Orchid of the day: Neofinetia falcata

Neofinetia falcata

This small and petite orchid is native to China, Korea and Japan. It is also called the Samurai orchid because Shogun Tokugawa Ienari, of Japan, fell in love with this orchid. See my post from June 22, 2014 for more background details.

There are some orchid growers who specialize in the Samurai Orchid Neofinetia falcata, or Fukiran, and its many genetic varieties.  The flowers are normally white but highly prized forms with more purple, pink or yellow flowers exist.  The genetic variations are not limited to the flowers; also varieties with differences in plant size and root appearance can be found.  In Japan where Fukiran has been grown for hundreds of years, each variant has its designated name, such as ‘Shutenno’ (magenta) and ‘Kibana’ (yellow).

Plants of Neofinetia falcata are traditionally grown in specially designed pots in long-fiber sphagnum moss, which is wrapped into a hollow cone around the roots.  Although the end result with the plant sitting on the top of a mound is very attractive, Neofinetia falcata grows very well if treated like a Vanda.  Actually, the accepted name for this species is Vanda falcata. 

Initially, Arne cultivated this orchid in the traditional  Japanese style, in a pot with sphagum moss but he slowly decided this was not for him. He has since 2015 re-potted this orchid in his usual wooden boxes. The Neofinetia falcata has done well until today. 

A) The traditional Japanese style in 2014.

B) Neofinetia falcata in its wooden orchid box, in 2016.

C) Zooming in on an individual crisp white flower.

D) As the orchid settles in its wooden box, the number of flowers increased. This was in June 2017.

E) This year, the orchid is doing very well with at least twelve flowers. The wooden orchid box clearly agrees with it.

I hope you enjoyed my post today, until next time, have a great week.

Orchid of the day: Brassavola perrinii

Brassavola perrinii

This orchid came into our care in 2014 and has been doing better each year. I've posted about this orchid in November 14th, 2015, September 4th, 2016, and last year, on October 1st, 2017. This South American beauty has been very floriferous each year with white flowers emitting a pleasant fragrant in the evenings. This year we have fifteen flowers and four buds still pending to bloom. 

A) Out in the September sun today.

B) A close up of the individual flower.

C) Our orchid hanging in our pergola today.

It is a short post but I hope you have enjoyed seeing our Brassavola perrinii.

Until next time, have a great week!

Orchid of the day: Phalaenopsis lindenii

Phalaenopsis lindenii

While Phalaenopsis lindenii produces a flower stem that can carry quite a number of flowers, each flower is considerably short lived and only 4-6 seem to be open at once.  Right now, our plant has five open flowers and five buds.  Three earlier flowers have already wilted and fallen off.

Arne has made subtle changes in the culture of several of our low-light orchids this year.  One change is to expose them to more light.  To increase the light for low-light plants may sound somewhat strange at first but the light level can very easily be underestimated for plants grown under light.  For the mounted orchids, the increased light is achieved by allowing the plants to hang somewhat closer to the light source.

Arne's best method is to have the mounted plants hanging on chains, which allow for easy adjustments up or down in very small steps.  We can already see that our Phal. lindenii is growing larger leaves at its position closer to the light source.

A) August 19, 2018. Enjoying the warm summer weather.

B) Individual delicate bloom.

C) September 3rd, 2018.

D) A cascade of flowers.

E) Another close up of the individual flower with shades of purple and speckles of gold.

F) Our Phalaenopsis lindenii resides in our basement now under controlled lighting.

Thanks for reading my post for this week.

Until next time, have a great week everyone.

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

Broughtonia sanguinea var. alba 'Karin', AM/AOS

This year our Broughtonia sanguinea ‘Karin’ produced four flower stems of which two are about 60 cm (two feet) and branching.  As of today, September 3, 2018, there are thirteen open flowers and thirty-three buds.  Including the current flowers and buds I estimate the total number of flowers produced since June to about 190.

Broughtonia sanguinea needs a lot of light to grow and flower well.  Direct sun during the middle of the day is not advisable, however, as the heat burns the flower stems to the extent that the entire tip of the flower stem with all its buds dry out and die.  Because of the length of the flower stems, this protection from the direct sun is easier said than done.

Fortunately, this year we have the possibility to hang the plant in a newly built wooden arbor where it can get the dappled sun light that it likes so much 

A) Photograph from 2014, after this orchid was awarded the Award of Merit by the American Orchid Society (AM/AOS).

B) The entire orchid in 2014. Small in comparison to it today. See post from July 2014.

C) Our Broughtonia hanging out in our arbor on August 19th with our other orchids.

D) The bright white blooms.

E) Still out in the sun, today September 3, 2018.

F) A final close up photo to conclude my post today.

I hope you enjoyed my post for this Labor Day weekend.