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The thread "Our Orchid Blooms in January 2024 🎊🥂" in Orchids forum

Today is February 1. and let me start the new thread for the month!

The spikes on the Ludisia discolor are almost open an compete with the pretty leaves.



Liparis viridiflora starts blooming! The individual blooms are ca 2 mm in size and have a very unpleasant odor. I will ban it to the other side of the greenhouse.🤢




right on schedule is Dialaelia Mizoguchi 'Princess Kiko', 2 spikes as usual


and this noid Phal


Please all join in and chat away!

I love that Dialaelia!
It could use a better name then Mizoguchi. That sounds like some kind of disease!
Maybe Dialaelia Amethyst Dream or Dialaelia Dream but not Mizoguchi!

Perhaps it was named for this famous filmmaker, I just googled it!

A famous film maker? Really?
Who knew?

Mizoguchi died in the 1950's but his films are classics. He could have been the Mizoguchi or maybe some random person the hybridizer wanted to immortalize.

Princess Kiko is easier. She's the wife of the Crown Prince of Japan.

But the greater mystery is Akira Onishi (or Ohnishi Akira), He is the hybridizer of Dialaelia Mizoguchi, and several other orchids, but I can't find a thing about him.

Thanks Lucy! Nice background!

Well what I know about Japanese films and filmmakers is essentially zero. Maybe less then zero.

Except for the 7 Samurai and then the Magnificent 7, that is pretty much it. Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabi did the Last Samurai a few years back and I really enjoyed that! Then Mr. Watanabi did Letters from Iwo Jima I think and that was just heartbreaking to me.

I seem to remember critics giving some rather poor reviews to the Last Samurai but I thought it was quite entertaining. We as a World could find some wonderful things to model our own lives after from the Samurai. They seem to have led a structured life based on honor, respect and tradition.

Ursula, Always a great start to the month. Love that Liparis viridiflora. How do you have that potted? I mean I don't see drainage/air holes on the sides of the pot and from the picture, I can't tell the media you have it planted in. Is it a terrestrial?

Ted, it is in bark in a shallow pot, with big holes at the bottom of the pot.
Supposedly it is found as terrestrial, epiphyte and lithophyte. This is another old plant of mine, I think I got it from a grab box from Oakhill Garden probably 20 years ago.
A word of warning, those cute, tiny blooms really do smell bad.

Another "little stinker" huh??
It is amazing when so many beautiful flowers are just so obnoxiously fragrant, isn't it???!!!
This too is probably a case where the fragrance must attract a pollinator I am assuming. We can't all attract hummingbirds and butterflies!!!

I have a couple that are less that pleasant smelling. They ALWAYS stay outside in the Pergola.

Here's my Sam's Club Phal that I didn't get around to photographing last month, with my Whole Foods Phal behind it just starting to bloom:

I've had the Sam's Club Phal over 10 years now.

Diana, 10 years, wow! Pretty color and markings!

Digging around a bit, it seems in nature Fungus gnats might be attracted to the lovely smell emanating 🤢 from this Liparis.

Very pretty Diana!!

Diana, very nice. You are really doing something right!

Thank you all. A certain amount of benign neglect seems to suit them. I water and use orchid fertilizer about every 2 weeks. I carry them all to the sink and give each one a personal "rain storm" followed by a bit of orchid fertilizer. Then I return them to their North facing window sill. If one gets a bloom stalk I increase the watering for that plant to weekly. They have survived up to 3 and 4 weeks without watering on about 3 occasions last year when my husband was hospitalized. They didn't bloom much...but nobody died.
They are apparently are able to survive periodic dry spells. Even rain forests generally have a cool weather dry season, as I discovered on trips to Honduras at different times of year. That gave me some great insight into the lives of wild tropical orchids.

This just popped out, kinda took me by surprise. I think this is Bulbophyllum pseudopicturatum, but I'm not 100% sure so don't hold me to it

I just love these types of Bulbo/Cirrho. They have a lot of personality!

Sorry for the repost. This variegated cymbidium is in full bloom!


The two growths I just noticed. The one at the bottom might have always been there and maybe I just didn't notice it...

This big one just recently appeared when i started watering it more! I was no on top of watering for a while and it would get super wrinkly between waterings but now that i've set up a schedule... it grew!

Such a nice Cymbidium!
In my hands impossible to bloom, I tried for several years and then gifted the plant!