Orchids of the day: Upcoming posts

Summer has turned to Fall here in Baltimore and our orchids are safely indoors. Although it has been an excellent year for our orchids, the Summer of 2014 has been rather cool in comparison to 2013. My Thai chilis and Cheyenne peppers weren't doing as well as they should but that is another story...

Slowly but surely, we have noticed several flower buds developing in at least five of our orchids right now. Today I'm going to share some photos of the early budding flowers from three of our orchids. I am beginning to chronicle the different stages of flowering now. The post today will be brief but I hope to 'wet' your appetites for upcoming posts of each of these orchids.

A) Laelia endsfeldzii, native to Brazil, in Minas Gerais.

B) Laelia endsfeldzii.  At least five flowering stems are developing today. The flowers should be yellow. This is exciting to see!

C) Aerangis luteo alba var. rhodosticta, miniature orchid from Kenya. Actually found across equatorial Africa. Four flower stems are developing from this miniature orchid. The color varies from pure white to ivory white, cream or pale yellow.

D) Laelia crawshayana x Broughtonia negrilensis. This orchid bloomed in 2013 with four flowers (See post April 22).

E) Here is what the flowers would look like (from earlier post April 22nd).

F) Laelia crawshayana x Broughtonia negrilensis. This time at least five flowers are getting ready to bloom.


Well, that is all the updates I have for today. Very soon it will be back to my weekly updates, I hope. Of course, the lack of flowering orchids is encouraging Arne to purchase more orchids! And thanks for the kind words from followers of this blog.

Orchid of the day: Brassavola perrini

Brassavola perrini

Brassovola perrini is found in Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and in Argentina at elevations of 1980 to 2580 meters. Brassovola perrini is also known as Perrin's Brassovola, Perrin being an English gardener in the 1800's. This orchid is can be small to medium in size, and its warm to cool growing. If you search for images of this orchid in the wild, you will find them growing on stony cliff walls. The normal number of flowers with fragrance per plant is between three to six blooms. 

A) August 24th. 

Arne purchased this orchid this year. The weather has been very cooperative and the orchid has flourished this Summer. We saw several flower stems developing very quickly in late July and early August.

B) Flower stems developing.

C) Zooming to another flower stem.

D) September 7th. More developed stems. At least eight buds appeared.

E) The orchid looks delicate.

F) Flowers opening up very nicely on September 22nd.

G) Four flowers opened at this time.

H) Up close.

Today we still have four flowers completely open but within one to two weeks, we should see a total of eleven flowers in bloom. Definitely more than the average of three to six as predicted. This orchid has great potential for another future award. Fingers cross.

I) Zooming in the beautiful bloom. The flower size is between 2.5 to 3.0 inches (6.75 to 7.5 cm).

Orchid of the day: Cattleya Newberry Radiance

Cattleya Newberry Radiance

Today will be a nice and short post. I took these photos in July and waited to post them because I had a few interesting orchids to talk about. Many were flowering at the same time. It was difficult to select which one to post about. Sadly, I missed out the early flowering stages of this orchid. But I hope I made up for my mistake by posting these nice photos with my old camera. I hope you will enjoy.

A) July 9th. Three flowers developed this year.

Arne bought this orchid in 2006 from a known orchid growing company. This orchid is registered and originated by this company in 9/8/2005. The seed parent is Cattleya Mini Purple, the pollen parent is Cattleya Spicey Hot. Interesting names. If you are interested, I did post about our Cattleya Mini Purple in my earlier post in February 13th.

B) The leaves are thick and waxy. Some of the roots were sticking out of the growth medium in the pot.

This orchid was previously known as Sophrolaeliacattleya Newberry Radiance because Cattleya Mini Purple was known as Laeliocattleya Mini Purple and Cattleya Spicey Hot was known as Sophrolaeliacattleya Spicey Hot.

C) Up close, I noticed some dark purple spots on the petals. There's a tinge of orange in the center.

D) This photo was taken in 2013. We had two flowers then but just as beautiful.

Well, I hope you liked the photos. I have one orchid coming up. No blooms yet but will keep you 'posted' soon.

Orchid of the day: Phalaenopsis lindenii

Phalaenopsis lindenii

Today I'm posting about our Phalaenopsis lindenii which Arne bought in March 2011. It didn't flower for the first year but in 2013, it produced a total of four flowers. This year we might have eight flowers.

A) August 24th. The flower stem had already developed and eight flower buds were present.

B) An outdoor photo on a beautiful day.

Phalaenopsis lindenii is native to the Philippines, endemic to Luzon, and one of the coolest growing orchid of the genus, Phalaenopsis. Named after the Belgian botanist and explorer, Jean Jules Linden. This orchid thrives in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest but due to habitat lost, its survival is threatened in the wild.

According to the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of endangered species, in addition to deforestation, the threat to Phalaenopsis lindenii is also due to over collection in the wild for local and international trade.

C) By August 31st, three of the buds had opened up.

The flowers are delicate and small (around 1 to 1.5 in or 2.7 to 3.25 cm). The overall color is white with pink lips and pinkish/purple candy strips. Note the yellow specks in the middle (see D below).

D) Zoom in of the individual flower. 

E) Notice the fern and moss growing on the bark.

F) I find the fern as interesting as the orchid itself. The orchid leaves are rather thick, waxy and beautifully patterned with different shades of light and dark green.

G) My Anthony giving you a sense of proportion.

H) By September 7th, four of the flowers had fully opened. 

I) Beautiful colors on the open flowers.

J) Anthony checking if there is any fragrance. I don't smell anything though. Maybe Anthony could!

Today, Arne said there are five flowers in full bloom. I'll keep an eye on this orchid and see how long the flowers will last before they wilt.

Orchids of the day: Broughtonia sanguinea, Psychopsis Mendenhall & Bulbophyllum frostii (Updates)

Silence can be deafening. A total breakdown of my laptop and camera required me to scramble and purchased new electronic equipment! The good news is that my computer is working and my camera is producing excellent quality pictures. I can once again chronologically monitor a few orchids from beginning to bloom but will save that for upcoming posts!

Today I will summarize the current updates of some of our orchids which are continuously in bloom and some that are just resting for the time being. I am happy to say the photos are really great and I hope you will enjoy them.

A) Broughtonia sanguinea. Hasn't stopped flowering since June 12th.

First would be our Broughtonia sanguinea, which once again has been pollinated by humming birds. Here is an up close photo of the blooms. We have had at least more than 70 flowers so far. We stopped counting. Arne took a division of this plant two years ago and it is growing slowly, in fact, there are on average eight flowers continuously over time.

B) Psychopsis Mendenhall

Next, our Psychopsis Mendenhall. A very unique 'spidey-like' orchid that is simply gorgeous to look at. A friend of mine said, the colours reminded her of Spain. What do you think? We have this orchid outside all throughout this Summer and it has at least produce 3 large flowers. Still flowering today.

C) Orchids resting and hanging outside.

D) Absorbing sunshine on our back deck.

The rest of the orchids are simply resting on the back deck, just absorbing sunlight. If they are not out, they are chilling indoors in our orchidarium in the basement.

E) Resting in the cool orchidarium until flowering time.

However, our Bulbophyllum frostii has been continuously flowering since I last posted, July 21st. Until today, this lovely little plant, produced 28 flowers so far. My little dutch shoes!

F) My little Dutch shoes.

G) Continuously producing flowers over the Summer.

H) A sense of perspective of the size of each shoe.

For those interested to learn more about awarded orchids (plus our two orchids that got the Award of Merit by the American Orchid Society) please check out the link to the National Capital Judging Center, in Washington DC. 

I hope to be back with more posts of our little orchid collection. I appreciate your interest in this blog, please continue to read my updated posts and I would love to hear more from you all. Until next time! 

Orchid of the day: Rhynchovola Jimminey Cricket

Rhynchovola Jimminey Cricket

Rhynchovola Jimminey Cricket (synonym is Brassavola Jimminey Cricket) is a primary hybrid. A cross between Rhycholaelia digbyana (syn. Brassavola digbyana) and Brassavola nodosa (Lady of the Night). The flower emits a strong fragrant especially later in the evening.

A) July 21st. This orchid was kept in the orchidarium.

B) Taken outside of the orchidarium to be photographed away from the other orchids. It can be quite cramped in there!

C) Up close of the bloom. Apparently this year, the flowers didn't open up as much as they did the year before. It is time to expand our orchid space in the basement I think!

We have many orchids that were flowering at about the same time and I missed out in chronically the development of this particular orchid. Next thing you know they are flowering and by the time I'm posting this, the flowers are all gone. But do enjoy the photos. I am looking forward to posting more photos later since I managed to get a new camera a few days ago! Until then, ENJOY!

D) Two beautiful flowers for this Summer.

Orchid of the day: Broughtonia sanguinea

Broughtonia sanguinea

Broughtonia sanguinea is endemic to Jamaica and in my earlier post, July 13th, I featured this photo together with our awarded Broughtonia sanguinea var. alba 'Karin'. However, when we got our official certificate from the American Orchid Society (AOS), we noticed that our awarded orchid was called Broughtonia sanguinea 'Karin', the 'var. alba' was not included. Apparently, there is no real var. alba of the Broughtonia sanguinea because the orchid was not entirely white. If you are interested to know more, you are welcome to read the comment submitted by Arne explaining this in my post of Sunday July 13th.

A) June 8th, 2014. As the weather got warmer, the orchid is hang outside. Notice the two flower stalks developing at this time.

B) June 12th, 2014. More flower stalks developed in less than 1 week. Some flowers began to bloom too.

C) June 20th, 2014. The flowers and some buds were developing one after the other.

D) June 20th, 2014. The flowers up close.

E) July 12th, 2014. At this time, even more flowers developed and bloomed. Flowers are blooming in all of the seven stalks.

Today, there are even more flowers and buds opening up. This orchid will stay outside and enjoy the sunshine and the warm Baltimore Summer for another month or two. We have seen hummingbirds pollinating the red flowers now and then. It's a real thrill to see the hummingbirds coming so close to our front porch. The only drawback is that the flowers get pollinated and develop into fruits and drops off. But that is the circle of life! Happy to see this orchid attracting hummingbirds over to us.