Orchid of day: Brassavola Little Stars

Brassavola Little Stars

This orchid came into our care in 2013 and has been thriving since. This specimen is currently mounted to a hickory bark which was then mounted onto a bigger piece of cork because it out grew the hickory bark. Clearly we couldn't house it in our town house, so Arne found a nice spot for it in his lab.

Brassavola Little Stars is a primary hybrid between B. nodosa and B. subulifolia (the latter parent was earlier known as B. cordata). I posted about our other B. Little Stars on November 26th, 2016, which Arne found at Lowe's hardware store (Click here for link).

A) Our 'oversized' Brassavola Little Stars growing quite well in Arne's laboratory at work.

This impressive orchid produced fifty flowers this time but based on the enormous size, we should expect at least double the number of flowers. Arne thinks that leaving it at work, prevents him from giving it more TLC compared to his other orchids at home. Trust me, he spends a lot of time with them at home!

B) Supported by two retort stands on each side. This specimen faces the sunlight coming through the lab window. Not a bad view of the campus.

C) These beautiful flowers emit a citrus-like fragrant at dusk or late afternoon.

Arne shared a photo of this orchid in an orchid forum (RVO's OrchidTalk Forum) and it generated a lot of interest! In fact this orchid generated a lot of conversation at work among co-workers and students. Perhaps increasing the number of orchid enthusiasts in Baltimore. Until my next post, I conclude with a quote from the late Dr. M. L. King.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Orchid of the day: Cattleya cernua

Cattleya cernua (or Sophronitis cernua)

Welcome to my first post of the year. What better way then to show our "Christmas orchid", Cattleya cernua. We nicknamed this orchid, our "Christmas orchid" because every year since we had it, i.e. 2007, it flowers every Christmas (Click here). Let us hope it continues this trend in December 2017!

Our Cattleya cernua began budding in early December 2016 and by December 25th, we had a total of ten flowers. Unfortunately, somewhere between December 31 to January 5, we lost three big beautiful flowers on the top. 

A) The top three flowers were blooming on Dec 7th, 2016.

You may wonder why I mentioned that this orchid is also called Sophronitis cernua. Well if you go back to my earlier post, December 24th, 2014 (Click here), a clear explanation is available. To us, we still call it our Sophronitis.

Arne thought he should write a little something about our Sophronitis, so here's a little paragraph from him.  

'Sophronitis cernua is a miniature orchid from the Minas Gerais region in Brazil with bright orange-red flowers that can be a little larger than an inch (up to 3 cm).  It is an orchid that every grower should have and it is not difficult to take care of as long as enough light can be provided.  Of the 15 species within the genus Sophronitis, this species is probably the most warm-growing and therefore manageable for most growers.  This orchid should definitely be mounted according to me and most others.  Those that have observed S. cernua in situ also took notes of its fondness for moist cliff walls.  So my next experiment will be to mount S. cernua on a piece of stone or terracotta.  In any case I will make sure it becomes a specimen plant with dignity.' ~Arne Schön

B) All ten flowers in bloom. Notice that the top three flowers are bigger than the rest. Approximately 2.8 cm in diameter.

C) The entire specimen with some Spanish moss growing along side on the piece of wood. (Yes, we have Spanish moss with our orchids).

D) Another view of our Christmas orchid.

E) Today, January 7th, the entire specimen with the seven flowers remaining.

F) A beautiful close up of the bright orange flowers. I think the purple hue on the column of each flower, is almost like a beauty spot. Very sweet!

I really love this orchid and I look forward to the flowers every December. I hope you feel the same way as I do. Well, here's to a good week and a good year ahead to everyone!