I mounted toluminias on that lizzard log I found at Pet Smart and they seem very happy. Could mounting be a secret to growing them?

Jim

Aren't those Dens?
I always mount but they get scale in those hard folded leaves....

Sorry, I clicked on the wrong picture. Here you go.

Jim

Nice!

Very nice plants everyone!
Jim, I love the ones mounted on logs!

Thanks, Susan. I found the logs by accident while waiting for a friend who needed something at Pet Smart. They are made for use in lizard cages but I saw perfect little orchid mounts.

Jim

I probably should look in my local poison dart frog store, Black Jungle. http://www.blackjungleterrariu...

Now that's just weird.


Jim

Last weekend McLellan Botanicals, one of the BIG wholesale growers in our area had an open house (Really just a sale to the public). It's an hour drive down to Aromas, but I thought it might be fun and I might run into some of the growers I know from the days that McL was in S. SF. Well, when I got there I found out there really isn't an open house, just a small section of a greenhouse filled with blooming plants... Somehow I was able to hide my disappointment and went about gathering up a small stash of plants. I grow mostly Odonts, so I focused on the intergenerics they had, which were nice. I am buying lots of these intergenerics and growing them for a season to decide if they are worth keeping, many are, but there are some I'm just not interested in after a while and take to OS meetings to sell. Anyway, I picked up the following:

Miltoniopsis Up Country Puna 'Kea'au Star'
Miltoniopsis Woodlands 'Ebony' (one of the Great Miltoniopsis breeders)
Odontonia Mem Martain Orenstein 'Lulu' HCC/AOS ( as in "That's a Lulu!", huge flowers)
Brassidium Mark Rehfield 'Dragon Wings' (huge branched spikes w/5" flowers)
Beallara Jack Kenrick 'Pacific Siren'
Colmanara Maui Howie 'Sunday Best'
Odontonia Susan Bogdanow 'Purple Rain'
Zelglossoda Calico Gem 'Green Valley #1' (a miniature Odont due to the Onc onustum parent)
Wilsonara Aloha Sparks 'Edna's Flame'
Oncidium Gold Dust 'Green Valley Starlight'
Wilsonara Space Mine 'Red Rendezvous'
Odcdm Bob Burr 'Yellow Cat'

all nice sized plants, all in bloom, and here's the kicker... wholesale prices and no tax...
most plants were $7, a couple of the Milt. were $8, but they were big plants. I would have made it out for less than $100, except that I picked up a bunch of slotted clay pots while I was there. You can check out the photos on my FlickR page, click the link in my signature, these plants are in the last two full rows (click for a larger image)

What a deal!!!! Guess you didn't stay disappointed for long!

I've bought plants from Black Jungle, before. They seem like nice people.

Those do seem like great prices! And what pretty plants you have, Neal!

If anyone ever comes across a Dichaea glauca for less than $25-30 dollars, you can grab it for me and I'll buy it from you!

Andy's has one but it's $35. http://bit.ly/hEjMZ0

I found another cute Tolumnia today, Phyllis Envy x William Thurston
( wasn't he on Gilligan's Island?)

Nice Tolumnia, Lindsey. I'm much to young to know about those old TV shows.

Jim

Me likey! I have Phyllis Envy x William Thurston envy!

Thanks Kathy, I saw that, I got my original one from Andy's at an orchid show at the Chicago Botanical Gardens a long time ago...
I'm waiting for warmer weather to order from there.

But... if anyone sees one cheaper.........

Gotcha!!
Love that spotty Tolumnia! Susan have you ever had any other Dichaeas? I love my Dichaea neglecta, also from Andy's in mid winter.

Neal, impressive list. And your pictures on Flickr are very beautiful!

Susan ( or others), do you have any tips on blooming Dichaea glauca? I am growing a nice plant for several years now, it hasn't yet bloomed for me. I am still trying.

Lindsey, That's another great Tolumnia. I have to look into to getting a few more of them, they do fairly well for me.
Unlike Jim, I remember. It was Thurston Howell III. But I mostly remember Maryann and Ginger.

Bill

The Professor!!

My Dichaea was just a houseplant that had southern exposure on occasion. Later I moved and it was in an east window and I don't remember it flowering that much. Sorry, I'm not an expert on it, I only liked it because it stayed alive through my care for so long. Unfortunately it didn't survive the move to TN. I did buy a small one from ebay last year, but I had my doubts it was glauca, because it was totally green. Either way it got burned up in the fire.

I bought my original plant growing in bark/perlite/charcoal mixture, in a plastic pot. It was pretty rootbound but maybe that was one of the flowering keys? I've read a few things on orchid boards about it, and (if I remember correctly) they all say not to grow it that way. It also received very little fertilizer under my (uneducated) care- mostly just water, and not very often.

OOh, love that neglecta with the purple striped flowers! I don't grow it, or anything other than that Noid you ID'd for me. But we got some $1-$2 throwaways at Lowes last fall so DH and I have a budding interest. I guess we always thought all orchids were very expensive and extremely hard to grow.

Oops, correction- it did flower in the eastern window- just found a photo of it.