Winter Laelia

We have had over two feet of snow on the coast and while I was digging out the driveway, a lone pink flower in my greenhouse was peaking out at me. I got this plant a while back when I made an order a nursery in the states that I forgot the name of. I actually ordered a Laelia rupestris but they made a mistake and gave me Laelia rubscens. I was pretty bumbed out about it till I got to know this plant. First off the flowers are beautiful! It is an easy grower and reliable bloomer as long as I give it a good couple months rest after flowering to the point when the psuedebulbs shrivel up. It has grown to a nice big speciman and I would never trade it back for the original plant I ordered!

Bulbophylum lasiochilum

Finally, success! This is a clipping I got from Sasha, and you might remember that last year I had one flower bud but it dropped off early in its development.

This year the plant developed two buds, and while one was the victim of an accidental bump, one flower opened! The flower is quite fragrant, moreso during the day. The smell, while a bit tricky to place, is fairly sweet, almost candy-like.

Cymbidium developments

Still watching the cymbidium buds develop. There is one spike definitely ahead of the others, two at about the same stage, and 2 ones in the early stage of development, and one new one just poking up! Here are some pictures:

A Visit to Kew Gardens

Well my first visit to Kew has come and gone and left quite a good impression on me. I was able to meet quite a few people in the 'orchid world of research' and even had a quick chat with Phil Cribb! The resources for research there are quite outstanding, they have the most obscure and facinating books and journals about all facets of orchid related research. They even have a collection of botanical books from pre-Linnaeus times, dating back to 14th and 15th century, all available to read!




I got a chance to see the orchids that are permanently grown in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. There wasn't a huge amount in bloom, but enough Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums to keep me happy! I took a picture of a longifolium just to see what the flower is meant to look like.......(remember my plant at Naomi's that ended up being a hybrid)


This is a photo of the palm house, but is a good indication of what the greenhouses look like - beautiful structures that hold even more beautiful things inside...


This last picture is of the main herbarium at Kew. Three floors and something like 4-6 million specimens. They have a separate orchid herbarium and a large spirit collection that houses a lot of 'pickled' orchids (in order to preserve their unique 3-d shape).

National Geographic photos of new orchid species

I found some National Geographic photos of four of the new orchid species recently discovered in Papua New Guinea.

I think my favourite is the third one, but they are all beautiful!

From another article, "Conservationists say the discovery of so many new orchids in the unexplored rainforests of Papua New Guinea is incredibly exciting - especially as around 70 species have recently been wiped out in neighbouring Indonesia."