Orchid of the day: Dendrobium jenkensii

Dendrobium jenkensii

Arne purchased this orchid in 2008 and it came on a thin stick with another orchid attached on the top. My first post about our Dendrobium jenkensii was on February 2, 2014 (click here). Arne remembered that when he showed it to me, I said, it looked like he was holding up a dead mouse by the tail! Which would be what I would say...

Once we separated this orchid from the hitch hiker orchid, Stelis quadrifida, (read more about this on my post dated May 25, 2015) and mounted it on its own tree fern slab, the Dendrobium jenkensii flourished.

A) On March 25th, we had two flowers opening up and several more flower buds were developing. 

B) Another view of our Dendrobium jenkensii.

C) You can see several more buds waiting to develop in this view.

By April 1st, we saw most of the flowers were opened. In fact this year we have thirty eight flowers to boast about! This orchid is native to the cooler and higher elevation of the Hainan region of China, Assam of India, eastern Himalaya, Nepal, Burma/Myanmar and Laos. Apparently it was named after an English man, Jenken, who work with the East Indian Trading company in the 1800s. The flower is about 3 cm or 1.5 inches in size.

D) Most of the 38 flowers were in full bloom on April 1st.

E) I thought you should see how different this orchid looked like in 2010. It has certainly developed and repaid Arne's care with wonderful flowers this year.

E) A gorgeous view of our Dendrobium jenkensii.

Let's end this post with another picture of the close up again.

Until next week, have a great week everyone!

Orchid of the day:a primary hybrid, Cattleya or Laeliocattleya (Lc)

Lc. Mini Purple 'Heavens to Betsy' x Lc. Mini Purple 'Blue Hawaii'

This orchid blooms every year around this time and I last posted about it in February 2014. There I explained about the story behind this primary hybrid. Today, Sunday April 23rd, the single flower is still blooming.

A) Our Anthony providing size perspective on April 1st.

B) A close up of the beautiful purple flower.

A short post for today but I will be back next week with another of our collection in bloom. Have a good week.

Orchid of the day: Paphiopedilum delenatii 'Karin Schon' AM/AOS

Paphiopedilum delenatii 'Karin Schon' AM/AOS

Our Paphiopedilum delenatii 'Karin Schon', which awarded the Award of Merit (AM) from the American Orchid Society (AOS) on March 10th last year, successfully flowered this year in late March and until today, Easter Sunday. This slipper orchid which originates in the cooler regions in Vietnam, was named after the French orchid enthusiast, Delenat, in the early 1900s. Our clone is named after my mother in-law, Karin Schon, who still resides in Halmstad, Sweden.

A) By March 5, the two flowers stems are about 34 cm (~13.4 inches) in height.

B) The four developing flowers up close.

C) March 18th, the weather was nice enough for us to take this specimen out on the deck.

By March 18th, the temperature was warm enough for us to take our P. delenatii 'Karin Schon' out for some fresh air! In (C), one of the buds had opened to reveal the beautiful pink and white colours. The patterns on these variegated leaves are also very beautiful. 

D) Another angle to compare the fully opened flower to the other three buds.

E) Anthony taking the opportunity to smell the flowers. Such a gentle boy!

F) Two flowers in full bloom, on March 25th.

By March the 25th, two flowers were fully opened but we didn't have to wait long until all were in full bloom by April 9th. (see G).

G) All in bloom, April 9th.

H) Today, Easter Sunday, April 16th.

Today, Easter Sunday in Baltimore, it is 75^oF or 24^oC. Pleasant weather, sunny and a beautiful day to enjoy our Paphiopedilum delenatii 'Karin Schon' outdoors. Until my next post, have a great week everyone!

Orchid of the day: Dendrobium lindleyi

Dendrobium lindleyi

Arne got this orchid in 2007 and it began to produce flowers in 2013. Since then this Dendrobium lindleyi has been 'happy' and this time around, it has produced six flower stems with about 130 flowers! Below is a paragraph Arne put together for this post. 

"Dendrobium lindleyi needs bright light but not direct sun and frequent watering during summer.  I have the plant in a tree fern ‘pot’ that I hang in a dogwood tree from late May until the end of September.  For those of you that don’t have a place during winter with bright light and a temperature around 50 °F (~10 °C), don’t expect to get any flowers in spring unless you stop watering at the end of November and try to find some place during the nights in late December until the end of January where the night temperatures drop drastically.  What I did this year was to put the plant outside under our covered porch during nights when the temperature didn’t drop below 40 °F (~5 C).  I don’t think it was outside more than 4 – 5 nights during that time.  It worked though!" ~Arne

If you are interested to learn more about this orchid, please click on these links as it will bring you to my earlier posts (January 10th, 2016; May 1st, 2016).

A) March 5th. Six inflorescences with many flower buds on each.

B) Flower buds waiting to burst open. A close up view of the buds are better seen in my earlier post on May 1st, 2016.

C) The grower with his baby in hand, on March 18th.

D) Most of the flowers have opened on March 18th.

E) Out in the sun after a snowy day in Baltimore.

F) Some snow still on the ground.

G) Dendrobium lindleyi today, April 1st, still in full bloom.

H) Zooming in the individual flower.

I) Such a beautiful specimen.

J) A final photo for this post.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and the beautiful photos of our Dendrobium lindleyi. Until my next post, have a great week everyone!