Orchid of the day: Phalaenopsis parishii

Phalaenopsis parishii

This miniature orchid, native to eastern Himalayas, Assam India, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, thrive in hot to warm climates. The flowers are densely scatter on the stems and have a mild scent. This orchid came to us in 2012 and I posted it for the first time, June 13th, 2015.

Like most of our orchids, our Phalaenopsis parishii seems to bloom around the same time each year, late May to early June. This time, we have twenty one flowers blooming.

A) May 20th, 2018.

B) By May 26th, more flowers had opened. This time around we have 21 flowers.

C) Anthony providing size comparison of this tiny orchid from June 2015.

D) Our orchid enjoying the warm sun on May 20th.

E) A close up of the individual bloom.

I must say that this miniature orchid is very breathtaking to look at. The flowers are about 2 cm in height yet the colours are so vivid and each bloom is so beautifully shaped.

I hope you all enjoyed my post for today.

These tiny beauties never fail to amaze me each time.

Until next time, have a great week.

Orchid of the day: Paphiopedilum philippinense 'Khairul Bariah'

Paphiopedilum philippinense 'Khairul-Bariah' AM/AOS

A) Our orchid was recently selected as the Judges' choice at the local Maryland Orchid Society meeting  on the 17th of May, 2018.

B) Here is Anthony with our Paphiopedilum philippinense 'Khairul-Bariah'.

For the past three years, we have had a single flower stem with six flowers. Actually, six flowers per stem is more than the norm, hence this orchid clone received the Award of Merit (AM), from the American Orchid Society on June 7th, 2014. I had mentioned in the past, how much we would love to have a second inflorescence in the future with twelve flowers in total! See my post from June 21st, 2015. Now that we do, we ended up having only five flowers per stem. I guess we can't have everything. Ten beautiful flowers aren't too shabby, I would say. 😊

C) On April 14th, we clearly saw two flower stems and with five flower buds developing. This was in contrast from the last three years, where we only had one flower stem.

D) By May 14th, almost all ten flowers, five per stem or inflorescence, were opened to show their magnificent shape and colour.

E) Zooming in, we see how extended and twirly the petals are.

F) An 'aerial' view of our orchid.

G) From behind, you can see the stripes on the sepals.

H) A final close up showing the details in the flower.

To conclude today's post, I must confess that this is definitely one of my favourites. Of course having an orchid clone named after me didn't hurt either! I hope you found this post a feast to your eyes.

Until next week, here a photo of this orchid with it's certificate from the AOS in 2014.

Orchid of the day: Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom Carmela

Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom 'Carmela'

Our Ascofinetia Cherry Blossom 'Carmela' or it is now officially called Vanda Cherry Blossom 'Carmela', is in full bloom today. It has nine flower spikes and at least one hundred and sixty flowers. Here is the link to my May 26, 2014 post, which shows how small this orchid was. This orchid has a keiki, which is a 'baby' plant that has generated from the stem the mother plant, hence the term, keiki. This hybrid, is a cross between Neofinetia falcata x Ascocentrum ampullaceum, do not have a scent.

A) April 14th, developing flower buds.

B) View from above.

C) My dear Anthony, posing quietly next to our orchid.

D) By May 4th, all the flowers are in full bloom.

E) A profile view of our orchid in the sun.

F) A view from above of our orchid.

G) Zooming into each individual flower.

This is my post for this weekend. I hope these photos brought you some pleasure.

Until my next post, have a great week!