Orchid of the day: Broughtonia sanguinea 'Karin', AM/AOS

Broughtonia sanguinea 'Karin', AM/AOS

We posted about this orchid on July 13th 2014 and this clone received the Award of Merit from the American Orchid Society (AM/AOS). When this orchid was awarded, it had 27 beautifully form white flowers. This time around we noticed at least 55 flowers! This specimen is doing well and hopefully next year, we can take it for judging again. Arne is hoping there will be more flower stems too. Wish us luck!

A) June 24th, three strong flower stems shooting skyward.

Previously, Arne kept this specimen at work in his lab space. But we managed to make some space for this 'giant' orchid.  We are happy that it is doing very well.

B) To the left, well develop flower buds.

C) Zooming in on the developing flower buds.

D) July 4th, blossoms opening on the left most stem.

E) Zooming to the flowers. Cotton white blooms.

F) Our prize winning orchid on July 24th. Almost all of the flowers are opened.

G) Broughtonia sanguinea 'Karin' enjoying the Baltimore summer hanging on our front porch.

A healthy plant growing extremely well on a simple piece of cork. This endemic orchid of Jamaica is living the good life up here in Baltimore, Maryland. I hope you all enjoyed the photos for this post. Until next weekend, have a good and peaceful week.

Orchid of the day: Schoenorchis fragrans

Schoenorchis fragrans

We featured this orchid on July 19th, 2015 with our Anthony, providing a visual scale to the size of this miniature orchid. He is in this post too. He was particular interested this time as he kept sniffing the mild fragrance that accompanied the blooms. A little background on our orchid of the day in the following paragraphs.

A) July 4th. Developing flowers buds, not quite there yet.

Schoenorchis fragrans from southeast Asia is one of the absolute smallest vandaceous orchids.  A blooming size plant is the size of a brooch.  That does not mean that it isn’t showy because each flower stem produces a large bunch of bright colored flowers that are just adorable.  It is also known to produce keikis easily.  

B) July 16th.

A keiki is a little baby plant that is produced instead of a flower stem and after some time each keiki will produce its own flower stems.  Last year, the newly acquired plant produced two flower stems.  This year the plant decided to produce one strong flower stem and one keiki is emerging.  This orchid is easily cared for as long as it receives bright light, temperate to warm temperatures and not too much water during winter.  It should be mounted on a piece of cork bark or similar. 

C) Anthony patiently posing with the miniature Schoenorchis fragrans.

D) By July 23rd, all flowers are in bloom.

E) Zooming in. The keiki developing on top.

F) Anthony was totally fascinated by the fragrance of this Schoenorchis fragrans.

He, as always was very gentle.

We hope you enjoyed this post. Until next time, may the 'heat doom' covering the States this week move along and cooler weather comes back soon. Have a good week everyone. 

Orchid of the day: Bulbophyllum frostii (Dutch Shoe)

Bulbophyllum frostii

I posted about my favourite (yes, yes, English, English) orchid thrice before on September 7th, 2015, September 1st, 2014 and  July 21st, 2014. This orchid is endemic to Vietnam, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula ( my country of origin). This orchid is really moisture loving and that is why Arne has decided to cultivate it in a pot instead of mounting it on a bark. I asked him why not mount it? He said, Bulbophyllum frostii needed watering A LOT. We have it growing in sphagnum moss, which keeps the moisture level high.

Last year we divided a single plant to 3 and gave one to a friend and hopefully it is doing well. Haven't heard from the friend yet about the progress of the orchid. Let us hope for the best!

A) June 24th, 2016. Flower buds emerging.

B) Some of the flowers opened and developed very early. Love these Dutch shoes.

C) July 4th. We have twenty flowers on this Independence day weekend.

D) Aerial view.

E) Today, July 16th. some of the flowers have wilted away but still looking cute as ever!

E) This is a 'boudoir' photograph taken by Arne on July 10th of this beautiful specimen.

Today when we took some photos outside, our dog Anthony kept sniffing at this orchid. I have never seen him so attached to a particular orchid! Apparently upon further reading, the Bulbophyllum frostii does emit a fragrance that is close to a 'smelly-shoe'. Point being, it attracts flies for pollination and its survival. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed my post today. It is always a pleasure writing about our little 'Dutch Shoe" orchid.

Orchid of the day: Aerides houlletiana

Aerides houlletiana

I posted about our Aerides houlletiana in June of 2014. We purchased it in March 2014 and were very fortunate that this orchid produced twenty flowers that same year. But last year, despite growing double in size, this orchid didn't produce any flowering stems. It clearly was working on its on schedule. And this year, it produced twenty five flowers. Above is the close up of all the flowers. Each flower exuding the sweet fragrant of lemon grass.

A) June 24th, 2016. The entire plant chilling outside, enjoying the warm Baltimore summer weather.

B) The flower buds before opening up.

C) I find all orchid roots very fascinating as they thrive being above ground. Aerides houlletiana is an extreme case of air loving orchid.

D) Our orchid in full bloom today.

E) Enjoying and hanging outside our backyard.

I hope you all find this post fascinating as I have. This is one of my favourite orchid as it came from my old part of the world, Malaysia. A beautiful vandaceous air-loving orchid, Aerides houlletiana.