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Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Orchids in the Media

Grammatophyllum Speciosum Blooming at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Other Wonderful Things

November 12, 2011 7 Comments

I had forgotten about Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s free winter weekday admission until I saw Brokelyn’s post about it earlier this week. So I made plans to go with my also-marginally-employed friend on Friday morning (random aside: we planned to meet at 11am on 11.11.11!). I’ve been in the mood to go see some orchids, and I was also thinking about how the Grammatophyllum speciosum (AKA the Tiger Orchid) was probably due to bloom soonish. You may remember that I featured this plant as an Orchid of the Week quite awhile back; it’s believed to be the largest type of orchid in the world!

When we got to the Aquatic House at the BBG, we marveled at some lovely Vandas for awhile before I realized that the Tiger Orchid was already in bloom!! This plant is a truly stunning monster:

The amazing Grammatophyllum speciosum in bloom

Orchid of the Week

Orchid of the Week: Brassavola Nodosa

November 11, 2011 6 Comments

I’m WAY overdue for an orchid of the week post—or any post, really. So sorry about that, folks! I hope you’ll forgive me for being totally MIA. This week’s featured orchid is inspired by my mom, who texted me a photo of her blooming Brassavola nodosa yesterday. So in honor of her good growing, this post is about the B. nodosa!

This orchid is native to Mexico, the West Indies, Venezuala, and Peru. It’s known as the “Lady of the Night” orchid because it is fragrant, but only in the evening. Some say its fragrance is citrusy and gardenia-like, which sounds rather lovely to me. Let’s have a look at some photos, shall we?

Brassavola nodosa — Photo credit: brassavolaorchids.com

My Orchid Garden, Orchid of the Week

Orchid of the Week: Dendrobium Aggregatum

September 2, 2011 13 Comments

Surprise! Bet you thought you weren’t going to see an Orchid of the Week post today, didn’t you? This regular feature has totally fallen by the wayside lately, and for that I apologize. I’ve actually been busier with work over the past few weeks, and then last Friday I was out and about preparing for that hurricane thing that happened.

Anyway, this week I’m featuring another orchid from my own collection, the Dendrobium aggregatum. For the record, mine has not bloomed yet, but I’ve only had it for a few months. This orchid is a bright, cheery plant that can produce loads of yellow blooms:

My Orchid Garden

A Long Overdue Keiki Grow Experiment Update

September 1, 2011 10 Comments

As one of my readers pointed out a little while ago, it’s high time I updated you all on my Keiki Grow Paste experiment. When I last blogged about it at the end of May (yikes…um…it’s now Sepember), there was some really weird stuff going on with the keikis. But now, I’m happy to report that I do have some bona fide keikis growing, roots and all. Let me show you:

Keiki growth — This is the Phal that had the Kermit balls growth

My Orchid Garden

My Growing Orchid Collection and Some Blooms

August 12, 2011 8 Comments

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:

My Orchid Garden, Orchid of the Week

Orchid of the Week: Brassolaeliocattleya Hawaiian Passion

August 12, 2011 7 Comments

After a multi-week break, Orchid of the Week is back! And this time I chose my newest orchid, Brassolaeliocattleya Hawaiian Passion “Carmela.” It’s a gorgeous specimen that I bought on my visit to Cal Pacific Orchid Farm a few weeks ago. The plant that I bought was in bud, but I snapped a pic of a beautiful one in bloom while I was there: