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The thread "Our Orchid blooms in October 2018" in Orchids forum

I am starting the new thread for the month a touch early, since I have to run out in the morning.
Last month's thread was great with plenty of gorgeous blooms and good discussions. Hopefully some of the new members which had posted questions on our forum, will join us here too.
So, are we off to a running start?
My Cattleya Chocolate Drop 'Kodama' always blooms this time of year. I wasn't pleased to see spike nr 2 blasted because of a Mealie invasion inside the sheath, which turned everything except 1 measly bloom to mush. I missed it! But there is a third, smaller spike coming along.
Years ago this one took only a couple of years to grow over the edge of the pot with 3 foot long roots. So some years later I split the plant and placed my division bare root into this basket of sorts which I fashioned from some "bunny fence". I flood the plant/roots daily with rain water.

And today in bright sunshine


And this old Phrag Jason Fischer has a bloom. The plant never looks so hot, I think it may not like our warm Summers outside. But the new growth looks clean and straight.


Ok, please join in and post away!

Oh my, that is a very nice Jason Fischer!!
It has very broad and flat petals which are far better then most and a pretty wide dorsal! Spectacular, just spectacular! It is my favorite Phragmipedium, even more so then Fritz Schomburg! I just think that the deep cherry red color puts it over the edge for me. Color me with envy.
I love it Ursula!

My Jason Fischer says thank you, Bill!

Tell him, "I am going to sneak in and visit him"!

My Blc. Hsinying Goldworth is in bloom once again and it has rapidly become a favorite of mine. It is a cross of Rlc. Yen Surprise X Rlc. Varut Goldworth.


I just love the color on a compact plant. Flowers are a bright Granny Smith Apple Green with a gorgeous lip with a bright, rich yellow disc and an amethyst front lobe. They are very fragrant and about 4 1/2" wide. Form and balance are good.

I got this plant as an unbloomed seedling from Sean Abbott about 3 years ago - he hadn't seen it bloom either. He had two, the second was taken by one of my Orchid Society buddies. We have been waiting (impatiently) for them to bloom to see what we had. I have to admit, I was surprised by the color but it is really pretty and, for a first time bloom, it outdid itself. The other plant has not bloomed yet.

Cattleya leopoldii x bowringiana

Wow, that is a really nice hybrid with fantastic color! I like that a lot!

Such a pretty one, Daisy. It has those wavy petals like a Schomburgkia, seems a bit of a surprise.

Ursula, your Chocolate Drop 'Kodama' is fabulous. I have a really wimpy weakling of a plant that has bloomed once in the last 5 years. I think I'm going to re-pot it when I get home, shake it up and move it to the top of the cage to see if it will come to life and grow there. If not, it's going to be banished to the jungle to sink or swim.

Thanks! It was always a good plant.

Daisy, what a nice bloom! I love the shape and color!

Bill, I like that green color!

Any flower that resembles a Schomburgkia is a friend of mine. Love it.

Jim

Bill, your Blc. Hsinying Goldworth is beautiful. I was surprised by the green because I have Lc Hsinying Excell and its pink on pink, no green in sight. But the Hsinying must be for something else because the parentage of my plant is not the parentage of yours.

Cattleya leopoldii x bowringiana is very floppy (you can see part of my support system in the photo) and the flowers are nothing like I expected. But the large wavy shockingly pink blooms are great! Its a keeper. I am anxious to see what the second plant looks like - I assume they will look alike but...

I just love it. Now if I can get it to last until judging on the 17th!

What a wonderful start to the month..I love ALL these gorgeous flowers...great growing everyone!

Bill, I think you've made a typo - it's Hsinying Greenworth.

Daisy, I've added your photos to the generic Cattlianthe entry in the hope that the cross will one day be registered and I can move them to a new entry for the cross. At the moment it doesn't have a name.

Only one typo? That's is a good day if it's only one!

I was just looking at two of my posted images, both of Rlc. Hsinying Greenworth.
We often get into a discussion on whether or not an orchid can improve with a subsequent blooming. I looked at the two images and see some differences.
Last years image to me seems to show a more tri-lobed lip with kind of a pinched in area helping to form the tri-lobed appearance. It kind of produces a pinched waist if you will.
Now if you look at the image I just posted yesterday I see a rounder, fuller lip. That pinching is kind of non existent. The first lip was kind of too frilly at the apex and didn't present quite as well as this year's lip. This lip has an more uniform apical edge.
We judges are supposed to notice these things.
When comparing these two, I also think I see fuller petals. I like last year's petals but when I look at the overall form and presentation, I think that this year's petals look better!
Hopefully I am not imaging these differences!
But I noticed the difference when I went to the database where one image was shown on top of the other affording me the opportunity to see them side by side.
Comments? Opinions?

Miniature Dendrobium Noid
Actually darker than the photo - flash does that. I was too lazy to take it out in the rain to get the pictures this morning.






Although Jewels aren't usually grown for their blooms I thought I'd share a couple pics.

Macodes petula


Anoectochilus reinwardtii

Okay, stupid question... I see that my photos have now been associated with... nothing... in the database while this plant awaits a real name. My question is, how will it ever be associated with the right name (assuming it has siblings out there somewhere) without the parentage also listed?

The speaker at our Orchid Society meeting last night was a member of our group who bought a house that belonged to a former member before he moved several years ago. The house had been rented and then vacant for over a year. Somewhere in there, the owner died and his wife decided to sell the house. One of the reasons Neil was attracted to the property was the 20 x 36 ft. commercial greenhouse. He wasn't able to go inside before the sale as it was locked. But, when he finally did open it, he was the new owner of several thousand orchid plants that had been taking care of themselves as the greenhouse had continued to function for 6 years on its own!! Crazy, right?

Anyway, Neil spent the first year spraying and watering and now realizes he didn't inherit just any collection but one with plants worth $1000's. The problem is that most are Cattleyas and have done their thing. The entire greenhouse is one big mat of roots grown together. This last year (and probably the next several), he has been attempting to unravel the plants. Here's a photo of the inside of his greenhouse and one of him holding up one of his projects:



Somewhere in there, Neil talked (and showed photos) of an Cattleya type orchid that he had in several colors with the same name. Ramon de los Santos (he's pretty famous on the west coast) said, "oh, that was a flask John (previous greenhouse owner) and I bought." Which leads me to my question: We know of at least two Cattleya leopoldii x bowringiana and I assumed, as its the same cross, that the plants would be pretty much the same. But, what are the chances that the other orchid will look more like Leopoldii and less like bowringiana? I really though my orchid would have spots, but it doesn't.

I bought a flask a couple years ago and have quite a few of that particular cross (Lc Sandra x Lc Blue Hawaii) that I have been slowly giving away. Should I keep the remaining half dozen on the off-chance that one will be better than the others? I assumed they would look about the same also but now, I'm not so sure.

That GH was one big terrarium.

Fascinating purchase.
Daisy, regular siblings in any family don't look alike, so having a population of seedlings from a specific cross can be very interesting. They will certainly not look identical. Even when old crosses are repeated years later, perhaps using different cultivars, the results will vary from the original cross.
Oh, and I would certainly keep the remainder of that flask, surely until you could observe them in bloom. Quite a few people do that, buying a whole group of seedlings from the same cross and see what comes up. Perhaps one of them is worthy to have a special cultivar name assigned.

Bob, very nice! Cute Den and I like the Jewel Orchids.