Celebrating 2022 with New Blooms!

New Year, New Blooms

Happy 2022! February is still a little way off, so I’m gonna say it’s still okay to wish folks a Happy New Year. 🙂  Winter is in full swing, and orchid blooming season has begun inside my greenhouse! So it’s time to share photos of the current blooms in my collection.

First up is the Bletilla striata variegata! This is one of the three terrestrial orchids that my husband got me for my birthday last year. I had a hard time taking good photos of these blooms; this is the best I’ve got:

Bletilla striata blooms

Continue Reading

10 Years of Brooklyn Orchids

Happy 10th Anniversary to Me

I recently realized that my blog’s TENTH anniversary had passed! I wrote my first post on February 13, 2010. It’s still hard to believe I’ve kept this blog going for that long! Obviously I don’t write here nearly as much as I did in the beginning, but I appreciate each and every one of you who has supported me along the way.

Red Phalaenopsis
A beautiful red Phal currently blooming in my greenhouse
Continue Reading

My New Masdevallia from Trader Joe’s

I just did a little shopping at the downtown Brooklyn Trader Joe’s because a few friends are coming over tomorrow to not celebrate Christmas. None of my orchids are in bloom (sad!) so I figured I’d look for something pretty at TJ’s while I was there. And they had a few Masdevallias…for $7.99 each! I picked out this pretty yellow orchid:

20111223-112829.jpg

There are four open blooms and two that should open soon if this little guy remains happy. Plus, I see at least two more spikes growing as well as some new shoots. Woohoo! This is my first Masdevallia. Let’s hope I can treat her well!

20111223-113039.jpg

Blooms and Spikes and Leaves—Oh My!

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:

Beautiful mystery blooms!

Continue Reading

Scratching the Orchid Itch

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:

White with blush blooms
White with blush blooms

When I first brought the orchid home it had lots of swelling buds on both spikes:

Multiple orchid buds
So many buds!

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:

Orchid bud blast
Possible bud blast

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!