I’ve tried growing three different Paphiopedilums (lady slippers) and have killed two out of those three. The third, however, has been chugging along happily and put up a spike a little while ago. And now, I’m so proud to say that it is currently in bloom, with one fully opened flower and two developing buds!
Winter is the season in which many Phals display their full potential. While it actually doesn’t feel so wintery in NYC these days, my Phals are responding to the season as they should. I have a few orchids in bloom that I want to share with you! One of them is the Phal that opened up in mid January; a few more buds have opened and there are still more to come:
The second is a beautiful, colorful bloom on a side shoot of the Phal that my parents sent me for my 33rd birthday last summer:
And possibly the most exciting of the three, my Tolumnia from Lowe’s is finally beginning to bloom again!
Another one of my Phals and two of my Phal keikis (one potted on its own, one still attached to its mother) are in spike too, so there will be blooms aplenty in the house soon. 🙂
Just a bit more than two weeks into 2012 and I have the first new bloom of the year! It’s a pretty little Phal that I bought at Trader Joe’s, probably about a year ago.
This is one of the orchids that I’ve been experimenting on with Keiki Grow Paste. I’ve already separated a baby orchid from this plant and potted it on its own…and the baby is also in spike! Can’t wait to see the blooms on that little one. But for now, I will enjoy the blooms that are opening up on this pretty white and peachy-pink Phal.
Just a bit more than two weeks into 2012 and I have the first new bloom of the year! It’s a pretty little Phal that I bought at Trader Joe’s, probably about a year ago.
This is one of the orchids that I’ve been experimenting on with Keiki Grow Paste. I’ve already separated a baby orchid from this plant and potted it on its own…and the baby is also in spike! Can’t wait to see the blooms on that little one. But for now, I will enjoy the blooms that are opening up on this pretty white and peachy-pink Phal.
I’m finding that my post about how to identify whether you have an orchid spike or a root is my most viewed post by far. For example, just in the past week, my spike* vs. root post has been viewed nearly 6x as many times as my second most viewed post of the week. Clearly, “is it a root or is it a spike?” is a big question for new orchid owners!
So in the interest of helping orchid growers out even more, I decided to do another post on this topic, this time with LOTS of photo examples to help better illuminate what a root looks like and what a spike looks like. If you haven’t read my original post, I recommend doing so before you dive into this one. All the below photos are of orchids in my own collection. Because you’ll see more roots growing from your orchid than spikes, let’s begin with root pics:
If you follow my blog you may have noticed I haven’t posted in a couple weeks. I’ve been pretty busy and am doing a little traveling, so I haven’t had tons of time to post. I just got back in town yesterday (went to my 15 year—YIKES—high school reunion in St. Louis, which was a lot of fun) and am leaving again this afternoon for a trip to southern Cali (where I might visit an orchid farm or two!).
Starting next week I should be back in the blogging business, and I have plenty to write about regarding my own orchids. For now, I leave you with this crappy iPhone pic of one of my big white Phals whose side shoot just bloomed yesterday! The blooms are quite a bit smaller than the first blooms off this spike, but that’s normal. They are still very lovely, and when I return from Cali I imagine at least a couple more of those buds will have opened. 🙂