Oh btw....




It IS a beautiful bloom!

@Ursula. Yep,- that- one ! Thank you. I wish I still had Bhangykhan, (sp.?) because with that one, people used to ask me ,"Is it fake ?" while in bloom...

Ursula is a magician!

Beautiful Vanda Steve. You have done a wonderful job keeping it happy in a heated house for that long. Good growing.

@ardesia Thank you. I always put it out, in spring, & leave it out, until it gets too chilly for it. I had a rough time with it, moving about so much, last year & accidentally got a bit of "sunburn". I do bring it in, if the wind is a bit too much, as when Hurricanes come up this way. It finally has roots, on its' first "keiki".

Not a magician, but a happy owner of a super user friendly IPad!
I have always loved blue Vandas, like Sansai Blue. They are also truly gorgeous!

@Ursula It is favorite color of mine, also. I almost had 'Princess Mikasa' (?) but it was apparently just too much to bring back on a flight, after my mother had gone to a show & sale in Florida... A cousin was a happy recipient, in Boca.

I know that my friends in Florida love the "bag babies" from either Home Depot or Lowe's. I have looked through them myself on occasion.
However, since I find myself in a northern climate, bag babies up here are non existent.
Lowe's carries mostly Phalaenopsis, some dyed, some natural, not a single tag. Home Depot has Phalaenopsis as well, all in clear bags but not a single tag. In Florida, the variety was greater too. Dendrobiums, Slippers, Oncidiums, and Vandas were usually available. I got excited briefly a few weeks ago when I saw som 12" high Vandas in baskets and in bloom in Lowe's!!! Oh my!! But wouldn't you know it! $19.99 or $24.99 and not a single tag! 🙈

Does anyone know whether or not those tags are edible???
There has to be some reason that somebody pulls them.🍴🥣🍽

@BigBill, if you want to see something really sad, these Vandas are for sale at my local Publix store. Yep, Publix selling Vandas. Usually they look a lot better, even though they only mist them and never really water them correctly, but this batch obviously got either cooked during shipping or partially frozen during shipping. When I inquired as to why they were selling probably non-salvageable severely damaged half dead unnamed orchids for $29.99, I got a shrug from the floral manager.

@Gina1960 What a shame, they look ruined, after so many years... Maybe you could speak to the general manager, at Publix, for a discount, if you want one in particular. Otherwise, it may take quite some years to ever outgrow that sort of damage.

Oh my I would not even try! They looked like total toast to me. They ought to be on the Lowe's $1 deader rack

@Gina1960 You are probably right. Who knows, maybe it could have even been caused from some sort of chemical exposure... Hopefully, not some new fatal type of disease, after having had only a brief glance - at first...

I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole, even if they are given away for free.

@Gina1960 I noticed a "Follow us on Facebook" on one label...Maybe they ought to be contacted. You say, possibly "baked", or "flash frozen" ?

Chances are that moving Vandas around Florida, it is heat stress.

Publix will probably not discount them because they can be returned to their supplier for a full refund. Plus in order to get a price reduction even if that was possible the person in Publix, or where ever would have to recognize that they were in trouble!

I knew the floral manager at our Publix back in SC, I had spoken to her about "past their prime " plants and she told me they had to toss them, that the stores were not permitted to sell produce once it was not in prime shape. Huh? Orchids are produce? Yes, in Publix they are.

One good thing was that I carefully explained what the Vandas needed and printed out AOS culture sheets for the gal. She took the vandas to the back of the store each day and dipped them in a deep sink of teped water for a few minutes and I have to say she did a great job, the Vandas at that store always looked good.

I had that same discussion with the floral manager at this publix about 3 months ago. They had a rack of (undamaged) vandas but the roots were drying up and the flowers wilting. I asked how they were watered, he said they just misted them. I said that wasn;t good enough, they needed to take the somewhere where they could submerge the roots in a sink of room temp water for at least 5 minutes for each plant. He indicated that they could do that and said thank you, I don;t know if he then walked off and shook his head and forgot about it or what.

I've had pretty good luck buying orchids at Lowe's myself. I rarely shop at HD because they don't have a clearance rack where they discount their plants, and Lowe's does. I am a terrible bargain hound, so I love checking the "death rack"

They always put their orchids on the clearance rack when they are finished blooming, and I have scored Phals for $3 with nothing wrong with them but finished flowers. But as Lindsey said, the 'bag babies' are the most fun to shop for. Usually around $12 and they've had some really nice varieties, always have tags with the actual name of the orchid, as well.

This one I posted on the blooms thread this morning was a bag baby from Lowe's a couple of years ago.

I think that that might be Dendrobium Micro-Chip.

Mm, don't think so, the flowers are bigger than Micro Chip, Bill. They're about an inch and a half across. The Micro Chips I've seen had more flowers that were smaller, with more markings, I think. Also they're cream with spots on the backs and mine are pristine white right out of the gate.