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:
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…
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted any updates on my orchid collection because there hasn’t been a whole lot going on other than the blooming of the mystery dendrobium, which, by the way, now has two blooms. Each has taken on a more pinkish and greenish tinge in the throat than when they first opened. The faint coloring is a little hard to capture in a photo, but you get the idea:
Right now, the Indian festival of lights known as Diwali is taking place, so in honor of Diwali I’m featuring an orchid that is native to India: Aerides Maculosum. It’s also known as the Cat’s Tail, Fox Tail or Fox Brush orchid. It’s a tropical epiphyte within the Vandaceous Alliance. I LOVE Vandas, so it’s no wonder I was attracted to this little beauty:
The flowers are very small, sometimes only about 2 centimeters across.
These blooms totally have that bug-eyed look in the center, just like Vandas.
Quite lovely, no? For comparison, here’s a photo of a Vanda that I took at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:
Vanda blooms are WAY bigger than Aerides maculosum, which look like tiny gems in comparison.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
It’s baaaaaaaack…Orchid of the Week! Sorry for my lameness in skipping these posts for the past few weeks. This Sunday is my favorite holiday: Halloween. So this week I’ve chosen a spooky orchid, the Brassia arcuigera. Why Brassia? This type of orchid is also known as the Spider Orchid…and I’m terrified of spiders. Totally appropriate for a Halloween weekend post. 🙂
Brassia orchids are found in South Florida, the West Indies, and tropical America. These orchids are pollinated by female spider-hunting wasps—who knew such a thing existed??
I can’t even bring myself to search for an image of a spider to post here for comparison’s sake, because I’m so arachnophobic that I can’t even look at photos of the suckers. So you’ll just have to use your imagination on this one. But I think it’s pretty obvious why this orchid has the spidery nickname: take a look at those long, spindly “legs”! At least they’re not furry *shudders violently*.
I’m going to have to end this post soon, because looking at so many photos of spidery flowers is actually starting to make my skin crawl just a bit, despite my love for orchids. Here’s one last image:
Have a happy and safe Halloween weekend, everyone!!
Sorry that I’ve been MIA for awhile—I have just been lame and not doing my Orchid of the Week posts, and then for the past week and a half I’ve been sick. I’m still sick—might have pneumonia, actually—but something exciting happened yesterday that I have to share. My mystery dendrobium that I bought early this year at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden shop has finally bloomed! It’s a pretty, small white bloom:
It may be a little hard to see, but there is a very faint pink tinge way back in the throat of the bloom:
As you can see, a second bud is developing so this bloom will soon have a buddy. At this point, it only looks like the spike is putting out two blooms. Hopefully it will produce some more in the future!
I am so proud that I’ve kept this orchid healthy enough to bloom for me! The other orchid that I bought at the same time, an odontoglossum, bit the dust awhile back.
OK, back to resting and drinking lots and lots of water. Once I’ve fully recovered I am going to get back on the orchid blogging horse and will work on updating more regularly!
Okay, I’ll admit it. When none of my orchids are in bloom, I have a strong desire to buy more because I like to have something blooming in my home. On Tuesday, I ended up buying a new Phal at Home Depot in Manhattan. The very next day, I finished my volunteer shift with KittyKind at the Petco in Union Square and decided to check out the orchid selection at Trader Joe’s…you know, cuz it was so close by and all.
TJ’s had a pretty nice selection of healthy looking orchids, including lots of Phals, some Oncidiums (I almost bought a second Twinkle Fragrance Fantasy!), and Paphs. I ended up selecting a small Phal for only $9.99. It’s healthy looking with two spikes and nice sturdy, grassy green foliage. See?
There are currently three blooms open, and they are white with a lovely blush tinge and a peachy speckled-and-striped lip. This orchid did come with a tag, which says “medium white with blush”. Wow, I couldn’t have figured that out myself. So helpful. Anyway, here’s a close-up of one of the blooms:
When I first brought the orchid home it had lots of swelling buds on both spikes:
But as of this morning it looks like some of the smaller, newer buds are starting to blast. They have turned darker in color and look like they are drying out and starting to shrivel:
I wonder if the bud blast is due to my repotting this plant as soon as I got it home? I know that repotting orchids in bloom can lead to loss of blooms. It could also just be due to a change in the orchid’s environment. At least I know that I got rid of the few rotten roots on this plant when I repotted it, and I didn’t pack in the sphagnum moss nearly as tightly as it had been when I bought it.
Each spike is starting to grow a side spike, so with a little luck maybe those will become fruitful and bloom for me. Regardless, my two new Phals make me so happy!