If you live in the New York area (and maybe even if you don’t), you probably know about the Egyptian cobra that went missing from the Bronx Zoo a week ago. Well, she has since been found, but not before going out on the town and hilariously Twittering about her “adventures.”
Photo credit: NY TImes
So in honor of this lovely snake-with-no-name (seriously, Bronx Zoo, name this lady!!), this week I’m featuring the Diuris pedunculata, whose nickname is the small snake orchid. I think I can see why—look at that little “fang” in the center of the bloom!
One thing you don’t see very often in orchids is a nice green-colored bloom. I was flipping through one of my books for ideas this morning (Orchids by Thomas J. Sheehan) and found this lovely green orchid called Aeranthes grandiflora:
Photo credit: streetmorrisart, slippertalk.com
As part of the Angraecinae subtribe, it’s related to Angraecum sesquipedale, the “Darwin’s Orchid” that I featured awhile back. This baby is a Madigascar native with a butterscotch-like fragrance. Its blooms open at night and usually in succession over a long period of time. Apparently this orchid is easy to grow in the home, needing low light and medium to warm temperature.
I’ve read about this Keiki Grow Plus paste that you can use to try and propagate Phalaenopsis orchids, and I wanted to give it a whirl for myself. Basically, it’s a paste consisting of hormones that, if applied correctly, can encourage the growth of a keiki—a baby plant—off the spike of the original plant. Orchid propagation is not for beginners or the faint of heart (propagation involves a sterile environment…and that’s about all I know about it), so this paste provides a way for us “regular folk” to clone our own plants.
I recently traded in some MyPoints for an Amazon.com gift card, so I used that money to buy Keiki Grow Paste from the Carter & Holmes Orchids store on Amazon. It cost $27.95 for a very small (15 ml) container, but as I am finding out, a little goes a long way with the stuff. Side note: Carter & Holmes shipped my order very quickly…two thumbs up!! [Side side note: C&H no longer carries this paste on Amazon, but it can be found at the Amazon Repotme store…paid link.]
I know St. Patty’s Day is over, but today I’m featuring the “Irish Orchid”—Neotina maculata (side note: I recently discovered after doing some genealogy research on Ancestry.com that I have a bit of Irish blood!). This plant is also known as the “Dense-flowered orchid,” and as one of its nicknames suggests, it can be found in Ireland. The orchid reminds me a bit of a sprig of hyacinth:
A couple weeks ago, I bought a lovely red NOID Phal from the Home Depot in Gowanus or Red Hook or whatever you call that area. The other day when I was watering the orchid, I noticed that it had a strong scent, kind of rose-like. Bonus! I am a little surprised I didn’t notice the scent immediately, but I guess the industrial stink from Hamilton Avenue kind of overpowered the flowers’ fragrance. Anyhoo, this orchid is doing quite well so far:
Crappy iPhone pic
So just the other night, I was walking home and passed by a local small garden shop which shall remain nameless. Some red orchids on the counter near the front window caught my eye, and I realized that they were potted in the same white decorative pot as my HD orchid. I figured they must have gotten the orchids from the same grower as HD and was curious as to how much they are charging for them. This afternoon I took a walk and stopped in the store along the way.
The store is charging $75 for these orchids. You read that right: SEVENTY-FIVE EFFING BUCKAROOS. I paid $19.99 for mine at Home Depot. I don’t normally use those long internet abbreviation thingies that are all the rage with kids these days, but this calls for a big fat AYFKMWTS?!?
I don’t want to name the store, because 1) I feel bad talking shit about a nice local business, and 2) I can’t be 100% positive that the orchids are the exact same as the ones at HD. However, the orchids look the same, they smell the same, they are planted in the same decorative pots, and the “how to care for this orchid” tags on them are similar to, if not the same as, the one that mine came with (I’ve thrown my tag away, so I have nothing for comparison).
Okay, so maybe this store has some garden items at more reasonable prices, but their orchids are WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced. If you live in Park Slope, you can probably guess which store I’m talking about. More than three times the cost for the same orchid as Home Depot? Unless the orchids are like, blessed by a warlock with tiger blood or something, that’s just insanity. This video sums up my feelings on the matter:
Consider this your Park Slope Orchid Shopping PSA.
Spring is definitely on the verge of busting out here in Brooklyn, and there’s plenty of growth taking place in my little orchid room. First, I want to share a better photo of my Phal amboinensisPhal bastianii:
