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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78256768547572304162018-04-15T13:27:22.930+01:00Kev's OrchidsOnline diary of my ever changing orchid collection. Posting about new plants, plants in bloom and general observation based information about plants in my collection.kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-46402157932859985522017-07-19T12:08:00.002+01:002017-07-19T12:08:29.083+01:00Summer Blooms - Part One
There have been quite a lot of blooms this season, so here are a couple of pictures to prove it.

Firstly the beautiful Dendrobium farmeri. I shouldn't really attempt to grow this because it wants cooler temperatures than I can give it in my growroom. However, I can get some success by allowing it to grow in the growroom until it has just finished its new canes and then bringing it into the living room where the night temperatures are cooler and the canes can ripen and bloom. The result of this experiment was two spikes of beautiful delicately scented flowers. I was quite surprised at how long the lasted (around two weeks) as I have always been led to believe that the blooms were short lived though I guess its all relative. I've had this plant for some time, and it is really the last survivor of the cool growers which had to go either because they couldn't survive in the warm or because they refused to bloom. Hopefully I have cracked it with this species and it will now bloom regularly for me. If it does, I might try the same with some of the nobile types and species such as D. thrysiflorum, which is closely allied to D. farmeri.

Another welcome first blooming for me is Coelogyne Bird In Flight, pictured above. The parents of this are C. usitana (pod) and C. lawrenceana (pollen). Both being warm growers (usitana - definitely so, lawrenceana - depends on who you ask but my plants do fine), the hybrid should be very happy in my growroom. I got the plant as a nice sized seedling from Burnham Nurseries a couple of years ago. It is reputed to be a slow grower. I take this to mean that both its parents mature a growth and then have a "rest" for a few weeks before starting to grow again, and the trait has been passed on to the hybrid. I can confirm that this is indeed the case, but I wouldn't call the plant slow. Pseudobulbs have been gradually increasing in size, and this year's offering is the largest yet. I have to say I was expecting another year before I got a flower so I was quite surprised to see a flower stem and not at all surprised when the first two buds blasted. This plant is a sequential bloomer like both its parents and I got two flowers from the spike. They are of a good size and shape, and last well. I look forward to seeing this bloom more profusely in the future.kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-44180363453368538962017-07-19T11:44:00.001+01:002017-07-19T11:44:36.648+01:00Summer updateOnce again, it feels like absolutely forever since I updated my blog (because it has). I have been tremendously busy with one thing or another, but I continue to buy (rather too many), grow, and bloom (rather too few) orchids.

I learned a rather hard lesson in June when I went on holiday for a week to Scotland (very nice, thank you for asking). Usually in the UK June is quite wet and not usually hot. This year has been rather different and June was very hot indeed (at least by UK standards) and very dry indeed (at least in my area, not so across the country as a whole). Usually when I go away, I close the growroom window and door to keep some humidity in and give the plants a good watering before I go away. Normally I find the plants have dried down quite nicely over the course of a week and need watering again upon my return. Not so this time. I came back to find the plants till far too wet (you can see what's coming, can't you?). At first glance the damage didn't seem too bad but as any grower will tell you it can take ages for orchids to respond to anything and it is only now, a month later, that I am finding less black rot in my plants and new growths are starting to open out properly. Notable deaths include Cochleanthes discolor and Coelogyne Orchideengarten Joaquim. Both of these rotted very fast and my efforts to cut out the rotted parts were unsuccessful, sadly. Coelogyne velutina rotted out two new growths and it is still touch and go for some of the others, though the rot hasn't spread into the pseudobulbs and the plant has started to put out more new growths to replace the ones lost. Dendrochilum magnum has almost completely defoliated, though this years new leaves and all pseudobulbs are undamaged. Many other Dendrochilum have ugly spotting on their leaves now, and I think I am going to lose D. coccineum altogether, though I haven't binned it yet. Lesson learned. Next time I shall leave the growroom door open to keep the air moving.

I think I have tracked down the source of the ugly spotting and blotching on many of my Phalaenopsis leaves - mites. I thought I was familiar with red spider mite attacks, and I can usually just about see the little blighters with the naked eye, but it appears that there is a new mite in town that I can't see with the naked eye, and it has been wreaking havoc among my Phalaenopsis (but only my Phalaenopsis, so far as I can see). I had assumed that the damage must be fungal (the visible damage almost certainly is a secondary fungal attack), but having seen the classic silvery appearance of the foliage and flower spikes, I am almost certain it is a mite problem I have. They seem to like P. mannii and amboinensis and their hybrids the best, and seem to leave P. violacea and its hybrids alone altogether. Very odd. I have sprayed with an insecticide to which I have added some soft soap to help with leaf coverage and soap has anti pest properties of its own, as I have discussed in earlier posts. I will spray again at the next watering cycle to catch any eggs hatching, and will continue to spray until I am certain that subsequent generations have been killed.

It all seems doom and gloom, doesn't it? Not so, I'm pleased to say. I am now much less concerned about virus being present in my collection, as I am almost convinced that most problems are environmental and fungal. I have fitted a fine net curtain at the growroom window so I can leave it open without fear of letting lots of pests in, and the result is that I have had no aphids at all this season, so that is a definite improvement on previous years.

kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-7315303070511229932017-04-15T16:10:00.001+01:002017-04-15T16:10:31.343+01:00Spring updateI must apologise to you, dear readers. I hadn't realised it had been quite so long since my last instalment but, looking back, I can see that I haven't given you an update since January which is very remiss of me indeed. It's not that nothing has been going on; far from it. I have taken on extra hours at work, and I have also been busy at my allotment (yes, I also like to grow my own vegetables!), so as you can imagine, I have had quite a lot going on and my blog has suffered as a result.

Now we have arrived at April and I have started to water twice weekly rather than once as I find the orchids are drying out rather more than I would have liked. We have been lucky enough to enjoy some nice warm sunny spring weather, so it has been getting very warm in the growroom and I have been opening the window during the day to let out some of the heat (it has been getting into the high 20s centirgrade every day in there and I don't like temperatures to get to 30C if I can prevent it. The result is that the humidity has been rather lower than I would like and the plants have been dryer than usual, especially close to the window. Twice weekly watering seems to suit the plants very well, and many plants are now putting on strong new growth. The speciosa type Coelogyne are mostly flowering and I am very impressed with this year's blooming. Here are a few photos.

Coelogyne speciosa 'Burhnam'. This used to be known as C. speciosa 'salmonicolor' but there is already a C. salmonicolor so it can't be called that anymore. This is a nice form of C. speciosa which has very pale flowers which lack the brown lip markings that are so typical of the species. There are three new growths on this plant despite my recent repotting, so it should be a good clumper and flowerer.

This is the regular form of C. speciosa which has also come into flower. This plant is also recently potted on and seems to be settling in well. There are two growing points on this plant despite it being quite small. Note the slightly darker flower colour and the brown lip markings that were absent from the earlier photo.

I bought this plant as Coelogyne salmonicolor x usitana. I take this to mean Coelogyne speciosa var. salmonicolor (as was) x usitana which makes it a very similar cross to C. Lyme Bay (Lyme bay uses C. speciosa var. incarnata as its parent). I was informed by a friend that this cross was registered in 2014 and is now more correctly known as Coelogyne Orchideengarten Joachim. I'm not sure which is harder to say to be honest, but the plant is magnificent. It takes after its usitana parent in size but has inherited nice short flower spikes from speciosa. It seems very willing to make two shoots per mature pseudobulb so it is clumping up very fast and there are five new growths this time around (so far), most of which will produce flowers.

Not my best photo here, and also a new acquisition, but this is the greenest form of C. speciosa I have found for sale. The flower is quite large and, unusually, is quite pleasantly scented. I just couldn't resist it. It seems a nice plant; compact but with a couple of lead growths and I notice a second flower spike has emerged.

Coelogyne prolifera. This is the only proper yellow Coelogyne species I have. It came from Orchideengarten Karge in Germany a few months ago. It had two flower spikes on already but has taken some time to produce buds. This species is a little unusual among Coelogyne in that the flower spikes can produce flowers for several years if left on the plant. It is meant to be a cool grower but it is romping away in my warm conditions with two new growths and a new flower spike emerging. The two existing spikes are now producing flowers. They are, undeniably, tiny. It will never be a showy species but I think its pretty.

Coelogyne Neroli Cannon. I've had this plant for around 18 months now and this is its second blooming. A successive bloomer, it looks like there will be several flowers this time, and the plant has produced a second lead growth so there should be two spikes next year.

Coelogyne Orchideengarten Clara. I got this from Orchideengarten Karge at the same time as C. prolifera. This is a slightly odd hybrid involving C. lentil soup (lentiginosa x speciosa) and C. xyrekes. I am pleased to see that it has inherited the nice bronze colour of the new foliage and the almost pinkish tinge to the flowers. It was a well established plant when it arrived, and grows very quickly indeed. I have removed the moss it was growing in and replaced it with medium bark chips and the plant has responded with a flush of new growth and two flower spikes. The blooms are smaller than most of my speciosa types and take much more after the C. xyrekes parent.

As you can see, I've had plenty to keep me busy and this is by no means all that is in flower. I will attempt to post more regularly in future. In the meantime, enjoy the photos!

kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-22565085932399022292017-01-29T14:41:00.000+00:002017-01-29T14:41:51.320+00:00Bloom Event - Epicyclia Mabel KandaI've just been looking through my blog to find a past entry for this, but it seems I've been rather remiss as I can't find one. This plant originally came from Ray Creek Orchids, several years ago, although I have found this plant from another source on the continent and have sold all the plants I got. There seems to be some confusion over the name of this one, and most plants you'll find seem to go under the name Epidendrum floribundum, but this is definitely wrong (check out Google). Further investigation has let me to the name Epicyclia Mabel Kanda, which is a primary hybrid between Epidendrum paniculatum and Encyclia cordigera, and this would certainly make more sense, ans they hybrid does fall almost exactly between the parents.

The flower is a lovely clear green with a delicately marked lip. As a bonus it is very nicely scented which always wins brownie points with me. The flower spike bears quite a few flowers, and is also branching. It is nice and strong and never needs staking, but it does arch quite gracefully.

The plant itself is tallish, though not as tall as its Epidendrum parent. How big it will eventually get I can't say as the canes are still increasing in size. They are quite thick and sturdy and tend to have a purplish cast to them, probably because I grow it under quite high light. It does seem prone to fungal disease, especially on the leaves, but now I'm spraying fairly regularly with fungicide this is becoming less of a problem so the plant is beginning to look more attractive. The root system is very extensive, and seems to like to wander over the surface of the growing medium rather than into it. I have no idea whether the pot is full of roots or not, as I have had no reason to disturb it yet.

It has a nice tight clumping habit and stays compact. I would like to see more lead growths on it, but maybe that is something I can encourage myself after blooming with a back-cut. In light of recent problems with fungal attacks, I shall make absolutely sure that my tools are sterilised before and after doing this, and I shall sprinkle the cut with cinnamon which seems to help prevent diseases getting in.

This is highly recommended by me, especially if you like scented orchids. It is a robust grower, and a regular and reliable bloomer. At time of writing, there are plants available on eBay, going under the erroneous name of Epidendrum floribundum. I can't really blame them for using the old name as the proper name took some finding!
kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-69440570201093931092017-01-28T13:01:00.000+00:002017-01-28T13:01:01.984+00:00New Plants - Delivery from SpicesoticI know I'v not long had a delivery of plants already, but the fever was upon me. Normally, I'm quite wary of ordering plants from eBay, but when you find a seller who seems consistent in their quality of plants, they are worth sticking with. Such is the case with Spicesotic plants, from whom I got my lovely giant Angraecum and my new Coelogyne rochussenii. You can fine this seller on eBay and I recommend them.

First off, we have a rather nice Cochleanthes hybrid. I know there have been some name changes around Cochleanthes, resulting in some names I can't pronounce, let alone attempt to spell so I'm sticking with Cochleanthes. There aren't many hybrids within the genus at the moment so I'm hoping that once flowers are produced I might be able to put a name to it.

As you can see, it is a large healthy plant and the pot is full of roots. As I understand it, the flower will be a nice dark purple colour. I do have another Cochleanthes in my collection (C. discolor), so I'm hoping that this plant will like my growroom too.

Secondly we have Liparis viridiflora. I have developed rather a liking for Liparis species, and have been on the lookout for a couple more plants from this genus to go with Liparis nutans that I've had for a while and seems to grow well for me. Liparis viridiflora is said to be an equally vigorous plant and eager bloomer. From what I can gather it puts out several growths per year but they all flower at the same time so a decent show is almost guaranteed.

Another large, healthy plant and at a good price. I look forward to it settling in and putting out some flowers in the near future. There are several new growths already coming, so it looks like it will be a good grower!

Third we have Baptistonia echinata. Back when I used to do some selling in my own right, this was one species I used to stock myself. Pity I didn't think to keep one, but such is life. This is a miniature species that produces a frankly amazing amount of flowers considering the size of the plant. Also known (apparently) as the Bumblebee orchid (who the hell by?), Baptistonia echinata has spikes of yellow flowers which often do not open fully but are very beautiful nonetheless.

Believe it or not, this is an adult plant. The flower count will increase with time, but for now I look forward to the flowers it has opening. This may well be a candidate for growing mounted rather than in a pot so the flower spikes can hang down naturally (there is a plan coming together regarding mounted plants; watch this space!)

Fourth, we have Psychopsis mariposa 'green valley'. Psychopsis have a (not entirely unjustified) reputation as being difficult to grow. I have lost several of these in the past, but I feel that my growing conditions now match quite closely what they want so I have a better chance now of succeeding than at any other time. I do have another cultivar of P. mariposa in my collection which seems to be growing both a new shoot and new roots, so I am hopeful. The new plant is fully grown and bears three flower spikes so I won't have to wait long for flowers. With Psychopsis, one shouldn't remove flower spikes as they can continue to bloom on and off for a number of years. Obviously this makes repotting rather difficult, so it should be done very infrequently. I am hoping to get hold of a bag of Orchidata bark in the near future, so once its done it should be good for several years.

I have to say it has been my experience with orchids that even the ones that are said to resent being repotted won't be a problem provided you disturb the roots as little as possible while changing the growing medium and you make sure you do the job at the appropriate time. If you time it so the roots have just started to grow and don't break roots as you remove the old growing medium (or just 'drop on' if there is a solid mass of roots) then the plant will grow away fine. Hopefully this will hold true with Psychopsis, too. For this genus the plants hate stale growing medium so it is very important that you use good quality orchid bark with no 'fines'.

Lastly, we have Coelogyne trinervis. This is a new species on me, but as it is a warm grower it should do OK in my conditions. From what I can gather, although it isn't the most glamorous species in the genus, it is quite variable with several colour forms out there. What form my new plant is, I haven't the faintest idea, so I look forward to finding out.

Notice from the photo that the plant has three growing points. Flowers should be produced from these before the leaves fully unfurl, so hopefully flowers shouldn't be far away.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-47232737871679336912017-01-20T12:41:00.002+00:002017-01-20T12:41:38.271+00:00New Plants - Visit to Burnham NurseriesThese posts must be getting boring to read, but I'll plough on nevertheless. In an effort to stay the January blues, I quite often make a pilgrimage to the Southwest either Christmas week or just after. This year it was a little later, just after the kids went back to school so all was quiet down there, just as I like it. Since I was in the vague area, I felt it would be rude not to visit Burnham Nurseries. They had published their 'specials' list toward the end of the year, and one or two species on it had piqued my interest so I asked them to put them aside until I visited. I also needed some coarse growing medium to repot my Angraecum. Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm far to tight to pay carriage on mere bark chips, so I knew I'd have to visit (not that its a hardship).

It is always good to catch up with the staff at Burnham Nurseries. It is quite rare I get a chance to have a good nerd-out about orchids, so I took the chance and had quite lengthy conversations with two people, mostly about Coelogyne of various types, although I only came back with one (more to follow). I asked about Coelogyne rochussenii (my regular readers will know of the anguish where that species is concerned) and noticed that the plants in their sales area didn't look too clever either. In fact, I was told that quite a lot of plants had gone in the bin and that they hadn't go to the bottom of the infection. Interestingly, their mother plants are entirely unaffected by the disease. The plot thickens. My own plant doesn't appear to be getting worse after a treatment of fungicide, which I consider to be progress. The new growth appears to be clean, too.

On to the point of this post, which is new plants. I picked up quite a bit while wandering around, and I have now got round to photographing them all.

First up is Prosthechea prismatocarpa which I had asked for before Christmas. I had been waiting ages for them to divide up their mother plants and finally I have got one. It is only a small(ish) plant because I couldn't afford the larger ones. It seems a nice plant but I do wish it had had longer to establish itself before being sold.

This is quite a large growing species, but I expect it will be several years before it reaches any large size. I'm slightly concerned that my growroom will be too hot for it, but I've wanted one for years so had to give it a try. I expect I'll get smaller pseudobulbs for a couple of years yet until it is properly established.

Next up is another one I'd asked for beforehand, Pinalia philippinensis. Rather an obscure one, this used to be part of genus Eria before the taxonomists got to work on it. I can really find barely any information on it, so I guess I'll have to just keep an eye on it and see what it does. My main concern isn't so much getting it to grow so much as the habit of the plant.

Scrawny looking thing, isn't it? It looks to me as if it will be something of a climber, with each new growth being above the level of the last one, resulting in it needing constant potting on. Notice it is already in a deep pot and its only a baby.

Next up is Phalaenopsis gigantea. I have had this one on my list for some time so I'm pleased to have found one at a reasonable price. It seems a nice healthy plant and I look forward to seeing it bloom.

It is clearly a baby and is some considerable way off flowering size yet. On adult plants, the leaves can reach around 30cm long, so it certainly lives up to its name. Still it is an attractive plant even when young (if such things float your boat), and I'm (relatively) patient.

Next up is Phalaenopsis fasciata. This isn't the most thrilling species in the genus, but will be attractive in its own right, especially if, like me, you're a fan of the more 'botanical' species.

Another nice healthy plant and much closer to flowering size than Phalaenopsis gigantea is. The nursery seem to have a new supplier and they have far more in the way of Phalaenopsis species than they used to (most of which I've already purchased and are growing away nicely).

Next is Renanthopsis Newberry Charm. I'm quite partial to these intergeneric hybrids featuring Phalaenopsis. The cross here is Renanthera Brookie Chandler x Phalaenopsis philippinensis. You may remember that I am already growing Renanthopsis Mildred Jameson and it isn't giving me any trouble (apart from not flowering since I got it) so I'm confident that this one will do equally well.

The plant is flowering size, but I can't see any evidence of old flower spikes, so I'll have to play it by ear. I expect they'll both flower at the same time. I wonder if some cooler nights might be what is needed. Worth a try. I'm glad these grow well for me because Renanthera really don't seem to like being grown in a pot and I almost lost mine through not changing the potting medium as soon as I got it. As it stands, the plant seems over the worst and has produced a new root (Renanthera never produce many roots). Renanthopsis, however, seem perfectly happy to grow in a pot like any other Phalaenopsis, although they do root from further up the stem than Phalaenopsis do so there tend to be a lot of aerial roots.

Next up is Angraecum sororium. I'm not overly familiar with this species and I have read (once I got home) that it is a cool growing, high elevation species so it might not have been a wise move.

Once again, this is a young plant (or several plants) with a good deal of growing to do before reaching flowering size. Once I see concrete signs of growth, I'll feel more confident about this species. It is also one of the large species, and mature plants are a tuft of leaves on top of a bare stem Still, the flowers will be beautiful as you'd expect from an Angraecum species. It might be that I'll decide to separate out the individual plants, but by the same token if I'm going to end up with a length of bare stem it might be better left in a clump. I'll just have to keep an eye on it and see what it does.

Next up is Aerangis macrocentra. I'm getting into these Aerangis species in a big way. I only hope they take to me as much.

This is ostensibly an young plant but it is a miniature species anyway so probably isn't that far off flowering size. There were three plants in the pot, which I have potted separately. We'll see how they do. There isn't a great deal more to say about this until it wakes up and does something so watch this space.

Next up is an impulse buy of Dendrochilum coccineum. This is a relatively newly discovered and, therefore, still quite rare species. If I'm absolutely honest, this isn't the best plant in the world but I'm hoping it'll perk up once I've had it for a while.

It was buried rather too deep in the growing medium which was causing new growths to rot off. I have scraped away some of the bark chips to expose the pseudobulbs so hopefully that'll put it right. When I saw this, I couldn't resist because it has red flowers and I' haven't got a red flowered Dendrochilum. I'm quite excited to flower it.

Finally, I have ended up with yet another colour form of Coelogyne speciosa. This is a good sized plant, and the only one I got that was in flower. In the nursery, I was told that this was an old flower, but I have had it in my growroom for well over a week and it shows no sign of going over yet.

The flower is large and quite yellow with almost red in the throat. It is also very strongly scented (not in a good way, alas!) which is something I've not noticed on any of my other plants of this species despite sticking my nose right in them every time they bloom. I was told in the nursery that this plant originally came from New Zealand and is reputed to be a truer form of the species than the other forms they sell (C. speciosa 'burnham' may turn out to be an entirely different species or even a hybrid). I'm pleased to have got hold of another form of it, whatever it is.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-84579793221946327262017-01-18T11:43:00.002+00:002017-01-18T11:44:26.793+00:00New Plants - Coelogyne from Orchideengarten Karge, Germany.Ever since I found out that the Coelogyne usitana x Coelogyne speciosa (salmonicolor variety, now known as C. speciosa 'Burnham' in the UK) hybrid had a name, I've been keen to get some more of those hybrids. The above plant's actual name is now Coelogyne Orchideengarten Joachim, and it actually came from Schwerter in March 2016, so I've had it almost a year now, and have successfully bloomed it. It posesses all the hybrid vigour you might expect and seems to take rather after Coelogyne usitana in its size and spread, though produces multiple growths much more in the style of Coelogyne speciosa.

It turns out that there are several of these hybrids that have only been recently registered, and I finally tracked down the nursery to Orchideengarten Karge, in Germany. The website is all in German (as you'd expect), and they haven't got round to writing an English version yet, but Google translate does all the work for you, and if you actually contact them via email, you will find their English to be excellent (and certainly better than my German). They were courteous and very helpful all the way through the ordering process and seemed keen to know when the plants had arrived and whether I was happy with them or not.

The whole ordering process went without a hitch. They even send orders from overseas on Mondays so the parcels have the best possible chance of reaching their destination that very week. Had it not been for the unbelievable incompetence of Parcelforce, the orchids would indeed have arrived that week. As it was, I had the worry of sharp frosts (around -8C) while waiting over the weekend for the parcel to be delivered the following Monday.

I needn't have worried about the plants though. Apart from looking like they'd been drop-kicked repeatedly from the diving board of an Olympic swimming pool by Parcelforce during its multiple trips back to depot, they survived the trauma remarkably well.

"So," I hear you ask, "What did you get?"

Firstly, Coelogyne prolifera. I know, after going on and on about these random hybrids people are making, I still manage to order a species. It was quite cheap, however, and I've yet to see it for sale in the UK.

This one I have had to speedily re-pot because it had been shaken out of its pot in transit. I should point out here that the packing of the plant itself was excellent, but it is almost impossible to take into account the contempt with which delivery companies handle our parcels ("Logistics" indeed!). The plant has two lead growths (one of which has been damaged, unfortunately), and two flower spikes from mature pseudobulbs. Coelogyne prolifera is not like many other Coelogyne species, and flowers are produced from both new and existing flower spikes (hence the name). The flowers are small (around a centimetre or less) and yellow. It will never be a showstopper, but will be an interesting "botanical" for me to grow. It is listed as needing cooler temperatures than I have, but I am confident that it will be adaptable enough to do well for me. It appears to have a somewhat rambling habit with some space between pseudobulbs so it will need regular potting on.

Second is one of those hybrids I was talking about. Its official name is Coelogyne Orchideengarten Sabine. The actual cross, after a little digging, is Coelogyne speciosa x Coelogyne Memoria Wilhelm Micholitz. If you read this blog regularly, you will already know that I grow both of its parents already, and that they both grow very easily and flower regularly.

As you can see, the plant arrived in bloom, but the flowers have not travelled well and have since fallen. I shall wait until new flowers are produced before attempting more photography on it. The influence of Coelogyne lawrenceana can bee seen in the height and shape of the pseudobulbs, while the white colouring of the blooms has carried over from Coelogyne mooreana. Coelogyne Memoria Wilhelm Micholitz is a lovely hybrid and can be seen here. How the crossing of Micholitz onto Coelogyne speciosa (the pod parent - when you read the cross of a hybrid, the pod parent is always stated first, the pollen parent second), I can't say for sure but it looks like it will flower sequentially and on droopier spikes. An interesting hybrid. Whether it will be equal to or greater than its parents remains to be see.

This plant has now been repotted as well. Both this and the following hybrid were growing (quite happily I must stress) in sphagnum moss. While this works for many growers (sphagnum moss is the only growing medium allowed if you intend to ship plants outside of the EU), it doesn't seem to work for me, so it had to go. I realise that the prospect of completely changing potting medium seems drastic to a lot of people, but I really have no fear of doing it. Sphagnum moss stays much too wet for plants in my collection (at least for plants above a certain size), so there would have been no benefit to waiting for new roots to start to form and it probably would have been more damaging to do so. This was a week ago and I don't actually think the plant has really noticed (a good sign). I separated off a baby plant (possibly a separate seeding, so it may be slightly different from the main plant) and have potted that as well, though I suspect it'll be some time before it reaches blooming size.

The third and final hybrid is the one I have been most excited about. It is called Coelogyne Orchideengarten Clara and is, at least to me, a very interesting hybrid. The cross is Coelogyne Lentil Soup x xyrekes. Coelogyne lentil soup is a hybrid between C. speciosa and C. lentiginosa. I have to say I wouldn't mind getting hold of Coelogyne lentil soup, either, but the nursery who made the cross (Orchideengarten Karge once again) haven't got it listed for sale. The other parent, Coelogyne xyrekes, is quite hard to find for some reason (it should be noted that Coelogyne is a very underrated genus and many lovely species and hybrids are still quite difficult to locate), and is near the top of my list of species to find. It is relative of Coelogyne speciosa (part of the so called speciosa group) and is quite similar to it but it has nice bronzed young foliage and much stiffer foliage.

As you can see, another good sized, robust looking plant. This one had just started to suffer in transit, and small patches of rot had started to appear on some of the newly emerging foliage. These have, luckily, dried out and I don't think I need worry any longer. a flower spike remains, and there is a bud forming so hopefully it won't be long before I see a flower. You may notice I speak as though I don't know what the flowers will be like, even though there are plenty of photos on the seller's website. This is because these plants are seedlings and will all be subtly different. There are several lead growths and several new shoots emerging on this plant and I suspect there is more than one seedling in there, though I shall not attempt to separate them out. You really can't see from the photo but the lovely bronzed new foliage of Coelogyne xyrekes has come through beautifully in this hybrid and I think the plant is very attractive indeed even when not in bloom.

This plant has also been re-potted into bark chips and also appears not to have noticed. It looks like it has inherited a good clumping habit, and should flower well. I was immediately told by a friend that Coelogyne xyrekes has smaller flowers than Coelogyne speciosa but since Coelogyne speciosa has almost the largest flowers in the genus, that wouldn't really be much of a surprise. Besides which, with hybrid vigour and Coelogyne speciosa in the background (albeit only a quarter), who knows? Size isn't everything, anyway.

There are a couple more of these hybrids on Orchideengarten Karge's website, one of which is Coelogyne Lyme Bay. I would be interested to know whether they have propagated plants supplied by Burnham Nurseries (who first made the cross) or whether it is a re-make. I would favour the latter. I'm half tempted to get one of their plants so I can compare it with my plant from Burnham Nurseries. It looks from the pictures as if the lip is lighter on the German plants, but that could be down to several factors, only one of which is genetic. As I understand it, Burnham Nurseries selected the plants that had the darkest lip and propagated from those. I have no idea what happened to the other seedlings that were produced and, presumably, flowered. Until my plant blooms again, I can't know for sure how dark my plant is but I understand it to be a division of one of their awarded plants so it should be a good one (if dark lips is what you look for in such a hybrid).kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-58754959060996766652017-01-07T15:54:00.002+00:002017-01-07T15:54:15.383+00:00Bloom Event - Liparis nutansThe other plant that has erupted triumphantly into bloom is Liparis nutans. I had always been rather scared of Liparis species assuming, wrongly, that they would be fussy plants (presumably because members of that genus grow wild in the United Kingdom). I got this species six months ago and it has been growing steadily ever since. Apart from being a very thirsty plant, it has proved to be no trouble at all to grow with plenty of new roots being produced . I was warned to watch out for slugs and snails on this species, but I haven't seen any damage at all on it. I was wondering when it would flower, and the answer seems to be whenever it feels like it. It must be one of those species that is capable of producing a few new growths a year which all then flower at the same time. Only two flower spikes this time, but that still equates to around 80 flowers.

I think the flowers look like little ballerinas. Quite charming. I know they are technically more brown flowers, but they really are very pretty. Sadly the flowers at the base of the spike start going over before the buds at the top have started to open but it still puts on a nice display and I reckon this will be a spectacular species once it gets bigger. I put some support in because the pseudobulbs are rather soft and I worried that it would collapse under its own weight. Looks like I needn't have worried, though.

The foliage seems very soft and sort of shiny, which is apparently what Liparis means, though I have forgotten how exactly it is derived. The pseudobulbs are quite small and rather insignificant, and I assume that this species is not well adapted to putting up with periods of drought. I dimly remember trying to grow this species quite a few years ago and failing miserably. Having tried again more successfully I assume that I underwatered it. This one really does seem to thrive in quite damp and very humid conditions. For this reason I can't imagine it would go on for long as a houseplant because it simply won't be able to draw water through its tissues fast enough and would shrivel away. If you can provide some extra humidity, however, it really thrives and flowers quite enthusiastcially.kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-37761599405788542042017-01-07T15:00:00.002+00:002017-01-07T15:00:46.326+00:00Bloom Event - Dendrochilum abbreviatumAccording to the oracle that is this blog, I have been in possession of this plant for almost exactly one year, at the time of writing (January 2017). Also according to my records, this plant bloomed at the end of April last year, so it is significantly earlier this time around. Not that I made a not of such inconsequential details such as spike count last year in my initial post for some reason, but according to later photos there appear to have been five flower spikes which I recall being very impressed with indeed. This year, it has done better than that with seven spikes of flowers, which means we must have more lead growths.

I'm not sure I have much extra to add on this species this year. It is not one to be rushed; it does only seem to put out one set of growths per year no matter what you do, although a bit of heat seems to bring it on quicker.

It has stayed nice and clean with no bug or fungal attacks and seems quite happy with its life. Once again, you might notice I've been rather premature with the photography and there aren't many flowers open as yet, but you get the general idea. I love how the spikes arch under the foliage, and a larger plant will put on quite a show. You might also notice that I have repotted this. It was really pressing against the edges of the last pot it was in so I thought it was probably time to give it a bit more space. It is really too early to tell whether it'll notice the change or not, but to be honest I doubt it.

Not the easiest to photograph due to the small downward facing flowers, but I'm not sure that admiration of individual flowers is really the point of this species. What we are after here is overall effect, so the more flower spikes the better. A point in favour of this species, especially in light of posts earlier on today is that although quite large for a Dendrochilum, this is a nice sized species for growing on a window sill. It is even quite attractive when not in bloom. My plant just lives among the others in the growroom but I don't see why it wouldn't make an attractive stand alone plant. I guess it appreciates a bit more humidity than your average houseplant, but Dendrochilum as a whole seem rather less fussy than many orchids on this.

There would have been a time when I would have been very tempted to divide this plant up into smaller pieces as there are quite a few growing points, but I'm pleased to say that that impulse has passed. Most Dendrochilum species are much better when allowed to grow on to a decent size and there really should be a jolly good reason for dividing them, especially if they are healthy.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-53989750411346290792017-01-07T11:48:00.002+00:002017-01-07T11:48:54.228+00:00Bloom Event - Coelogyne Green DragonThis is one of those plants that I get VERY excited about. I've had this orchid for two years now (as of early 2017), and this is its second blooming for me. I paid quite a premium to be the proud owner of this hybrid, which is quite rare. The hybrid was made by Burnham Nurseries in 1992 and is a cross between C. tomentosa and C. pandurata. It really seems to inherit the very best qualities from its parents, with the long pendulous flower spikes bearing around 15 flowers from C. tomentosa and the wonderful colouring and size from C. pandurata; the flowers are a good couple of inches across.

Gorgeous, isn't it? Now before I gush too much over this, it does have its negatives. The first of these is that the flowers only last about a week. Possibly if I had moved the plant (a herculean task in its own right) into a cooler room I might have got longer out of them. At time of writing, the flowers have gone over already. In some ways, the transience of the blooms makes one appreciate them all the more while one can. There is a slight fragrance to them, but not enough to fill a room, and it is rather nondescript.

The second detractor to this hybrid, and probably the main reason it isn't more widely grown, is its size. This is one of those properly gargantuan Coelogyne, with the plant standing a good couple of feet high (pot not included). This is definitely not what you might call a windowsill orchid. When you add into this the habit of the plant, you have something that can be difficult to accommodate. Although there are worse behaved Coelogyne than this (rochussenii, I'm looking accusingly over the top of my glasses at you), they do at least stay small(ish). On a plant of this sort of size, a semi-climbing habit and long internodes between pseudobulbs makes for a plant that is hard to contain in a pot. My plant is already in a large basket (you can read the whole sorry repotting saga here. This plant now really needs potting on again but I don't feel inclined to do the same as last time but with a bigger basket Particularly while the plant is pushing out new growths and, more especially, flowers, I have great trouble keeping it damp enough and I think it would benefit from being in either a more water retentive medium or a large pot with solid sides rather than a basket. So jury is out at the moment.

I'm not in too much of a hurry to disturb it though, as I am pretty sure it sulked for almost a year before it flowered. I put the plant in its basket in February 2016 and although it has produced and matured two sets of pseudobulbs since then, this is the first time it has produced flowers. When jotting down some initial notes to put together this post, I noted that its blooming is rather intermittant. I wonder whether this is acutally due to my repotting the plant rather than an inherent reluctance to bloom. I would expect flowerbuds to come from the centre of each emerging new growth, but they don't always appear (luckily it is very obvious very quickly if flowers are on the way).

When I put this plant in its basket I removed a backbulb so it would fit and put it aside in the growroom. It sprouted and now I have a second plant, albeit one several years away from blooming. Notice I have two flower spikes from two growing points. One of them has come from a bulb further back on the plant so I'm hoping that the lead growth will wake up too and give me a third lead. As I remember, one side of the plant does wake up a little earlier than the other side so I'm still hopeful that I'll get another growth this season.

This plant does seem to grow fast and is capable of producing two or even three pseudobulbs per lead per year. This is a blessing and a curse, of course as the plant can correspondingly flower two or three times a year but needs almost constant potting on. First world problems, eh?kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-49221640988713682482017-01-07T10:30:00.000+00:002017-01-07T10:30:43.395+00:00New Plant - Fungal troubles.....Coelogyne rochussenii. VERY scary photos within!This is one of those posts that most orchid growers won't have the courage to post. It shows that even the best of us have problems growing orchids, and I am certainly no exception. I have always had a love of Coelogyne species and hybrids, especially the warmer growing ones, and have gone out of my way to find out species that I think ought to do well under my conditions.

One of the species that got added to my collections was Coelogyne rochussenii which I obtained from Burnham Nurseries a couple of years ago. I have to say that C. rochussenii is an untidy species with long lengths of rhizome between pseudobulbs; quite a hard plant to accommodate in a pot although not, ostensibly, a difficult grower. This is a species that bloomed for me shortly after I got it, but sadly not since. It blooms directly from the rhizome (botanically it is said to be heteranthous), and the flower spikes do not come from the centre of a new growth. This is similar to the cooler growing species such as C. cristata.

Now the reason I'm telling you all this is that around a year ago on one of my bi-yearly pilgrimages to Burnham Nurseries I noticed that their quite substantial stock of C. rochussenii was looking......ill. Leaves were spotting and dropping and some plants had died altogether. When I got home I looked at my plant and thought it looked OK (it is a bit of a mucky grower so some spotting is almost inevitable). It has been fairly recently potted on and partially re-arranged so it can stay in its pot. The rhizome is stiff and difficult to arrange unless growth is quite young. Recently, my plant has put out a new growth which looks healthy enough but the older leaves are spotting and turning yellow. Alarm bells ringing?

Scary, huh? Notice the yellow margin and necrotic brown spot within (on the leaf at the back - the front one is too far gone). This looks like classic fungal infection to me. What I need to know is where the disease has come from because this looks exactly like the plants at Burnham Nurseries. Needless to say I have put this plant in isolation and it has been sprayed with a systemic fungicide (fingers crossed the fungicide doesn't damage the plant). Obviously, the damage already there is not going to get better so it all rests on whether I think the damage is getting worse. The easiest (and slowest) way to tell is to keep an eye on the new growth. If it stays clean, then the fungicide has worked. I expect the damaged leaves to drop eventually, and therein lies the danger with fungal attacks. They rarely kill the plant in their own right but they do weaken plants significantly and it can take years for plants to recover.

Meanwhile, in my semi regular check of all remaining plants, I notice that Coelogyne asperata x rochussenii is showing signs of damage....

You can see that the damage isn't so severe on this plant, but note the yellow spotting that is appearing. This plant has also been isolated and treated with systemic fungicide. Fingers crossed. The disease has also appeared on Coelogyne velutina and it looks awful but you will be thankful to learn that I haven't taken a photo of it. The rest of my collection looks clear. I grow a lot of Coelogyne and they are quite close together but disease is not appearing anywhere else. Let's hope it stays that way.

I'm afraid i'm placing the blame for this disease outbreak squarely at the door of Coelogyne rochussenii from Burnham Nurseries.

Interestingly, if you research Coelogyne rochussenii on the internet, there is no reference to it being a straggly, untidy species with long internodes. All the photos I have seen show a neatly clumping plant that will happily grow in a comparatively small pot. I have bought another plant of this species from eBay (same seller from whom I bought the two Angraecum before Christmas) and it seems nice and clumpy (some internode but nowhere near as much as on my existing plant) and very healthy indeed with no sign of any disease whatsoever.

My plan is to spray this with fungicide as a precaution. I haven't decided whether to put this into my main growroom as yet (though it will end up in there eventually), or whether to keep it in isolation for a bit as a double level of precaution. At any rate, the new plant looks very healthy so it has the very best chance of staving off any disease that might be in the air.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-71192522151946782522016-12-22T12:02:00.000+00:002016-12-22T12:02:47.042+00:00Bloom Event - Phragmipedium sedeniiAs many of my readers might remember, I have given away or sold the vast majority of my slipper orchids, so there are only a few plants left. I have held Phragmipedium sedenii back because although my two plants are very healthy indeed, the ink on the name tags has rubbed off and I can't tell what they are. Both are named cultivars of P. sedenii, but that's as much as I know. I originally got he plants on eBay so my first point of reference was to find the record of sale, but unfortuantely the records don't go back that far and I also couldn't remember who the seller was. As luck would have it, I can't tell the difference between the two flowers now both plants are blooming either so they will have to go by the name P. sedenii and nothing else. My two plants appear to be rather paler pink than I might expect from P. sedenii but this could easily be down to the temperature.

Whatever its called, its worth waiting for. Previously when this bloomed, the flowers were mis-shapen and didn't open properly. I never worked out why and this time round the flowers are perfect. I guess I'll never know. I used to grow these standing in an inch of water and they did fine. This year, though, I have been growing them slightly drier (by drier I just mean not standing in water) with my warm growing Cymbidium species and this seems to suit them even better as growth seems faster.

There are three flower spikes across the two plants and there seems no difference between the height of the spikes either. The plants are relatively compact (for a Phragmipedium) and clumpy with only a minimal desire to climb (P. schlimii hybrids have been terrible for this in my experience)

It is a pity that only one or two flowers are ever open at a time because this could be spectacular rather than just graceful and elegant (despite the atrocious photography). Once they get large enough to produce multiple spikes they should put on quite a show.

As a primary hybrid between P. schlimii and P. longifolium it is no surprise that there are a lot of cultivars out there and that no two plants are the same (unless they have been divided) so I'm not going to worry too much about the naming of them. They are growing in rockwool cubes, though I imagine there is no reason they wouldn't grow equally well in bark chips. I tend to use inorganic medium for these plants because the constant wet conditions would mean very frequent repotting if I use an organic medium like bark chips or sphagnum moss. The inorganic medium never breaks down and so should never need changing. It is advisable to be careful with feeding when using inorganic media as the fertilizer salts can build up in the pot. This is another reason for not growing them in water and watering instead from the top and allowing water to flow through the pots. Excess salts are then leached away before they can damage the roots and blacken the leaf tips.

All in all, this is a vigorous, flexible hybrid that seems well suited to a wide range of growing conditions. Highly recommended.kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-7105932732557339712016-12-22T10:53:00.000+00:002016-12-22T10:53:03.788+00:00Bloom Event - Brassavola nodosaThis is a good performer and reliable bloomer for me. My readers will no doubt remember that I've written a blog post about this one before, back in February. I have had a few problems with this plant in the interim. I think I wasn't watering enough while it was hanging up. This species is very good at dealing with drought, but it performs better when not allowed to dry out at all. The leaves were very terete (pencil shaped) and slightly wrinkly. It looked very sorry for itself, and the new growth failed to bloom, otherwise there would have been flowers over the summer, I'm sure.

Since I put the plant on one of the benches so it catches more water, the leaves have opened out and plumped up and are now quite flat and plump. Interestingly, I can't see much in the way of roots in the pot itself, so I assume it likes the extra humidity the matting provides. Most of the roots are aerial and all seem healthy. Two of the growths (the leading one and the previous one) have produced spikes, but its too early to tell how many blooms I might get on the second spike. There are two blooms now open on the leading growth. There are never many flowers per spike, two or three seems quite normal.

My plant no markings at all on the lip, but some forms of the species have delicate purple spotting in the throat. I would dearly like to get hold of a plant like this (not that I'm dissatisfied with my own plant at all - I love it), so if any of my readers know where I might find one, contact me either via comments below or via my facebook page. I'd ask the original seller, but I've had the plant for some time and I haven't the faintest idea where it came from. After a couple of days, the shape of the lip will improve (i.e. it will open out a bit rather than curling under) but I am always impatient to get a photo when blooms appear.

As you can see, the leaves are all lovely and plump and the plant looks healthier than it ever has before. There are two growing points, two spikes on the first (as described above); its too early to tell whether there'll be a spike on the other lead. I imagine there will be.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this species is highly scented at night though I haven't experienced the scent yet this time around.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-69931339119298854862016-12-21T16:49:00.001+00:002016-12-21T16:49:43.111+00:00Bloom Event - Angraecum crestwood and VeitchiiAnd when I say event, I mean event. You might remember my post a few weeks back about eBay purchases of Angraecum crestwood 'tomorrow star' and Angraecum veitchii. I have been eagerly watching the flower spikes develop ever since.

Angraecum crestwood had just the one spike which spawned two buds. The flower spike is relatively short, a trait shared with Angraecum sesquipedale (one of its parents), but the flowerbuds were enormous, especially when you take into account the massive nectar spur at the back of the flower which is longer than the bud!

The flowers soon opened, and stayed that green colour for several days, until fully open.

And yes, the flowers really are that shiny in real life. The flower is six inches from top to bottom and side to side with the spur at the back being seven inches long. They are fragrant at night, though I am not overly keen on the scent.

As you can see, the green colour fades to ivory after a few days. They have a really heavy, thick texture and seem outlandishly big for the size of the plant (as is often the case with Angraecum).

The only issue i'm having with it is that brown mottling is appearing on the flowers which I put down to mite damage (I have given the entire collection a soap and oil spray recently, so that should sort them out), which really shows up on pale flowers like these. The plant has more than one fan so I'm hoping that flowering will get better and better in future as the plant matures (not that it's small even now!)

Also in flower is the other plant I got at the same time, Angraecum veitchii. You might remember that this one had five flower spikes growing when I got it and it hasn't disappointed. There are four or five flowers per spike. Angraecum veitchii is a hybrid between A. sesquipedale and A. eburneum. One parent (sesquipedale) produces flowers that look very much like A. crestwood, pictured above, but the other parent (eburneum) produces greater quantities of smaller flowers on a longer spike. More importantly, the flowers of A. eburneum are non-resupinate, meaning that to our eye at least, the flowers are upside-down with the lip uppermost. Angraecum veitchii is well known for being, shall we say, confused, with the blooms usually twisting through three quarters of a turn to open on their side, facing downwards.

As you can see, my tactic to deal with this was to let the flower spikes develop unsupported, so the flowers open facing down on practically horizontal spikes. "Why didn't you support the spikes as they develop?" I hear you ask. The answer to this is that orchid flowers are sensitive to gravity. If I had supported the spikes, the flowers would have opened all facing downwards.

Quite a nice show, even unsupported, isn't it? As you can see, though, the flowers are facing all sorts of one directions. Even the ones facing forwards are upside-down.....

Pretty nice flowers, even when upside-down. If it were just a case of the flowers will have a good orientation (i.e. facing forwards) but were ostensibly upside-down, I wouldn't bother to support them - quite a few orchids in my collection have non-resupinate flowers, after all. Once the blooms are open and set, though, I put stakes in and tied the flower spikes upright, so the flowers then end up displayed the right way up.

As you can see, most of the flowers are now displayed correctly, and it looks even more of a spectacle.

Both of these plants are in relatively small pots that are full of roots so once blooming is done I will have to repot them. Angraecum have a reputation for refusing to bloom for several years once they have been disturbed so it is with some trepidation I shall approach this. All I intend to do is to remove the outer pot and pot on, so the roots shouldn't be disturbed at all. That's the idea, after all. I guess we will find out next winter.

Interestingly, although the plants somewhat resemble Vanda (at least vegetatively), Angraecum seem much happier growing in pots and seen to absorb vast quantities of water. Each week when I come to water, both of them are quite dry and need a good wetting. The pots must be full of roots. They also seem unfussy as to their growing medium. One plant I bought recently (A. sesquipedale var. angustifolium) is planted in a medium that I would have thought held far too much water for the plant, but it seems perfectly happy with roots growing at the bottom of the pot as well as new roots emerging from the stem. Had that been a Vanda, I would have found a pot full of dead roots with live ones only above the growing medium.

Provided I can re-flower these plants in the future I can recommend them as easy to grow orchids (apart from their size).kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-81227224483498836082016-12-08T12:31:00.000+00:002016-12-08T12:31:18.773+00:00Bloom Event - Phalaenopsis mannii 'dark' x speciosa and Phalaenopsis corningianaI'm really falling for Phalaenopsis species and primary hybrids. This one is another cracker that I got from Schwerter back in March. It was the only plant in that batch to be in bloom, and the flower spike had been trained up a cane, presumably to save bench space and make packing easier. For this blooming, I decided not to support the flower spikes but to allow them to arch naturally, and I think the flowers are much better displayed as a result.

The flowers are very like P. mannii in shape and patterning, but the flower spikes are much shorter and bear fewer flowers (P. manii can flower for months on end). P. speciosa is the opposite; it has short flower spikes with flowers borne one or two at a time from the tip. The spikes can live for years. It is a bit of a pity that the flower count of P. mannii hasn't made it into the hybrid, but you can't have everything. I guess its another case of not really thinking through what the parents are expected to bring to the hybrid.

I am growing this hybrid hanging from a wire. This is partly to prevent it standing in water in my trays so the roots stay a bit drier but also so the flower spikes can hang naturally, and I think they look better for it.

Also in flower is Phalaenopsis corningiana. This plant is a recent acquisition from a show about two months ago, although I forgot to do a new plants post regarding it. It is from a UK supplier but the original grower/importer was Schwerter. It has produced a flower which is pictured below. I'll do a proper blog post about it once it has settled in properly and put out fresh spikes under my conditions.

Its another one with short spikes producing a couple of flowers at a time over a period of several years. I love the markings and the shaving brush lip. There is a nice scent to it, too.kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-59340968574431557852016-12-01T17:08:00.000+00:002016-12-01T17:08:37.555+00:00Bloom Event - Phalaenopsis micholitzii x tetraspisIt feels like ages since I've sat in front of my computer and written blog posts (well, let's face it, it has been) so it's nice to be back at least for now. Hopefully you'll follow my Facebook page and Instagram account so you'll realise I've not been quite as lazy as it may appear.

Phalaenopsis micholitzii x tetraspis was given to me quite some time ago (three or four years, probably) by a friend who said it wouldn't flower. It was sold to him as 'flowering size' (I know, we've all fallen into that trap) by a dealer who had a 'reputation', lets say. I can't comment on my own behalf as I've never dealt with them and they are now out of business as far as i'm aware. The plant was very healthy, but nowhere near flowering size.

With parents like P. micholitzii and P. tetraspis I would expect the plant to be on the small side, but I would probably describe them both as small rather than miniature (there are some truly tiny Phalaenopsis species), and a fairly small hybrid would be expected. They are in fact fairly similar species and are related (google the species and note the little shaving brush lip they both have). P. micholitzii is a nice enough species but rather plain coloured while P. tetraspis is white with varying red markings. I'm not sure what the purpose behind the hybrid is (except to see what we get) as only one of the parents might be regarded as showy.

At any rate, by this time last year, I figured the plant must be reaching flowering size and, lo and behold, it promptly put out two flower spikes, which didn't produce any buds. This isn't unusual and as a bonus the spikes have stayed green. This year, the plant put out a third spike while the two original spikes have produced buds, two of which are now open.

As you can see, it isn't the easiest to get a decent photo of. The slightly muddy colour of P. micholitzii has carried through (I actually rather like that ivory colour), as have the reddish markings of P. tetraspis (though they could be a bit bolder if I'm being super picky).

You can make out the quirky shaving brush lip in the above slightly older photo (I'm rather impatient, so the flower isn't fully open). I'm aware that the Phalaenopsis I grow are mostly not the showy, floriferous (gaudy, some might say) hybrids of the garden centre and supermarket, I choose to focus instead on the species and more simple hybrids because I find them more interesting and 'orchid like'.

The plant itself is well behaved, as you'd expect any Phalaenopsis to be, and appears to produce flower spikes during the autumn for winter blooming as is usually the case for Phalaenopsis under my conditions, so you can expect quite a few Phalaenopsis posts over the coming few months.

The above is really blurry for which I apologise. The growroom is so humid that as soon as I take my phone out to take a photo the lens steams up. Great for the plants, not so good for my already dubious photography. Unfortunately, the flowers are facing backwards for some reason, and there is another bud lurking behind that leaf sticking up at the back. I would expect them to sit just on top of the foliage. Possibly this is hybrid confusion or just due to it being a first blooming. The other thing about many Phalaenopsis species, of course, is that while they grow and flower perfectly well in pots, this is not a normal orientation for the plant to grow, and it would much rather be sat at 45 degrees with its leaves dangling down (this is the reason crown rot can such a problem for cultivated plants). The flower spikes then display the flowers just below the crown. I am experimenting with hanging them in their pots so that they are tilted to an angle more natural for the plant (I don't want to mount them because I don't have the time to keep up with the watering of essentially bare root plants).

The flowers will never be produced in great quantities with this hybrid, only a couple at a time on short spikes, but the spikes will stay green for years and as the plant grows, more new spikes will be produced so it is capable of quite a few flowers on older plants. I haven't detected a fragrance, though I'm not sure whether I was really expecting one or not. I just always think its a bonus, you know?kevsorchidshttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-72756985314328545552016-12-01T15:42:00.000+00:002016-12-01T15:42:35.713+00:00Bloom Event - Coelia bella
After returning from a very pleasant few days away earlier in November, I found the flowers I had been watching develop on Coelia bella open at last. I have been growing this plant for a while and it has finally reached flowering size. This species seems to need to reach quite a size before blooming, but now it has got there I'm hoping it will bloom regularly. It originates from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala and can be found at a range of elevations, giving the plant good temperature tolerance. I grow it at warm temperatures (such as might be appropriate for Phalaenopsis species and hybrids) with good results. Regardless of temperature, the plant takes a brief rest between maturing its pseudobulbs and starting new ones, at which time it blooms.

I give plenty of water to this plant, treating it much like a Coelogyne species (a genus to which it is related). It does not like to dry out at all, even while it is resting and seems to enjoy quite wet conditions, at least under warm temperatures. It is possible it would appreciate being kept a little drier under cooler conditions, but I haven't tried that.

It was interesting watching the flower spike develop because it starts out rather like a new growth emerging from a mature pseudobulb, but quickly becomes much fatter though I can't call its development fast, with buds only becoming visible right before they are about to open and remaining partially hidden between their protecting bracts even after opening.

The flowers are produced on short racemes with long bracts, the flowers remaining tubular and opening fully only at the tip. There are around 5 flowers per raceme, and are quite large but due to their habit of not opening fully they are much longer than they are wide, and they barely escape from their surrounding bracts. They have a heavy almost crystalline texture and are mostly white with pinkish purple tips and a narrow yellow pointed lip. This species is reported as being marzipan scented, but I can only assume that whoever wrote that has never smelled marzipan. The scent is very pleasant indeed but is (at least to me) more reminiscent of species such as Dendrochilum glumaceum, but slightly spicier. The flowers lasted just over a week though they may last longer under cooler conditions.

The flowering racemes sit well below the foliage and cluster among the pseudobulbs. The leaves are long and strap-like with each pseudobulb bearing around five leaves, emerging erect from the apex of the pseudobulbs and arching over gracefully. The plant itself puts me in mind of one of the narrower leafed Aspidistra species. Pseudobulbs are rounded and ovoid, pale green. On my plant they are around 5cm or more in diameter, but may increase further as the plant grows.

I suppose the next challenge will be to see whether potting on upsets it or not. I've no reason to assume it would, but you never know. It really needed doing as soon as I got it, but I still haven't got round to it. The plant doesn't seem to mind, though.

Coelia bella is one of those unfortunate plants that has had taxonomic tennis played with it quite a lot in the past, Being part of genera such as Bothrochilus and Bifrenaria before finding a home as Coelia. Wherever it finds itself in the future, I think this is a lovely species and well worth a place in any mixed collection.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-28271680863297337842016-11-11T15:41:00.000+00:002016-11-11T15:41:54.794+00:00Bloom Event - Trichopilia turialbaeThat I'm managing to write a post about this plant in bloom is something of a miracle. It is not that the plant doesn't bloom (fairly) regularly so much as that (a) the blooms are so short lived that I keep missing them and (b) the plant looks such a mess that I'm embarrassed to show it to you. At the time of writing, the flowers have already gone over but I did manage to get a decent photo of a flower this time round so I guess I'll have to show you - warts and all.

The plant is not ostensibly a difficult grower and should be adaptable to warm temperatures, hailing as it does from Costa Rica. It grows steadily and blooms occasionally so I should be happy, shouldn't I? Unfortunately, I have never seen such a 'dirty grower' as this, and its foliage is covered in black marks. It doesn't seem to make any difference to the health of the plant but it looks terrible. I am all the more bemused because I have a second Trichopilia species, T. hennisiana, that is definitely a cool grower but which grows well and which has nice and clean foliage. Go figure.

The flower on Trichopilia turialbae however, is lovely. It might not be the showiest of the species in the genus, but it is rather charming.

Flowers do not open fully, but retain a tubular appearance with the lip flaring out. Note the delicate yellow colouring at the centre. I have read that they are fragrant, but I haven't been able to detect any fragrance; presumably this varies from plant to plant. There were three flowers on the spike. One is open, one yet to open and one blasted.

And now for the embarrassing bit....I suppose I should show you what the plant looks like.

I know, it could be worse, but then again, it could be better. I'm intending to turn this out of its pot in the near future to replace the growing medium which must be getting old by now as I've had the plant for three years or more and I haven't had the nerve to change it yet. The other issue here is I'm not sure I'v ever seen a new root emerge on this plant. As it never shows signs of dehydration and the new growths do appear to be increasing in size I have no real reason to worry.
kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-28102924482909651942016-11-04T14:47:00.001+00:002016-11-04T14:49:28.946+00:00Bloom Event - Cattleya (Potinara) Young Min OrangeThis is probably the strongest orange orchid I have ever grown. An odd opener I know, but it's true. A nice miniature, too, so it doesn't take up much space. One thing it is missing (as do many orange flowers) is a scent, which is a shame as it has a strong influence of Cattleya aurantiaca (from which it gets its colour, its size and its excellent heat tolerance).

The colour is quite spectacular, I'm sure you'll agree.

This plant, along with the rest of my Cattleya, had a bit of a crisis earlier in the year with scale insect which resulted in my scrapping quite a lot of them because I couldn't get the plants clean (persistent little critters, they are). This one was far from being the worst affected and seems to be clean now, though I am watching it (and the others) like a hawk.

There are two growing points on this plant. The largest of them is the largest the plant has ever produced by quite a long way and it is this one that is in bloom with the tallest flower spike of its career and bearing the most flowers (7). The second growth, which has just matured, will probably not produce flowers because I foolishly made a back-cut (which doesn't seem to have worked) and only left two pseudobulbs (plus the new one just matured). The next growth should flower, though.

Notice the blooming growth is much larger than any other on the plant. I really have no idea why this should be, but I'm not complaining. Possibly the particular species in this hybrid's parentage have contributed to its heat tolerance, specifically Cattleya aurantiaca, as mentioned earlier.

Last time this plant bloomed, I'm sure the flowers were more crowded on the stem. This time they have nice spacing and don't interfere with each other (a common complaint with Cattleya). Also, the flowers didn't last very long at all, seeming to go over within a few days of opening. Not so this time, and I'm fairly confident that the first flower will still be in good condition when the last flower has opened.

There are a couple more Cattleya coming up to bloom in the near future (must be because I threatened them), so I will be posting on them in due course.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-76978495396904614732016-10-31T14:35:00.000+00:002016-10-31T14:35:45.124+00:00Bloom Event - Coelogyne speciosa 'Burnham'As even a casual reader of this blog will realise, I love growing Coelogyne, especially Coelogyne speciosa in all its lovely colour forms. I picked up this particular plant on one of my fairly frequent visits to Burnham Nurseries (my Orchid Nirvana). It was in with all the other (presumably regular form) Coelogyne speciosa, but as it happened, this plant had a flower which was obviously different so I couldn't help but purchase it.

There is a lot of taxanomic confusion (surprise) around this colour form of C. speciosa, with many authorities calling it C. speciosa var. salmonicolor. From what I was told at Burnham Nurseries at the time, it can't be called var. salmonicolor because there is already a species of Coelogyne called salmonicolor, so they put the name 'Burnham' to it to differentiate it from the straight colour form of C. speciosa. In fact, modern taxonomy doesn't allow for different varieties of a species at all, so we are essentially free to call the various colour forms what we like. This will clearly lead to confusion and I have already seen several arguments over this on various online forums. Quite why one persons labelling of plants should be so offensive to someone else I can't really fathom. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the plant is well grown, I couldn't care less if their label reads differently to mine and the nomenclature changes so regularly that both labels are likely to be correct at some point in the future. Just chill out, OK?

As you can see, its very pale, even for the 'Burnham' form. This could be due to light levels or some other variation in growing conditions as compared to other people's plants of this variety, but it is rather lovely. While I spend some time looking at, comparing and appreciating the subtle nuances of these flowers, my better half probably sums it up best with "Not another brown flower, surely!?" Philistine.

In the above photo I have tried to show a bit more of the lip detail to illustrate how pale this flower is. The nodding nature of this species makes it rather difficult to get a natural looking photo of the inside of the flower but since it is intended more for scientific curiosity than for aesthetic value it serves its purpose well enough. Note that there are no brown markings at all inside the flower. The 'regular' form of the species has decided brown marks on the keels (those slightly furry looking ridges on the lip), and quite often on the rest of the lip too and in some forms the markings or the entire lip are almost black.

The plant was in desperate need of re-potting when I got it, with more roots above the potting medium than in it, so I didn't even wait for the flower to go over before de-potting it and replacing the potting medium. It seems to have grown away just fine (Coelogyne generally do) and is now re-flowering in its new potting medium.

As you can see, the plant is still relatively young but is growing nicely and is almost at the size where it will begin to produce multiple growths both from the lead and from backbulbs so I'm hoping for a nice clump with multiple flower spikes before too long. As a point of interest, my original Coelogyne speciosa plant began to produce multiple growths a while back, but I ended up having to divide it because the flowers at the back of the plant were of a different colour form to the flowers at the front of the plant, with the flowers at the back resembling the plant in this article with the front of the plant being the 'regular' colour form. Now I have divided it up so I should have plants of two colour forms. Why did this happen? I originally assumed that there were just two plants in the pot. This proved not to be the case as I had to cut rhizome to separate the two. I can only assume that I have a 'sport' on my hands. I will have to wait for it to bloom again before I can be sure what it actually is but at least now I have some decent photos of both colour forms to compare it against when it does bloom.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-75373550093502656022016-10-27T16:04:00.000+01:002016-10-27T16:04:35.773+01:00New Plants - Two Angraecum hybridsI have always wanted to grow more Angraecum, but have been rather afraid to. They seem to have an unjustified reputation of being difficult to grow. This may be true for some species, though I haven't tried but Angraecum sesquipedale and its hybrids seem to be easy growers. This is certainly borne out by my plants. I got my Angraecum sesquipedale from Burnham nurseries back in January and it has grown a lot since, though it is still only just approaching flowering size and I suspect it really needs another twelve months

I think the reputation of Angraecum as difficult comes from the fact that they really don't like having their roots disturbed. This doesn't seem to kill them but does prevent flowering, possibly for several seasons. I'm not sure how sensitive they are to know whether even the 'dropping on' method of potting on might prevent this, but I guess I'll find out in the future.

I have been keeping half an eye out for other Angraecum for quite a while and found Angraecum sesquipedale var. angustifolium at the Orchid Festival at the National Botanic Garden of wales back in September. It looks like it has flower spikes emerging. We shall see.

Then, last week, I found two nice looking Angraecum hybrids on eBay of all places, so I decided to make a purchase. The first is Angraecum Crestwood 'Tomorrow Star'. I have to say I'm impressed. The plant is much bigger than I was expecting, and has a flower spike.

Impressive, I'm sure you'll agree it's a nice plant. The pot is full of roots, too. Angraecum Crestwood is a hybrid between Angraecum veitchii and Angraecum sesquipedale. Angraecum veitchii is itself a hybrid between A. sesquipedale and A. eburneum. This back cross onto A. sesquipedale might be an attempt to compensate for the fact that because A. veitchii is a hybrid between species with resupinate (sesquipedale) and non-resupinate (eburneum), the flowers don't necessarily open the 'right way up' according to how we think they should look. The back cross resulting in A. Crestwood corrects this and the flowers are displayed in a similar form to A. sesquipedale. Angraecum Crestwood 'Tomorrow Star' is well known to be a clumper, and you can easily see in the above photo that there are two decent sized secondary fans developing already, as well as a third small fan that is not so obvious. Obviously, the more fans the plant has, the greater its flowering potential. It also appears relatively compact, taking more after A. sesquipedale. That is not to say it won't get big, of course.

The second plant is one of the parents of A. Crestwood, Angraecum veitchii. I will be very interested see this one flower, and it doesn't look like I will have too long to wait, as it has five flower spikes emerging.

This plant is truly huge. I am assuming the large size of this plant is inherited from Angraecum eburneum which is known to be very large indeed. It has quite a bit of growing still to do to reach its full potential, but it is large already, far larger than A. Crestwood. I look forward to seeing blooms on both of these plants and will, of course, post again with photos when they do.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-62431149374444163572016-10-27T14:47:00.000+01:002016-10-27T14:47:23.528+01:00Bloom Event - Coelogyne X intermediaI was given this plant in exchange some time ago (February in fact) and have been wondering ever since if it would flower under my conditions. It is reputed to be a hybrid between Coelogyne cristata and Coelogyne tomentosa (then massangenana), though I (along with quite a lot of other people) find this highly unlikely given that they are from two completely different sections of the genus (not to mention the geographical separation of the two species). More likely is that it is either a form of Coelogyne cristata or a natural hybrid between C. cristata and C. flaccida. If the latter is true then that would make C. X intermedia synonymous with the naturally found hybrid C. unchained melody. This seems the most likely to me.

This plant has produced a newly matured pseudobulb under my conditions and has managed to produce a flower spike. Given that, if my supposition that C. X intermedia is a hybrid between C. cristata and C. flaccida is correct, I am very impressed to see flowers because both of its parents are cool growers, with C. cristata being notoriously difficult to bloom if kept too warm. As you would expect from two such gorgeous parents, the hybrid is also rather gorgeous.

The friend I got it off assures me it grows and flowers fine for him under intermediate conditions. Normally, much as I love the big white flowered Coelogyne, I steer clear of them because my growroom is far too warm to bloom them so it is a relief and a joy to see one bloom under conditions under which I can easily bloom Phalaenopsis.

This is a truly awful photos in a variety of ways but you can see that the habit of the plant is very like its parents (by that I mean nothing at all like Coelogyne tomentosa), so I'm not sure where its heat tolerance comes from, but I'm grateful for it.

kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-22116407492461253962016-10-19T14:46:00.000+01:002016-10-19T14:46:22.143+01:00Bloom Event - Vanda Princess Mikasa Purple and Giant BlueAlthough I do grow many less Vanda than I used to do (they take up far too much room), I still hardly seem to go for any time without at least one of them in flower, and now I have two in bloom.

The first of these is what used to be Ascocenda Princess Mikasa purple, until someone messed around with the names (again), so now its just Vanda which is, admittedly, easier to spell and pronounce. My regular readers will attest to the flower power of this particular hybrid, as it was one of the earlier posts on this blog, the link being back to November 2015. This particular plant also bloomed back in March, and now its at it again. This being the third blog post about this plant, I'm not sure I have anything new to say about it. It sits at the back of the bench, growing and generally minding its own business, and occasionally flowers. It doesn't get watered any more or less than any of the other orchids in the growroom and seems fine with it. You may notice that when I first wrote a post about this plant (link above), I had it listed as having no ID. I have done enough reading and comparing to other plants that I'm confident enough of the ID to change its label.

The Mikasa hybrids are all easy going (for Vandas) and come in a variety of colours. I myself grow four different colours of this hybrid. I should start a national collection.

The flowers are, once again, quite crowded on the spike, but that seems to be the habit of the plant, so I guess I'll just have to put up with it. They are a decent size without being dinner plates, and seem to last well.

I love the lip colour on this hybrid, such a dark velvety purple, like a landing platform (which it basically is).

Every time I post about this I talk about how it is in a pot but I'm not sure how it'll do, but I think its been in its pot for long enough now that I can say this method of culture is a success and just stop worrying about it.

The plant is obviously healthy and happy. You can see how good a bloomer it is by the amount of spent flower spikes on it. Notice that they are mostly from one side of the plant. I've no idea why this should be, but it has always been that way. If anything, the leaf span has increased a little over the few years I've had it, and I would like to think that it is capable of producing more than one spike at a time.

Second up for this post we have the giant blue Vanda (that is not its actual name, purely descriptive. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a proper name. Its probably blue magic or similar but I guess I'll never know). As I've probably said before somewhere, this plant was given to me some time ago. It was quite a size then, but has grown considerably since, and will be getting out of hand before too long.

If you have a decent sized screen or the ability to zoom, you will see on the above photo, about halfway up the plant next to the tie, a couple of leaves shorter than the rest. That is how high the plant was when I got it. No sooner had I installed it than it looked to me as if it got crown rot which would have been bad news indeed, but it continued to grow and now we have a plant that is well over a metre tall. It is growing in that brown pot and has been for some considerable time, now. It lives next to Princess Mikasa discussed above under a 150 watt flourescent tube that is raised higher than the other lights to make room for it. What I'll do as the plant continues to grow I don't know. I can't really take the top off and grow that on because it hasn't produced any roots further up the stem, yet. Time will tell.

At any rate, it is a nice blue (under certain light conditions (no, I don't mean 'in the dark')) and has very nice markings.

The flowers are a good size, as ever, and there are 11 on the spike. This feels a bit mean on a plant this size but is a good amount for a large flowered hybrid Vanda. Plus, this plant has already bloomed this year, and that was only in July, so I should try not to be too greedy.

The next Vanda to bloom will be Princess Mikasa blue, but I expect our paths will cross before then.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-45248316837404524722016-10-18T14:33:00.001+01:002016-10-18T14:33:40.948+01:00Bloom Event - Paphiopedilum Sue WorthRegular readers of this blog will realise that I have been a bit of a hypocrite where Paphiopedilum are concerned, always saying that I'm no lover of slipper orchids yet continuing to grow a fair number of them anyway. This has now changed, however, and most of my Paphiopedilum (and Phragmipedium) have now been safely re-homed like poor unloved stray cats. I am left with only three Paphiopedilum, one of which is the diminutive and well-behaved Paphiopedilum Sue Worth.

Although I have been the custodian of this primary hybrid for some considerable time and have even bloomed it before, this is its Kev's Orchids blog debut. It is a hybrid between Paphiopedilum sukhakulii and Paphiopedilum charlesworthii and seems to have inherited some nice characteristics from both its parents. I have heard this hybrid described as 'good breeding stock but not one you'd grow on its own merit' but I think this is a rather unfair assessment. The plants are small and neat, flowers are large and on fairly short stems that are self-supporting, flowers are long lasting with attractive colour and markings and shape. They are temperature tolerant (which can't be said for at least one of its parents) and fairly forgiving of under and over watering. My only real criticism of it as a hybrid is that it is rather slow growing. This needn't be a problem in and of itself of course, provided the plant is also well -behaved and stays looking attractive while it is busy not flowering. Whilst bemoaning that it is a slow grower, it must be pointed out that it is by no means the slowest of Paphiopedilum; its just slower than most modern hybrids.

The main bone of contention from what I can see reading further afield (i.e. Google) is that this is just a weird combination of species and many hardcore Paphiopedilum growers (yes, they do exist) can be a bit vinegar-faced about such hybrids, and question why such crosses are made, as illustrated by the quote in the last paragraph. Whatever the initial reason for the cross, it seems a good way of getting the lovely spotting from P. sukhakulii in to modern complex hybrids and perhaps getting the lovely markings on the dorsal sepal into P. maudiae types. All of this is quite interesting to me because I find P. maudiae types quite ugly with mis-shapen flowers, at least to my eye, whereas P. Sue Worth produces a very neat flower.

I suppose, if I was to be super critical about it, I'd probably say that I'd like the dorsal sepal to be a bit bigger, and the lip to be a bit smaller. Then again, it is these imperfections that give the flower its personality and without them it would be too generic and I might as well go to a garden centre and buy something with no name. I also like the fact that it doesn't seem to mind the warm temperatures in my growroom which quite a few Paphiopedilum, especially the plain, strap leafed types (one of which is a parent of P. Sue Worth) seem to dislike. Mostly it stops them flowering well, rather than causing damage, but a non-blooming plant is of little use to me, even if it does grow well. Breeding temperature tolerance into modern hybrids is also a good thing, so that might be another idea behind the breeding of this hybrid.

As you can see, that flower is a good size for a plant that small. It is growing in a 9 cm pot and this is the second time it has bloomed in that pot. A new growth has already started, and I'm hopeful of a second new growth, too. Now we know that the plant will stay small and produce good sized flowers, we will have to wait and see how well it clumps up and whether a decent sized multi growth plant is possible with this hybrid.

One thing I always forget to mention with Paphiopedilum is how fascinating it is to watch the flowers open. More than any other orchid I grow, the flowers remind me of an egg cracking open and I always love to see the petals in the process of unfurling. I think the blooms are more beautiful at that time than they are at any other.

As well as showing the flower in the process of unfurling, the above photo also nicely shows how attractive the foliage is, a characteristic it has inherited from P. sukhakulii (P. charlesworthii has quite plain strap like foliage). Out of bloom, it could possibly be mistaken for a P. maudiae type, but the foliage is somewhat narrower, stiffer, and rather less glossy. I'd go so far as to say that this hybrid is rather more forgiving than P. maudiae can be, though it does help to get a healthy plant to start with.

Overall, I rather like this plant. Whether it will be a long-term keeper, I can't say but I certainly don't object to it taking up a small amount of space on my bench so I'm not in a hurry to get rid of it just yet.
kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-7825676854757230416.post-25300373877153603792016-10-03T14:32:00.000+01:002016-10-03T14:32:51.255+01:00Bloom Event - Cymbidium ensifolium "Shi Chang Hong"And so the Cymbidium saga continues. This one has only produced one spike of flowers, but I'm not complaining. It is a smaller plant than "Ching Sha Yu Chun" in its overall dimensions, though it seems to have settled into its new home just as well. Cymbidium ensifolium "Shi Chang Hong" has dainty pinkish flowers with darker striping on the petals.

I don't usually go in for the more pastel colours of flowers but this one is so elegant that I can't help but love it. Once again, the flower spike has taken on the colour of the flowers which seems to make the flowers stand out even more, especially contrasting the leaves. This one also has that lovely citrus scent, though it doesn't seem so strong to me. I guess that could just be because there are less flowers.

Only three flowers on the spike, this time. Even with only three flowers, the plant still doesn't look out of proportion as it really is tiny for a Cymbidium. I think I have said it before somewhere, but I'll say it again. I can't for the life of me understand why there aren't more of these available in this country, especially now our houses are warmer. These Cymbidium enjoy similar temperatures to Phalaenopsis so should make excellent houseplants. They will even tolerate considerably more light than Phalaenopsis so ought to be a great windowsill orchid. Maybe it's just a matter of time.

There really isn't a lot more to say about this one that doesn't apply to the last one, but that's not to say I don't find it equally gorgeous in its way. There is a new bud forming at the base of one of the other pseudobulbs but its way too early to tell whether it will turn out to be a flower bud or a new growth. I think I'd prefer a new growth now I've seen what the flowers are like. After all, the more new growth it produces, the more flowers I'll get in future.

I expect it will be a while before there is another Cymbidium related post, as although the two Cymbidium sinense hybrids are both in spike, they seem slower developing than either of Cymbidium ensifolium. There will, of course, be other Bloom Event posts in the meantime.kevsorchidshttp://email@example.com


text:
A stick is good:
Although sometimes a bit sour...
No stick is too small, or too far out of reach.
He can chew standing up...
or upside down.
He can even chew
Sometimes though, he seems to confuse chewable sticks with not so chewable tails.
Ah, Ziggy!
Stop pickin on Ziggy! Ziggy! We love you!!!
Hi Y'all!
Ziggy, you better be careful or you could get the wrong thing and get very, very sick.
Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog
Oh Ziggy. Let's just hope he doesn't discover the chewing potential of rocks!
There's no denying it, Ziggy really is a dog's dog. Say it loud and say it proud Ziggy..."I am a dog and I love to chew!"
Love, Cupcake
Sticks are great!
Thank God it wasn't a skunk!
I love the tail-catching shot! Great photo! In my experience, chewing finally goes away after the dog reaches the age of two, or so, but not always. We keep a special basket in the kitchen where we put all of the dog's favorite chew toys. As soon as they come inside, they head right over to the basket and get something to chew. It works for us.
Thanks for sharing those adorable shots.
Sigh. Oh, Ziggy!
I love all these photos! They capture Ziggy's awesomeness perfectly! Something about him is just so irresistible to me. He is my kind of pooch!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
A passenger pre-approval system that checks air travellers before they fly is speeding up checks to as little ten seconds.
The method is already fully installed in Terminal 3 at Dubai International, while Terminal 1, 2 and Al Maktoum International Airport are expected to be ready by end of the year.
Being used at all Dubai airports, customers will be vetted 48 hours before arrival in order to hurry the process.
That's right, gone will be the days of waiting in long lines.
General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) in Dubai developed the new checking method, and it will work through departures and arrivals.
General director assistant of GDRFA Brigadier Talal Ahmad Al Shanqeti told Gulf News: "In Dubai, a passport control officer clears 55,000 passengers per year on an average while globally the ratio is 17,000 passengers. With this new system in place, better results will be achieved.
"We have 65 employees working in a command room to check the passengers' details and send clearance to the passport control officer so he only needs to identify the passenger in front of him before stamping the passport."
Travelling to and from Dubai is getting easier by the day, as you can even check in your baggage for Dubai flights from home.
We think it's time to book our next flight.