phalaenopsis | Brooklyn Orchids

Scratching the Orchid Itch

September 24, 2010 7 Comments

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?

New TJ's Phal — Whoa…Double Orchid Spikes all the way!

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!

My Orchid Garden

My New Phal from Home Depot

September 21, 2010 2 Comments

Today, I went into Manhattan to wander around the Garden District and possibly get a new orchid or two. I was just really, really in the mood for a new one, because none of my orchids are currently in bloom (though two are currently in spike!). While the flower shops on W. 28th St. have a large selection of orchids, they make me a little uncomfortable because you can’t set foot in one without being asked if you need help by about five separate employees. The situation sort of reminds me of the people who stand outside of restaurants in Little Italy and Little India, the ones who try desperately to get every passerby to come in and eat there. It reeks of desperation.

Anyway…so I was again reminded that the orchids in the Garden District are a bit out of my budget at the moment. I did good and left the area without making any purchases. Though I was tempted by some really lovely Dendrobiums and perfect Zygopetalums at one of the stores. I do love me some Zygos!

My Orchid Garden

Keeping the Faith

August 19, 2010 3 Comments

The Orchid That Won’t Die now looks like this:

Orchid nubbin — This poor thing is just a nubbin

Orchid on its last leg — Is there any hope??

When I came back from vacation three weeks ago, this little phal was showing real signs of turning around: a new leaf, the slightest hint of a new root. Shortly thereafter, the largest leaf died off so I removed it. That turned out to be a mistake, because the root seemed to have been growing from the base of that leaf. The plant was then left with one small leaf plus the new leaf that had begun to sprout while I was in San Diego.

A couple days ago I noticed that the small leaf was shriveling and turning yellow, and then began to mold. So this morning I removed that leaf, and the plant – if you can even call it that anymore – is what you see in the photos above. The reddish-brown stuff along the edge of the leaf is cinnamon, which I applied to the area that I removed. Cinnamon has antibacterial properties and should help prevent infections.

This poor orchid is so far gone that I sorta can’t believe I’m even still trying. But as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve given this orchid so many chances that I’m not going to give up until it’s finally, officially dead. It seems pretty close, but you never know. Amazingly, I have faith!

At least I have more good news on the Oncidium front: my Twinkle Fragrance Fantasy is sprouting a second spike! In the photo below, you can see it starting to poke out from the large leaf on the left:

New Oncidium spike — Second new spike on this Oncidium!

I’m curious to see how long it takes for this plant to put out blooms after it throws out a spike. You know I will be posting updates here as I get closer to seeing the flowers! 🙂

My Orchid Garden

Meet My Newest Orchids

August 10, 2010 18 Comments

Last week I gave in to the lure of 20% off orchids at Orchids by Hausermann and ordered four more beauties to add to my collection. On Friday afternoon, my newest additions arrived!! They all look like they’re in good shape, and one of them even has a small spike growing! Click on the photos below to see larger versions.

Newest Orchid Additions! — From L to R: Encyclia cochleata, Phal hieroglyphica, Huntleya heteroclita, Phal violacea

The Encyclia cochleata is the largest of the four, and it’s still a pretty small plant, about 10″ tall at most. Here’s a closer look at it:

The Huntleya heteroclita is so much smaller than I expected. Huntleyas are in the same family as Zygopetalums, and the two Zygos in my collection are literally about 10 times larger than this Huntleya! It may just be a seedling, I’m actually not sure. But it’s a cutie:

The smallest of my new orchids, however, is the Phalaenopsis violacea, which arrived in a 2″ pot:

Last but not least is the Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica, which has a small spike growing from its base! I will be SO THRILLED if this plant blooms soon!!

You can see the little mitten-shaped spike in this close-up:

I haven’t repotted any of my new orchids yet (BAD!!) but I am going to do so this week to make sure all is ok with the plants’ roots.

In other news, this morning I finally bought a thermometer/humidity meter for my Orchid Room so that I can actually start to monitor these things; I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile! Already, I see that the humidity in the room is just over 50% so I think I’m going to get a small humidifier.

My Orchid Garden

Hausermann’s Summer Sale: 20% off Orchids!

August 3, 2010 3 Comments

I was looking at orchid porn photos yesterday evening because I was bored and still nursing a cold. To make myself feel better, I went to one of my favorite online stores: Orchids by Hausermann, and immediately discovered that they are running a summer sale on orchids—all orders are 20% off between July 18 and August 15!

So…you can see where this is headed. The orchid addiction is bad enough at full price—especially on Hausermann’s, which has some pretty good prices to begin with. But a 20% discount? I’m hopeless. Here are the four orchids that I ordered, with photos from Hausermann’s website:

1. Huntleya heteroclita – originally $7.99, $6.39 with discount. This one might have to make the next edition of Unfortunate Orchid Names. I’d never heard of Huntleya before, and after doing some research I discovered it’s in the same subtribe as Zygopetalum, which is one of my favorite types of orchids. No wonder I was immediately attracted to this one.

2. Encyclia cochleata – originally $10, $8 with discount. This orchid was my very first Orchid of the Week selection. I REALLY hope I can get this one to bloom. The flowers are so incredibly unique and adorable!

3. Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica ‘Egyptian Lore’ x self – originally $10, $8 with discount

4. Phalaenopsis violacea (Malaysia x var. Borneo) – originally $15, $12 with discount. I chose this variety as Orchid of the Week recently.

Guess what? I felt better after placing my orchid order. 😛 Now I wait on pins and needles for my shipment to arrive. If you’ve got an orchid itch that needs to be scratched, make sure you take advantage of Hausermann’s summer sale ASAP*!

*I just want to note that I write about Hausermann’s simply because I like the site. I don’t have any sort of deal with them whatsoever. Even with the FTC blog regulations it can be hard to tell who is in bed with whom, so I wanted to make that clear. 🙂

My Orchid Garden

I think I can, I think I can…

July 27, 2010 4 Comments

I came home from my nerd vacation yesterday afternoon fully expecting to find that The Orchid That Won’t Die had finally given up the ghost. Before I left for San Diego, its big leaf had started to shrivel a bit and curl up around the edges, so I assumed it was truly on its way out. As soon as I got home from the airport, I entered my orchid room and saw that the leaf had shriveled further and started turning yellow:

Then I took a closer look and realized that the orchid is GROWING A NEW LEAF!!

Orchid's new leaf! — New leaf growing! Amazing!!

Not only is it amazing that the orchid is growing a new leaf, I think there may be a new root starting to swell from the root base — you can see a small green pimply-looking thing in this photo:

new orchid root? — Could it possibly be a new root??

If this orchid is actually recovering I might have to declare myself the Orchid Rescue Master. I just can’t believe that this plant has started to sprout a new leaf when it doesn’t even have any roots to soak up nutrients! Unreal. Orchids are just chock full of surprises!