Why not grow orchids?

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, piping plovers said:

I was blanking on this species this morning when I saw Tim’s post.  I have an noid orchid very similar to this and was immediately reminded of it.

On my one trip down to their nursery, I'd bought both L. purpurata v. alba and pacavia from SBOE.. Very similar overall look, though flowers on pacavia looked just different enough to see they were different..  Can see the tenebrosa influence in pacavia too.  Obviously, individual seedlings can show more traits of one parent over the other..
 

Great, fairly easy Orchids regardless. Grew fine on my grandparent's north facing  patio in San Jose. Wish i still had them.

[realarch]

Thanks Nathan. It looked similar to one that Joseph had posted earlier……..maybe, I couldn’t find the post.

Tim

[piping plovers]

1 hour ago, realarch said:

Thanks Nathan. It looked similar to one that Joseph had posted earlier……..maybe, I couldn’t find the post.

Tim

Tim, this is the one that reminds me of your bloom. Closest resemblance I can find over the years is something derived from Cattleya or Laeilia purpurata.  Not as fancy a lip on it as on your bloom; I can see a tenebrosa influence there as Nathan mentioned.
 

This orchid has bloomed for me once in 33 years; it must think it’s a century plant, Agave americana with that bloom frequency :).  It has been with me since my horticulture undergraduate days and I can’t bring myself to chuck it.

 

4 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Can see the tenebrosa influence in pacavia too. 

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, piping plovers said:

Tim, this is the one that reminds me of your bloom. Closest resemblance I can find over the years is something derived from Cattleya or Laeilia purpurata.  Not as fancy a lip on it as on your bloom; I can see a tenebrosa influence there as Nathan mentioned.
 

This orchid has bloomed for me once in 33 years; it must think it’s a century plant, Agave americana with that bloom frequency :).  It has been with me since my horticulture undergraduate days and I can’t bring myself to chuck it.

 

Hrmmm...    You tried asking around on the Orchid Board? ( Forum ) 

[piping plovers]

10 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Hrmmm...    You tried asking around on the Orchid Board? ( Forum ) 

Thank you for the suggestion.  I did a few years back. I can’t find my OP but I recall that any replies confirmed (or at least did not sink) my assumption on species. I may ask again, as we know with replies on these forums it depends upon who sees it while the post is still fresh. 
 

btw, the folks on the orchid board did help me recently ID another one of my 30 * year old noid cattleyas that I had lost a tag for in the 1990s. They are a great resource for orchid information and help.  I posted photos of that one a few months back. It is a variety from the old Rod McLellan Co, in (San Mateo?) CA which you may be familiar with; enjoyed receiving their glossy Acres of Orchids catalogs back in the day.  

 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, piping plovers said:

Thank you for the suggestion.  I did a few years back. I can’t find my OP but I recall that any replies confirmed (or at least did not sink) my assumption on species. I may ask again, as we know with replies on these forums it depends upon who sees it while the post is still fresh. 
 

btw, the folks on the orchid board did help me recently ID another one of my 30 * year old noid cattleyas that I had lost a tag for in the 1990s. They are a great resource for orchid information and help.  I posted photos of that one a few months back. It is a variety from the old Rod McLellan Co, in (San Mateo?) CA which you may be familiar with; enjoyed receiving their glossy Acres of Orchids catalogs back in the day.  

 

Yep, San Mateo...  Company ( Under the McLellan Botanicals / Taisuco America name now )  is now located in Aromas ..Small town near Salinas,  which sits roughly 3/4ths way between Santa Cruz and Monterrey, CA.

While i'm sure they grow other stuff, main focus seems to be mass production of  Phalaenopsis..  Still remember when i went to the San Mateo location w/ my grandparents. Pretty much sealed the deal as far as opening up a whole new world ..and admiration of.. plants.  Since the internet was still 4 or 5 or so years away from being born, can't remember if my grandparents got catalogs, or my grandpa would just make trips up to the nursery to see what he could add to the greenhouse / patio..

[piping plovers]

7 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Still remember when i went to the San Mateo location w/ my grandparents. Pretty much sealed the deal as far as opening up a whole new world ..and admiration of.. plants.  S

Sounds like great memories. And so wonderful when we can trace back to our grandparents, a direction we took in life.

[Tracy]

I don't think this one bloomed for me last year, so I moved it to a different spot in the garden.  I have been rewarded this spring with one of it's fragrant flowers.  Rhycholaeliana digbyana  opened up last night just in time for an 89th birthday event for my mother in law.

[piping plovers]

18 hours ago, Tracy said:

I have been rewarded this spring with one of its fragrant flowers.  Rhycholaeliana digbyana  opened up last night just in time for an 89th birthday event for my mother in law.

 How festive and that must have been quite a conversation piece at the gathering.  Beautiful.

[PalmatierMeg]

I've read many orchids come from higher elevations prefer cooler conditions and do poorly in FL swelter. Then again, maybe I have a black thumb when it comes to orchids. The exception is the genus Phalaenopsis specifically white flowered plants. Those I can get to survive more than a season and bloom again - the colored ones seem less robust. I managed to salvage - barely - a few orchids from the wreckage of Ian. I have dutifully repotted them in bark and tucked them in a bit of shade near irrigation spray heads. I also found some 1/2 priced white orchids after Mother's Day at the blue BB and did the same.

[piping plovers]

On 6/6/2023 at 12:28 PM, PalmatierMeg said:

I've read many orchids come from higher elevations prefer cooler conditions and do poorly in FL swelter. Then again, maybe I have a black thumb when it comes to orchids. The exception is the genus Phalaenopsis specifically white flowered plants. Those I can get to survive more than a season and bloom again - the colored ones seem less robust. I managed to salvage - barely - a few orchids from the wreckage of Ian. I have dutifully repotted them in bark and tucked them in a bit of shade near irrigation spray heads. I also found some 1/2 priced white orchids after Mother's Day at the blue BB and did the same.

Phaleonopsis ‘White Dream’  ‘V.3’ AM/AOS  is the only named phaleonopsis I own, all the others are wonderful, colorful Noid rescues from the grocery store 1/2 price shelf.  I bought the ‘White Dream’ from Hausserman’s after asking fellow members of the OrchidBoard forum for recommendations on the finest large classic white phal. and kept hearing about this one.  It really stands out among the phals.  And I agree, Mother’s Day sales on phals is a great way to get deals on orchids.

You may want to try vanda orchids.  Many are from steamy, hot, southeast Asian climates and I’m sure they would flourish in your part of Fl.  I always see them in garden shops and outdoors in gardens when visiting SWFL and Miami areas. Fairchild had some amazing displays of them when I was last there. Seems like they are making an impressive effort to propagate huge numbers of orchids and naturalize them in trees.

Some robust Vandas at Fairchild 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, piping plovers said:

Phaleonopsis ‘White Dream’  ‘V.3’ AM/AOS  is the only named phaleonopsis I own, all the others are wonderful, colorful Noid rescues from the grocery store 1/2 price shelf.  I bought the ‘White Dream’ from Hausserman’s after asking fellow members of the OrchidBoard forum for recommendations on the finest large classic white phal. and kept hearing about this one.  It really stands out among the phals.  And I agree, Mother’s Day sales on phals is a great way to get deals on orchids.

You may want to try vanda orchids.  Many are from steamy, hot, southeast Asian climates and I’m sure they would flourish in your part of Fl.  I always see them in garden shops and outdoors in gardens when visiting SWFL and Miami areas. Fairchild had some amazing displays of them when I was last there. Seems like they are making an impressive effort to propagate huge numbers of orchids and naturalize them in trees.

Some robust Vandas at Fairchild 

Vandas definitely love FL conditions..

Really, anything noted as warm intermediate /  warm / hot growing should be good to research there..  Brassavolia, Cattleya / Laelia  and ..any crosses between the 3 Genus..  Dendrobium, Epidendrum, and Encyclia  were common sights at any / every plant-related event i attended in Tampa, or S. FL. where Orchids were offered.

Slightly more of a challenge Geuns  like Mormodes,  Cyrtopodium,  & Catesetum  seem to do really well in FL ( Coastal Central and Southern, specifically ..Generally too cold inland ( most central areas ) / up north for sure )

Only major group of orchids that i know struggles there are a majority of Cymbidiums..  Warm season nights are too hot for all but select sps, and any " warm tolerant " crosses between them and standard Cymbidiums  ..The kinds that can grow like crazy outdoors in Cen / Southern California.

[aztropic]

A pleasant surprise... Both of these orchids bloomed this past winter,and are doing it again now...

Vanda 'Xena' and Cattleya 'Sun bloom'. Both are HIGHLY scented,and are a real treat for an encore performance in early summer! 

[miamicuse]

some recent blooms. been really hot and humid lately in south Florida.

[greysrigging]

I popped over to the Darwin Showgrounds yesterday to have a look at the 2023 Orchid Spectacular.
As expected, the flowers were spectacular !!
                    

[aztropic]

A couple unusual phal rebloomers. This species can sit on a bright indoor windowsill all year minding its own business,and reliably reblooms every spring. 

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[Tracy]

I left home for a vacation early in the month with a fragrant bloomer only to come home after the flower had died.  Fortunately, I also came home to some other fragrant blossoms in the garden.  The very reliable Maxillariella tenuifolia and a Dendrobium chrysotoxum.  Some other buds formed now on other orchids in the garden, just waiting for more flowers to open....

 

 

[piping plovers]

C. mossiae coerulea 'Blue Bird' x C. mossiae coerulea 'Herrerae'

Blooming indoors. Difficult to really capture the color on this.  Blue-ish or pale lavender depending on lighting; the blue-ish color is why I wanted to add this to my collection.  A light pleasant fragrance. The classic droopy “ears“ of the mossiae.  Putting out 4 new growths so hoping next springtime will be a fuller display.

 

and with a few verschaffeltias in the background…

 

 

[Tomas]

The witch's jewel 

https://www.orchidboard.com/community/cattleya-alliance/17508-laelia-purpurata-var-werkhauseri-witchs-jewel.html?highlight=werkhauseri

[piping plovers]

5 minutes ago, Tomas said:

The witch's jewel 

https://www.orchidboard.com/community/cattleya-alliance/17508-laelia-purpurata-var-werkhauseri-witchs-jewel.html?highlight=werkhauseri

Fascinating story.  And amazing the lone cultivator survived all those years with so few bulbs. Thanks for sharing that.

[Tracy]

Sobralia season is happening in my garden:

Sobralia xantholeuca "Los Osos"

Sobralia macrantha

Sobralia sanderae

 

Anyone else have these blooming or other species within the genus?

[Calosphace]

My first orchid. I love epiphytes and once I found out some epiphytic orchids are hardy in my area (and at least one native) I got much more interested.

Bit more humble than many featured here but I like him lol I plan on mounting eventually but am waiting for next spring due to it being hurricane season now

Enc. tampensis 'alba form' 1 month ago vs today

I plan on also eventually getting the following if hardy in my area:

Epi. magnoliae

Cattleya cernua

Laelia anceps

Dendrobium moniliforme 'Kouga'

Sedirea japonica

and Gomesa bifolia if I can find one for sale

[flplantguy]

Some of my vanda hybrids and their nepenthes protector. The pitchers are full of dead small bugs and they all love the well water and breezes in the new yard. Starting over but the flowers are encouraging!

[piping plovers]

1 minute ago, flplantguy said:

nepenthes protector

lol, I love it! I just got my first nepenthes and it set its first trap; fascinating watching them form from a tendril like leaf.  And it’s among my orchids and filling up on earwigs!  That 2nd vanda photo has amazing colors.

[Cindy Adair]

Always nice to have surprises of orchids in bloom. Thanks for all the lovely flowers posted in this topic.

 

[meridannight]

I actually started my plant growing activities with orchids. Vandas are my absolute favorites, and they have, in my opinion, the most beautiful blooms of all plants. 

I had a pretty large collection of Vandas a few years ago, which unfortunately, due to circumstances, got wiped out. My main focus at the moment is growing palms from seed, but I really miss my Vandas. Will definitely start it up again at some point -- nothing beats those inflorescences! And orchids are pretty easy to go about if you can handle the basics. The only thing I dislike about growing orchids, is that it's impossible to grow them from seed on your own without access to a lab. 














 

[Silas_Sancona]

31 minutes ago, meridannight said:

and they have, in my opinion, the most beautiful blooms of all plants. 

Vanda are beautiful no doubt, ..but Plumeria,  Cattleya ( ..and anything near-related to the Cattleya Alliance ) ..and everything  withing the Iris family would like to have a word about possessing the most spectacular flowers,  of all plants,  Lol. 

[greysrigging]

A Top End ( Gove Peninsular ) Northern Territory native ground orchid,  Dipodium punctatum.

 

[meridannight]

22 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Vanda are beautiful no doubt, ..but Plumeria,  Cattleya ( ..and anything near-related to the Cattleya Alliance ) ..and everything  withing the Iris family would like to have a word about possessing the most spectacular flowers,  of all plants,  Lol. 

I like Plumeria and Cattleyas (Irises, not so much), but to me Vandas have the best flowers so far.  To each their own. 

[piping plovers]

Blc. Terri Henderson 'Barbara.  For the impatient orchid growers, this one blooms immediately after the sheath is set and growth finishes. No watching a sheath for months 😁

[flplantguy]

Brassia rex in full bloom. No scent i can tell.

[piping plovers]

1 hour ago, flplantguy said:

Brassia rex in full bloom. No scent i can tell.

Beautiful specimen!

[dalmatiansoap]

[Calosphace]

Sedirea japonica I got from Andy's Orchids mid-July, it arrived in spike though I think the normal period is spring? I'm seeing people say that it hates temperatures over 90 which I wish I saw before I bought it but so far it has been ok, hoping others were exaggerating. I have it on north side of house under a small tree near the AC unit (humidifier!) with my other epiphytes.

Does anyone else have this species from that source and can attest to its hardiness? I did see talk on here about it being hardy to at least mid-20s and its habitat would suggest that as well but I'm not sure how variable it is based on origin.

Once it is in low 90s and rainy later this wekk I plan on temporarily moving it nearer some other flowers to see if bees will pollinate it.

[Tracy]

On 8/14/2023 at 2:25 PM, Calosphace said:

Does anyone else have this species from that source and can attest to its hardiness? I did see talk on here about it being hardy to at least mid-20s and its habitat would suggest that as well but I'm not sure how variable it is based on origin.

I can attest that Sedirea (Aerides) japonica does fine in cool damp winters but mine never sees freezing temperatures to answer how low they can handle.  It is about a 2 mile walk to Andy's from my house, so I have a very similar climate and tend to like things that are in his unheated greenhouse which most closely represents our local climate.  We rarely see 90 and when we do it never gets close to that under the canopy where mine is growing.  You are right on the bloom timing, mine normally blooms in May or early June.  The person packing your order must have found a nice specimen that was still in spike to ship to you!  Consider yourself lucky!

Speaking of unusual timing for new flower spikes, my Dendrobium speciosum bloom during the very early spring normally.  They put out new growth or pseudobulbs during our summers.  Once again, I see the buds where flower spikes normally emerge forming in August.  I assume they will just shrivel up and maybe in winter start pushing out new spikes that will bloom in the Spring.  Love these since they are such prolific bloomers and rebloom on older pseudobulbs that have flowered in past years.

These are Dendrobium speciosum ssp pendunculatum and ssp curvicaule.

[John hovancsek]

I love seeing what people are growing. I wish I could grow vandas better but here are some that I grow 

[Tracy]

I have been growing this Cattlya granlosa for 5 or 6 years, on a King palm.  While it has grown, it never flowers.   I am seeing hopeful signs this year.  Only time will tell. 

[piping plovers]

10 hours ago, Tracy said:

Cattlya granlosa

Interesting leaves and stems and I had to look up the species.  The flowers and colors will be worth the wait I’m sure; keep us posted!

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, piping plovers said:

Interesting leaves and stems and I had to look up the species.  The flowers and colors will be worth the wait I’m sure; keep us posted!

It would have helped if I spelled it correctly.   Cattlya granulosa.  Got it from a vendor selling mostly Brazilian orchids bare root at one of Andy's open house events.  Seemed the perfect candidate to mount on the King Palm.

[flplantguy]

It must be time these Pahiopedilums, here is mine opened yesterday.  First bloom on this plant.