Flower Friday - Orchids

Now I'm not sure if it's just because Phalaenopsis are so common, but I tend to prefer just about every other genus of orchid.  My favourite at the moment seems to be Paphiopedilum.  They are said to be a much more primitive orchid as referenced by the flower anatomy and colouration.  I think my interest stems from the variation of colours, textures and patters in a single flower.  I believe the first flowers below are Cymbidium, and the second photos are of one of my favourite Paphs.

Flower Friday - Orchids

At the moment, I don't have any orchids of my own.  Last summer I ended up accidently exposing my only plant to full summer's sun.  Bad idea.  After only one day, it was burnt to a crisp.  It never recovered and apparently I was so traumatized that I couldn't pick up a replacement.

Luckily I have a greenhouse to visit that's filled with blooms.  It was a bit cloudy, but I hope you enjoy these three Phalaenopsis/Doritaenopsis plants.

Cattleya Transplant

Cattleyas are one of the more tolerant epiphytic orchids. Although they require both humidity and high levels of light, they can dry out in-between waterings far more than the average orchid. I looked online and I've found several people with them growing attached to stumps receiving full sun. So... I decided my Cattleya would be happier attached to wood as well.

A few days ago I went out to Cottonwood Community Gardens are found a nice looking piece of wood. It was a little dirty so I brought it home and cleaned it, washing with extremely hot water. After letting the wood dry for a few days (and to make sure there were no insects) I was ready to transplant my orchid.

The Cattleya I bought was originally in a pot with densely packed spagnum moss. This is nowhere near the natural environment of Cattleyas and the roots were far to wet. I thought about simply putting it back in the pot with some wood chips but though placing on a piece of wood would be far more interesting.

It took about 40 minutes to remove the moss from all the delicate roots. Somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 or the roots had actually died and also had to be removed.

After this was complete I placed the Cattleya on the wood. The shape of the wood piece actually held the plant in place relatively well. I was worried it would fall and thought about tying it on but just leaned it against a wall instead. The new roots have been growing well and some have hit the new wood surface. Most of the old roots aren't touching but they'll probably die and they were grown in a much more moist environment. The three oldest pseudostems are a little shriveled but the fourth (which also has a flower spike coming) seems completely fine.

I expect the older portion of the plant will eventually die but the new portion has two pseudostems forming and several more roots. I'm not sure if the flower will make it but at least it's been moved to a better home. I've been misting several times a day but never late in the evening because these plants don't like to be wet at night.

Eventually I'd like to put the wood in the centre of a large water proof tray with some pebbles and water. This way humidity will be provided and moisture will trickle up to the orchid. It should also look great!

First Plant Purchase of 2011!

I finally made my first plant purchase of 2011! Vancouver has a high Chinese population and needless to say Chinese New Year is a big thing here. Today I went to Walmart to pick up some groceries and discovered $10 orchids! I've never seen them this cheap. They're usually about $30 in bloom and then around $15 after bloom time. To find a beautiful, healthy-looking orchid with most blooms as buds ready to open was something I just couldn't pass up for $10.

Apparently it's part of the Chinese New Year sale. They even have some lanterns up hanging from the ceiling. Although simply labelled as Phalaenopsis I discovered it was actually a cross between Doritis and Phalaenopsis. These hybrids were once considered a separate species but are now a subgroup under Phalaenopsis. The entire name as far as I can tell is Phaelenopsis Doritaenopsis taida salu (Red/Red Strip).

Anyone in the Vancouver (or similar) areas should check out Walmart early in the morning (before 9am) for some more deals. I get the feeling they put them out every day but they go fast. Hopefully you can grab a cheap one too! A word of caution: The plants are actually in plastic post (with holes in the bottom) which are placed in clay pots. You'll probably want to repot relatively quickly or they may get too wet.

Cosy Cattleya

About two months ago I purchased my first orchid, a Cattleya NOID. I'd never worked up the courage to take on an orchid before because of all the horror stories about them being impossible to keep alive. They also tend to be rather pricey which isn't in my current budget. That was until I discovered that they can be half price or even less after they've bloomed. In honour of this discovered I made the spontaneous purchase of a plant I new nothing about (not even the species name).

I've been giving it moderate humidity and about 12 hour of light per day with the top of the plant 30cm (1ft) away from fluorescent tubes. Cattleya like brighter light and this one seems really happy. It's already put out two new leaves and in the picture above you can see the next two already developing.

A few days ago I took a look in between the first two new leaves and noticed what looks like a flower bud! I'm excited that my first orchid is doing so well and already producing a flower. I'm also curious to see what the blooms will look like because the store had a large mix of hybrids.

Does anyone know when to repot Cattleya? It doesn't look ready yet but the plant is growing from the centre of the pot over the side and I just want to provide the best environment possible. What if I stuck some bark with moss underneath it so the epiphytic roots could attach (eventually I'd like it out of the pot)? Also, the leaves are a little dirty from minerals in the tap water. Is this fine or would it be best to wipe them so more light can get to leaves? Thanks in advance!

Wordless Wednesday: Plant Zone

Flowering Friday

Flower Friday is not like "Wordless Wednesday".  Well it kind of is because both words have the same letter but isn't because it's just the post name and not a weekly thing.  It's also kind of a lie because these pictures were taken earlier in the week.  So although I like the post title I've kind of ripped it to shreds so in retrospect maybe I should have just chosen a different one.  Then again how can it be retrospect if I'm typing this now and haven't finalized the title?  Alright, so on to the actual content!

This first flower is Dietes vegeta.  It's simple gorgeous.  I think the common name is African Iris.  You can see that it's a few days past it's prime and has started to curl up.  That being said, the delicate appearance and muted colourful markings make this flower really lovely.  The curled petals almost add to the appeal.

The next flower up is a yellow Hibiscus.  Although there is nothing particularly interesting with the colouration, I find the deep texture of the petals to be surprising.  I've never seen one of these flowers look so ruffled.  I'm wondering if maybe is just opened before I got there and didn't have the time to smooth out.

This striking yellow/orange/red flower is from an Aphelandra aurantiaca.  All of the Aphelandra we have growing are about the height of just this flower.  You can see in the picture that the plant is pretty much a stick with six leaves.  They should grow up to about 50cm so this is odd.  The plants often seem to be struggling to survive and die after flowering.  I think they may be sensitive to root rot and the soil just holds too much moisture.

This little flower is Neomaric northiana and reminds me of the African Iris mentioned previously.  Unfortunately the picture didn't turn out very well.  I really like how the pristine white contrasts with the detailed patterning and colours at the centre.  I do however think it needs to get new foliage.  I mean don't get me wrong - the leaves are nice and so are the flowers.  Unfortunately they don't go together.  So I am making the executive decision that we need to bio-engineer two new varieties.  One with different foliage and the other with a different flower.  Now we just have to do it.  Ok 1 - 2 - 3 - and...  I don't get it.  Nothing happened...

Now I'll get to the first of two orchids with this Laelia hybrid.  The plant is located in the Tropical Room and was unfortunately too high for me to get a good picture of.  I've never seen this one flower before.  It's simple and purple.  Nice but not showstopping.  Otherwise I would have gotten a ladder.

This Paphiopedilum is one of my favourite orchids.  It reminds me of something out of Tim Burton's new "Alice in Wonderland".  Now I actually haven't seen the movie but I've seen a tonne of previews.  It looks whimsical and almost like it was the product of a committee and everyone got what they wanted (and it actually worked out).  The top petal (Dorsal sepal) is relatively simple with clean green lines.  The side petals (or is it Lateral sepal?) add a bit of frilly curvature with a colour gradient and sprinkling of dots.  The Labellum looks like it was stolen from a pitcher plant.  Apparently this is from a more 'primitive' branch of the orchid family.

That's it!  I hope you enjoyed the blooms!

Smallest Orchid Species

Now I've never seen this orchid but I stumbled on an interesting article about it.  The petals are only one cell thick!  Here is the link if anyone is interested.  It seem orchids are even more interesting than I thought.

Paphiopedilum Flowers (Very Interesting)!

I've now finished three (Landfill Design, Business for Engineers, Structural Dynamics) of my five exams with another one today (Risk Analysis).  This course is really heavy into statistics.  Stats is one thing I always seem to have trouble with.  Hopefully I'll make it through alive but here is an elegant Paphiopedilum in case I don't.  It looks like something from the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland!

Cymbidium Blooms

More Phalaenopsis Blooms

 

Phalaenopsis Flowers

It's dropped from reasonable temperatures to below seasonal average.  It's currently -9C but the windchill is -18C.  At least this orchid is flowering!  My first exam went well.  Only 4 more to go (another 13 hours of exam time).

Phalaenopsis hybrid (Orchid)

Cymbidium hybrid (Orchid)

The buds will be entirely open in a few more days!

Paphiopedilum (Orchid)

I really like this orchid.  It has yet to flower but is getting really close.  Even just the foliage and buds look great!  I'll update as soon as it blooms.

Beautiful Orchid (Paphiopedilum insigne)

So now for my fourth post of the day...  Many of the greenhouse orchids have started to bloom.  I've noticed a bud on this one for several days.  It was a really short time from the first appearance of the bud until the first bloom.  I think this is because there is only one flower as opposed to the dozens that other varieties can have (Cymbidium seem to take a really long time).  This is actually the species that is shown on the UWO Greenhouses website.  It's one of the few yellow/green varieties that I have seen and has a bit on white at the top with dark speckling on the interior.  I hope you enjoy it and there will be more orchid pictures to come!

Coelogyne cristata Update

Just a quick update. Most of the flower buds have now opened. It's a very lovely orchid!

Laelia spp.

This Laelia is located in the same room as the Coelogyne from the previous post. It is easy to care for and produces these beautiful purple flowers.

Coelogyne cristata

We have several Coelogyne cristata but this is the first plant to begin blooming. The flowers are not entirely open yet so I'll probably update next week with a new picture. They require high light levels but not direct sun. We have then in a room with ferns and block summer sun with a thin fabric tarp which we remove in the fall/winter (there is another coating on the glass).

It typically flowers in January/February so I'm not sure why it decided to flower now. They need cooler temperatures than most orchids as well as a rest period with reduced watering. One of the more distinct features is the warping at the edge of the petals. It's generally very obvious but less pronounced in the photo below.

Brassavola spp. (perrinni?)

Brassavola are beautiful star shaped orchids that are native to Central America. The flowers of most species are white with a bit of yellow. Some have brownish markings on their petals as well. Like most orchids they enjoy high humidity. This one is located in the tropical room right above our fish pond. We never fertilize it, but give it a thorough spray of water every day. It receives direct sun for a portion of the day and requires more light than the average orchid.

The pictures below really do not do this plant justice. The beautiful, delecate white flowers contrast greatly with the strong form of the plant. That being said, the linear form of the leaves is emulated much more casually within the outer petals of the flowers. This ties both elements together very nicely. This is one of my favourite orchids!