Philippine orchids arriving soon!

A couple months ago Sasha and I placed an order through a local orchid association for a dozen plants from the Philippines. The plants have just arrived last night, and we should be picking them up within the next couple of days! Very exciting. I almost don't remember what I ordered, but here is the list of plants we have imported:

Angraecum philippinense
Ascocentrum miniatum
Bromoheadia philippinese
Bulbophylum lobbii
Dendrobium junceum
Dendrobium topaziacum
Eria cylindrostachya
Phalaenopsis lindenii
Saccolabium quisunbingii

We're still not sure if we were able to get everything on our order list, but our fingers are crossed. Watch for pictures!

Finally, success with Dracula vampira!

Jenn's orchids hit the road!

Jenn will be leaving for England in September to study for one year, so when we were in Tofino a couple of weeks ago we brought back one dozen of her orchids to look after for the next year.



A number of the orchids are plants that I also have in my collection, but among her unique plants I get to care for a Phrag. longifolium, Paph. argus and sukhakulii, and a Psycopisis and Maxillaria negroides.

The exciting news is that just a few days ago, I noticed a flower spike on the Phrag. longifolium!! It is developing fairly quickly.

Orchids in bloom

First plant is Encyclia adenocaule. Normally this orchid would have had allot more then just this one flower, but for some reason, when the flower spike was developing it crunched off the rest of the flowers and left only one. Am happy even with the one, it has a delightful fragrance and comes from the oak forest of western Mexico.
One of my favourite orchids is Brassovola nodosa. In the evening the flowers become fragrant and wow... it smells up an entire room! Just fantastic, I believe this is for night pollinators such as months?? The fragrance is sweet and a bit spicy...
Last is a mystery New Guinea species that I got a long time ago. It's flowers last only two days, but it is a small growing creeping minature that is very easy to grow. A big plant looks spectacular with a mass of these flowers covering it.

Western prairie fringed orchid

CBC News reported this week that highway maintenance crews in Manitoba inadvertently mowed down a patch of western prairie fringed orchid on Monday. The flowers, which were in full bloom, are endangered and found only in a 50 km area.

Although "penalties for disturbing the flower can include a fine of $5,000 or six months in jail", charges are not being considered as the incident was accidental. A photo and more information about the western prairie fringed orchid can be found on the Environment Canada Species at Risk web site for Platanthera praeclara.

Brassidium in bloom

On a more positive note, my Brassidium (shooting star x dark star) that I purchased last year on ebay is in bloom again. The flowers smell somewhat citrusy, a scent which we have likened to ripe starfruit.

Dracula disappointment

The great struggle between hope and despair continues with my dracula vampira. It had 4 spikes on it, one of which died a few weeks ago. Three continued to grow, and one shot out ahead with a bud developing really well. The bud continued to grow and measured about 3 inches in length in total this past Saturday morning. We left that same morning to go away for a couple of days (56 hours in total). When I returned early this evening, the bud had died. I was so disappointed!

Before:




I still have hope, however, as there are two more spikes that are still developing. I am determined to get at least one of them to successfully flower! The third spike which just lost it's bud is still alive, unlike the first spike that dried up completely. I have a couple of theories in terms of what happened. The room where the Dracula lives was 25 degrees tonight, which is pretty warm. Normally we open the windows in that room for some air circulation and to lower the temps a bit. We also left the lights on in that room the entire time that we were gone. One of those things likely contributed to the death of the bud, although I like Jenn's theory best: "Maybe it can detect that your house is devoid of fungus knats and so it thinks 'what's the point?'"

After: