Orchid of the day: Masdevallia Elven Magic

Masdevallia Elven Magic

When our Paphiopedilum philippinense was awarded the judges' choice in May 2018, at the Maryland Orchid Society, we received this orchid as a prize. Our Masdevallia Elven Magic is a primary hybrid between Masd. davisii and Masd. infracta. My first post about this Masdevallia was on October 21, 2018. This orchid is known to require cooler conditions and relatively high humidity. After more than one year in our hands, Arne made a few observations on how to best care for this orchid. 

Arne noticed that Masdevallia is much more sensitive to strong light than for example,  Paphiopedilum. He found that this orchid needs less fertilizer than most orchids. Although this orchid is known to prefer cooler conditions, it does not need cold conditions to grow well. However, cooler temperatures definitely bring out the deep red in the flowers to the fullest.

This year our Masdevallia Elven Magic thrived and produced eight flowers which opened simultaneously. As the flowers wilt, it is still continuously producing new buds.

A) Our Masdevallia Elven Magic in December 2019.

B) A brief photo session outdoors.

C) Two dark red flowers up close.

This will be  my final post for 2019. I hope you have found my blog interesting and will join me again next year. Until then, I wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous and Peaceful New Year.

Orchid of the day: Vanda Stephen Scott Young

Vanda Stephen Scott Young

Vanda Stephen Scott Young, is a primary hybrid between Vanda tessellata and Vanda testacea. This hybrid was made quite recently and registered as late as 2015. As I have mentioned in my post two year ago, the flowers have a tendency to get pollinated by ants. Once this happens, the bright blue color will fade and the entire flower will wilt.

A) The entire orchid 'hanging' out in our backyard in August this year.

B) Magnificent root system. Always impressive to me.

C) We were rewarded with thirteen flowers this year.

D) Beautiful flowers with distinct purple lips.

E) A beautiful picture this past summer. Our Vanda Stephen Scott Young swaying under the dogwood tree together next to our Spanish moss.

Orchid of the day: Cattleya walkeriana 'Khairul Bariah'

Cattleya walkeriana 'Khairul Bariah'

I first posted about this orchid last year on December 2nd. Arne bought this plant in 2017 and it has been doing well and produced three flowers last year. This year, our Cattleya walkeriana 'Khairul Bariah' produced three flower buds. Unfortunately, one of the buds aborted at an early stage, and wasn't able to mature. We do move our orchids around in order to water them and space is quite tight indoors. The particular clone has wonderful flowers, both the color and shape are close to perfect. 

A) Flowering in early December this year. The second bud still closed.

Despite the lost of the third flower bud, the flowers of this Brazilian native, are impressively large and symmetrical in form. Hopefully this characteristic will persist and Arne can take it for judging at the National Capital Judging Center in Washington, DC one day. 

B) Both flowers fully opened on Dec 8, 2019.

C) A close up of the individual flower.

D) A quick photo session on the back deck on December 8th, 2019.

Until my next post, have a great week everyone!

Orchid of the day: Vanda vietnamica

Vanda vietnamica

Vanda (Christensonia) vietnamica was discovered in 1993 in Vietnam.  We have this orchid for at least three years now. These photos were taken in September and I seem to run out of time putting my posts together lately! My first post about our Vanda vietnamica was on September 17,  2017. Since this orchid comes from the low-lands of southern Vietnam, this species likes warm conditions all year around and less light than typical Vandas.  

A) Three flowers for this year.

B) Closer look of the 'apple' green petals and white lacy lip.

C) Doing well in the wooden basket. Lovely roots sprawling out if the box.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the flowers of our Vanda vietnamica. Until next time, have a great day!

Orchid of the day: Laelia gouldiana

Laelia gouldiana

Laelia gouldiana is a native of Mexico. This orchid is a relatively easy grower in our hands. It does require bright lights and temperature between 68 – 85 °F (20 – 30 °C). Since it does not prefer the hot and humid Baltimore summers, we keep this orchid in our cool basement under lights. As you can see, it grows very well and requires a lot of space to spread out. For more details, please go to my earlier post from November 16, 2016. This orchid was also on loan for an exhibition in 2017 at the National Capital Orchid Society show in Washington, DC.

A) In early November, three flowers opened up.

B) Beautiful petals and lip.

C) Five buds still unopened at this time.

D) Four flowers opened before Thanksgiving and a few buds still developing.

By the time we got home from our Thanksgiving vacation, all flowers had opened but they were already showing signs of wilting. It is still one of my favourite orchids.

Until my next post, I hope you enjoyed these photos.

Orchid of the day: Tuberolabium kotoense

Tuberolabium kotoense

Tuberolabium kotoense is a small epiphytic orchid from Taiwan.  Each flower stem holds numerous small pleasantly fragrant flowers that are mostly white with a purple center.  Our particular clone has purely white flowers and must be an alba form of the species.  Our plant is currently blooming for the first time with two flower stems having about 45 and 33 flowers, respectively.

Tuberolabium kotoense grows best mounted as long as the air can be kept sufficiently humid.  Our plant grows on a piece of cork bark draped in live Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), which creates a humid microclimate around the orchid. In our care, the flower stems started to develop about five months before the first flower opened.

A) Our Tuberolabium kotoense 'wrapped' up with Spanish moss to retain humidity.

B) A closer look of the white flowers.

C) Our orchid doing well mounted on this piece of bark. Something Arne does very well.

Another interesting and new orchid in our collection. The fragrant is mild enough that even I can tolerate. Well, as usual, I hope you found this orchid as interesting as I do.

Until next time, have a great day.

Orchid of the day: Cychnoches warscewiczii

Cychnoches warscewiczii

I first posted about this orchid two years ago, December 3, 2017. I call this our upside down (non-resupinate) orchid. This orchid is a native of Columbia, which loves lots of water and sun during its growing season. The huge pseudobulbs mature in mid fall and produced two flowers. As before, these are the male flowers which are rather large, up to 5 inches (12.5- 13 cm). The other well-known genus that also produce both male and female flowers is Catasetum.

A) You can see two older pseudobulbs in this pot. They produced flowers in the previous year.

B) Our upside down male flowers. If you are not familiar with orchids, you can easily assume this is NOT an orchid.

C) From the back, the lovely bright apple green color of the petals.

D) The entire orchid enjoying a brief outdoor moment before final indoor 'storage' for the Baltimore winter.

E) Amazing looking flower...I can't get over this special orchid. Apparently, according to experts, a female flower can develop once the plant grows very big and older. I can't wait to see that!

Okay, until my next post, I hope you found our Cychnoches warscewiczii as fascinating as I do!

Orchid of the day: Cattleya Scarlet Imp

Cattleya Scarlet Imp

Cattleya Scarlet Imp is probably better recognized as a Sophronitis hybrid as both its parents, S. cernua and S. brevipedunculata, only recently were transferred to the genus Cattleya.  We purchased this orchid recently in 2018 and this is the first bloom. These flowers have perfectly ideal Cattleya shape.

A) The flowers close up in sunlight in late October.

This is truly a miniature orchid resembling mainly the creeping growth habit of S. cernua while the much larger flowers is a trait from S. brevipedunculata. The flower is larger than each vegetative growth and almost 2 inches (5 cm) wide. 

B) The flowers were opened but were still in the process of flattening out.

C) In a different light.

D) Secured in our basement under indoor lights since the weather had cooled down significantly in November.

Until the next post, I hope you love seeing these blooms from my blog today!

Orchid of the day: Prosthechea vitellina, formerly Encyclia vitellina

Encyclia vitellina

I posted about this orchid rather frequently because it is a regular bloomer. So far I have at least posted about it on February 12, 2017, January 21, 2018, and November 28, 2018.

This orchid hails from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala, where it grows as an epiphyte at high elevations.  High elevations means cold to cool conditions, something most orchid growers cannot offer unless they have an air-conditioned greenhouse.  Unlike most cold growers, Psh vitellina is fortunately rather forgiving when it comes to temperature and can adapt to somewhat warmer than ideal conditions.  What Arne has seen, however, is that warmer temperatures seem to be reflected in the pseudobulbs which grow into an oblong rather than round shape when the temperature is warmer than ideal.  The quality or shape of the flowers is not affected by somewhat elevated growing temperature.

There are a total of twenty one flowers and four buds on one stem. Possible six more flowers on the second flower stem.

A) Our orchid today, October 12th. Still kept outside as the cooler temperature agrees with it.

B) There is another flower stem, see lower left of this photo. There are a few flower buds developing.

C) This photo was taken of the same orchid on August 18th. At this time, we only had a single flower stem.

D) A view from above on August 18th.

E) A closer look at the second flower stem today. We may get six more flowers in a few weeks.

F) Beautiful brightly coloured flowers.

G) I wanted to show the rather large pseudobulbs at the root of this orchid's flower stems.

I hope you found this post interesting. Until my next post, please have a great week everyone.

Orchid of the day: Dendrochilum uncatum var. uncatum

Dendrochilum formosanum

I first posted about this orchid on January 1st, 2018. Arne had received this orchid as a large seedling. It has since then grown very well in our care. This species is native to Taiwan and the Philippines. The height of this orchid is about 15 cm or ~ 6 inches. The flowers are about 1 cm and are bright yellow green with dark green shiny leaves.

There are two varieties of Dendrochilum uncatum; first is this one, Dendrochilum uncatum var. uncatum, where the hooked arms are attached at the middle of the column. Second is the Dendrochilum uncatum var. longispicatum, where the arms are attached on the bottom column. However, this orchid is best known as Dendrochilum formosanum.

In the wild, this orchid would grow on rocks and trees at elevations of 1,000 to 2,300 m. The common name of this orchid is "The Hooked-Shaped Dendrochilum", referring to the inward bent to the arms on the column.

A) This orchid currently has a round twenty two flower stems today and still a few more developing. We may even end up with thirty flower stems this year.

B) A view from above of this sympodial orchid.

C) This orchid looks like a bouquet someone had put together.

D) I tried to zoom in for a closer look at the individual flowers. 

As always, I hope you found this orchid as interesting as I do. Until my next post, have a great week.