be ziplining, riding an elephant, going to a flower festival (yay!), trekking to local tribes in the hills, and more.
Upon googling orchids native to Thailand, I discovered the crazy little gem that is Bulbophyllum putidum:
