Why not grow orchids?

[piping plovers]

It should be fully opened by tomorrow or Monday.

 

[piping plovers]

Finally opened fully, measuring 6.25” to 6.50” across.

 

[Tomas]

Finally Aeries odorata is flowering. This is a tough one, I neglect it and it thrives, it took -5°C once without any damage

[Tomas]

Cattleya forbesii

[piping plovers]

22 hours ago, Tomas said:

Cattleya forbesii

Beautiful form and color contrast on the lip.

[Tomas]

3 hours ago, piping plovers said:

Beautiful form and color contrast on the lip.

Looks like it is an unnamed cross

[metalfan]

Habenaria repens

[Silas_Sancona]

On 7/27/2025 at 3:46 PM, piping plovers said:

Finally opened fully, measuring 6.25” to 6.50” across.

 

Great Catt.  named after a much admired local camping / hiking spot tucked in the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of San Jose.. = Doesn't get much better than that  

[piping plovers]

3 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Great Catt.  named after a much admired local camping / hiking spot tucked in the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of San Jose.. = Doesn't get much better than that  

Thank you Nathan!  And also good to hear about the local spot in CA and how orchids get their unique names from the growers. If this catt holds together for a few more days, I'm thinking of taking it for AOS judging in Massachusetts this weekend. I have no idea if the judges would even care anymore about the old school hybrid catt types around for decades.  It has always been a very special catt to me and am curious if it is something special to the experts.

[Tracy]

Dendrobium moorei is a continuous bloomer.

[Tracy]

Epidendrum raniferum in bloom again. 

[piping plovers]

14 minutes ago, Tracy said:

Epidendrum raniferum

Really nice color combo. I’m finding epidendrums to be more and more appealing.

[Tracy]

Prior planting planning prevents poor performance.   In this case I planted or mounted a Cattleya on a Archontophoenix cunninghamiana trunk and have comounted a couple of other Epiphytes.  When the Archontophoenix cunninghamiana was smaller , removing old fronds and inflorescence was easy,  so I could protect the orchid.   Now they are too high to control the drops.  I again sustained damage with the newest growth points being completely broken off.  I tried tucking it in among the roots but doubt it will grow.  Older canes remain so perhaps it will regrow from other points only to repeat the process next summer. 

Palms don't always make the best mounting substrate. 

[piping plovers]

Procatavola Key Lime Star (C. Lime Sherbet x Brassavola nodosa.

 

 

[metalfan]

Bulbophyllum electrinum var Calvum

[metalfan]

[metalfan]

Vanda Pon Washington no. 711 is back in bloom....again. I swear this is the bloomingest orchid.

And Papilionanda Omar Padron 'Galaxy' AM/AOS is in bloom as well

[Silas_Sancona]

Uhh huh,  Yepp...  I sure did...




Perfectly packaged...  Now to save the Peanuts..




Pretty impressive looking specimen as the final wrap comes off..  Well worth the cost,  ...which was extremely reasonable to begin with.




TONS of new growths, and a perfect root system too..  White stuff in the grower's mix = Sponge Rock..





....Aandd  fin.   






...Pot might seem to be a bit large to start out in,  but,   ...I want this plant to have as much room as possible to get BIG  over the coming years.. 

Funny FYI regarding the pot? ..when i bought it, back in 2012,  it cost $7.98. 




.......We'll see how this goes, esp. after i pick up some lights in a week or 3    ..and after it has had some time to recover from -any- shock it might have endured while traveling here from elsewhere in the back of a hot truck ( 111F today here ) 


....What could it be?  you ask?


....You'll know,  when it blooms.



Pretty confident the wise -ist here will have a pretty good head start,  though. 


...Just the start 

...of a few " I sure did -s ...Again " 

[piping plovers]

Waiting in suspense! Lol.  An Agapanthus in that pot? 😊… then I saw the orchid roots, which are very healthy looking btw.

[piping plovers]

26 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Uhh huh,  Yepp...  I sure did...




Perfectly packaged...  Now to save the Peanuts..




Pretty impressive looking specimen as the final wrap comes off..  Well worth the cost,  ...which was extremely reasonable to begin with.




TONS of new growths, and a perfect root system too..  White stuff in the grower's mix = Sponge Rock..





....Aandd  fin.   






...Pot might seem to be a bit large to start out in,  but,   ...I want this plant to have as much room as possible to get BIG  over the coming years.. 

Funny FYI regarding the pot? ..when i bought it, back in 2012,  it cost $7.98. 




.......We'll see how this goes, esp. after i pick up some lights in a week or 3    ..and after it has had some time to recover from -any- shock it might have endured while traveling here from elsewhere in the back of a hot truck ( 111F today here ) 


....What could it be?  you ask?


....You'll know,  when it blooms.



Pretty confident the wise -ist here will have a pretty good head start,  though. 


...Just the start 

...of a few " I sure did -s ...Again " 

Sorry for the duplicate post, I messed up with the quote button.

Waiting in suspense! Lol.  An Agapanthus in that pot? 😊… then I saw the orchid roots, which are very healthy looking btw.

 

 

[Silas_Sancona]

14 minutes ago, piping plovers said:

Waiting in suspense! Lol.  An Agapanthus in that pot? 😊… then I saw the orchid roots, which are very healthy looking btw.

Ha ha.. Agapanthus... 

Agree, Was quite happy seeing absolutely no ill - looking roots after i carefully coaxed the plant out of the pot the grower had it in..  Luckily, none of them stuck to the side of the pot either.  ..Always worry about tearing roots when repotting Orchids. 

When it is revealed,  Almost certain you'll like this one.   Related ..somewhat..  to something already in your collection.. 

 

[piping plovers]

55 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

When it is revealed,  Almost certain you'll like this one.   Related ..somewhat..  to something already in your collection.. 

we look forward to the big reveal !

[metalfan]

shameless teaser

[Tracy]

No teasing here.  I shared this blooming Encyclia hanburyii  a while back but was admiring how long the flowers last this morning.   We had a rare monsoonal thunderstorm with rain pass overhead shortly after dawn today.   I had to go out and appreciate all the garden after it's summer wash.  I was also reminded of long blooms on some other Encyclia I have grown.   A great genus.

[metalfan]

That is a beauty!

[TropicsEnjoyer]

On 8/8/2025 at 1:52 PM, Tracy said:

Palms don't always make the best mounting substrate

Non crownshafted palms work better. Or clumping crownshaft palms could work too, a lot of times the spent fronds get stuck in between the canopy of live growth and don’t fall catastrophically.

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

Non crownshafted palms work better. Or clumping crownshaft palms could work too, a lot of times the spent fronds get stuck in between the canopy of live growth and don’t fall catastrophically.

Agree w/ this...  Rougher surface area = Orchid roots cling to it better as well..

....That said, there are some Orchids that will even grow on peel -y - bark trees like Bursera in Mexico..




From Reddit:   Eye popping example of an Encyclia alata  specimen tucked in the crotch of a triple Pygmy.. 

Note the unifoliate Catt. and Dendrobium   ..Somethin''...  ...Possibly one of the Phal. types ( Based on where the shot was taken < = Miami area >,  growing further up another trunk in the background.. 

-Supposedly-,   all that growth is only 5 years old.. Pretty impressive regardless.  

https://www.reddit.com/r/orchids/comments/1m3yk11/encyclia_alata_monster/

 

[Tracy]

1 hour ago, TropicsEnjoyer said:

Non crownshafted palms work better. Or clumping crownshaft palms could work too, a lot of times the spent fronds get stuck in between the canopy of live growth and don’t fall catastrophically.

I believe you are agreeing with me when I pointed out they don't always work .  I have some on my clumping Vonitra as well as in retained boots on Pritchardia.  I agree with your assessment of the better palm candidates. 

[piping plovers]

Time traveling today back 80 years to an era of more elegance and those floofy cattleya corsages:

Cattleya Bow Bells (C. Edithiae x C. Suzanne Hye), a 1945 hybrid by Black & Flory.

Been reading about this historic cattleya and many others this year.  

Was too hot this summer to muster the motivation to travel anywhere outside of New England. I decided instead, to stay home and spend that travel money buying some of the classic cattleya hybrid corsage orchids.  Varieties that I admired over the years in publications and on websites.

Hopefully, my care of them has been sufficient and I’ll have several more varieties to photograph, if they all bloom in the coming months.

 

 

[Tracy]

I mounted this on my Cussonia spicata last Spring and am getting the first flowers.   They are supposed to be very fragrant and relatively long lasting which is a plus.  Coelogyne merrilli. 

[realarch]

On 8/8/2025 at 5:35 AM, Tracy said:

Epidendrum raniferum in bloom again. 

Oh man Tracy, I’m liking pretty much everything about that little orchid. 

[realarch]

Despite my neglect and a rather serious drought, orchids tied to palm trunks continue to bloom.

Tim

 Dendrobium

[realarch]

Brassia caudata……maybe?

[realarch]

Stanhopea

Tim

[realarch]

Pot. Hawaiian Thrill ‘Paradise’

Tim

[realarch]

Phrag. Leslie Garay

Tim

[happypalms]

A gift orchid from the mother in law. So I better make sure it flowers each year or else iam sure the mother in law will not be impressed with my garden skills! 

[Silas_Sancona]

20 hours ago, realarch said:

Dendrobium

🤔 Pretty sure that's a Catt.  Possibly a cross w/ dominant C.  luteola  influence.

Good looking regardless..   

[realarch]

Geezus, thanks Silas. My orchid skills seem to be going backwards. Oy! It does look pretty good eh?

Tim 

[Silas_Sancona]

39 minutes ago, realarch said:

Geezus, thanks Silas. My orchid skills seem to be going backwards. Oy! It does look pretty good eh?

Tim 

" Mind blanks in the moment " = Gotta love em' 

 Despite the fact the flowers on the sp. are on the small side, C. luteola  is a nice species.  Numerous pictures online of good sized specimens grown in pots that can produce lots of flowers when it flowers. 

Is supposedly only one of a handful of Catt. sps.  that naturally produce ...or contributed yellow to the color spectrum in various hybrids. 

If i read it correctly,  the C.  luteola cross with  Sophronitis coccinea ( =  X " Beufort " < Tetraploid > ) was one of the first yellow- flowered " mini  / windowsil " Cattleya hybrids w / the cross becoming the parent of numerous other hybrids afterwards.