Thanks, guys. Out in the OC, Miltassia Luke Skywalker is opening some new flowers.


Here is a last look at C. bicolor 'Lines' AM/AOS X L. undulata. L. undulata used to be Schomburgkia undulata until smarter folks than me did away with all Schomburgkias. That is why the flower has a long spike and the twisted petals and sepals, a characteristic of Schomburgkias as I remember them. By the way, my Schomburgkis undulata (I'm a rebel) produced a 7 foot spike a couple of years ago and is now sending out three spikes, each about 18 inches long as of today. I remember watching that spike grow while thinking it would never bloom.


The first flower on Vanda Mae Sai X Vanda Kenji has flattened out. I love the color and the plant is huge.


Jim

I got this blooming noid Phal last 18Sept and so far it is still in bloom:


And this noid Phal I got on 07Oct, love that it did not do any bud blast after being repotted:


And little Stelis hirtella continues on producing its blooms:

Pretty Phals. It's interesting you can bloom them in the fall as that is not their season here.

Jim

Yeah, my other Phal goes active during winter months...these new ones seem to respond well to my dunking method of watering. It is very dry here, so they really are thirsty.

The red/yellow Phal is a gorgeous color, Tarev! Love the little Stellis, too.

Phals seem unpredictable: of my two from IKEA bought a year ago on Labor day one dropped its blooms within about 2 weeks and has sulked ever since. The other bloomed for 3 months straight, then re-bloomed in March again for a couple of months!

Oh yes..such unpredictable Phals they are..I had one that I got as a gift in bloom last Christmas and continued to bloom up to June this year. I did not repot it, too afraid to touch a happy plant blooming and even growing a new leaf...I guess I left it too late in the sphag moss set-up, waited for it to wilt all the blooms. It definitely hated the bark mix I placed it in, and eventually died. But now I think I understand why, I forgot to consider the season changes of temperatures. They are now so thirsty being summer, and having lived in sphag moss before they like that moisture, which I sadly deprived it of, it was not enough for the water draining on the bark mix watering style. And I thought the more airy bark mixture would have liberated the roots for some more air..well it did..but too much, moisture lost a lot! Learned my lesson now..so as long as it is still warm, these new ones, they will get dunked every 3 to 4 days, and they like it better too!

Jim, very pretty and I LOVE the Vandal! Very nice pattern!!

Tarev, picking up noid Phals, I find it very useful to look at the patterns and shape, substance of the already opened blooms, to see if they are pleasing to the eye. Looking for symmetry, are the markings even and such.

Same here Ursula! I like the patterned ones for my Phals

Jim, Love the new Vanda!
Tarev, Pretty Phals! I've found them to be fickle bloomers too. Some go on for months, and some only last a couple of weeks. I suppose it depends on their parentage, but in my observations it seems the standards bloom longer than the smaller ones. I did have one bloom itself to death after 10 months of elongating its spike. This last heat wave was too much for the two I had in bloom.

Another mini-orchid in bloom:

Barbosella cogniauxinia

good job Tarev on keeping your Phals in bloom so long! We had a nursery guy come to one of our MasterGardener meetings
and he talked about a customer that bought a Phal in bloom. She asked about when to repot it and he told her 'when the blooms fade ,
bring it back in and we will do it for you'
she brought the plant back a year later...still in bloom, he sent her away...she came back a year and a half later..and it was finally ready
to stop blooming!

My Lc Mary Elizabeth Bohn 'Royal Flare' just opened another spike of pretty, scented blooms. And I see more coming along.


Lc Sacramento Rose is a nice mini Cat.


Bl Tiny Kiss lost a couple new growth to Black Rot this Summer, but it is making up for it by producing additional growth now. I had a hard time getting a decent shot which showed the delicate pink.


Cattleya Brabantiae, a single bloom on a small plant.


Bulbo Jersey is slowly winding down after blooming for weeks

Ursula,
Those are beautiful. Of course you know that but I wanted you to know I noticed. Such pretty colors!

Oma

Ursula- Lc Mary Elizabeth Bohn 'Royal Flare' is awsome and the plant in that pot looks really nice and i love Cattleya Brabantiae, who can go past a spotted flower.

not me! I love those spots!!

I love the color of 'Royal Flare'. Very nice. As for Bl Tiny Kiss, have you thought about mounting it? I bet it would do well and you could avoid the root rot. Nice form and color on Cattleya Brabantiae. It's a winner. Nice Bulbo Jersey as well. That reminds me of the orchid show yesterday. All of the Bulbos had flies on them. It was funny to see a table of show orchids with all of the flies congregated on the Bulbos.

Jim

Thanks.
So the Orchid show was hopefully outside? Btw Bulbo Jersey didn't inherit the stench from its lovely parent, Bulbo echinolabium. ( Bulbo lobbii the other parent, is not that bad) I am grateful!

Hmm, mounting does sound like a good idea, my Aquarium store has great wood pieces, I have to pick a suitable shape.

You know the 'Royal Flare' only started to look decent and really took off when I started to hang it into full sun. I grew it up from a little baby, a freebee from Oak Hill in 2004.

Ursula, I'm back looking for parentage in preparation for the orchid club meeting. I'm going to take 5 bloomers and found parentage on all but two. I've been looking for hours. The two I need are Bllra. Pacific Treasures 'Everything Nice' and Brassia Memoria Fritz Boedeker 'Witch Doctor'. If you can find them I'd appreciate it.

Jim

Jim, the Bllra is now called Aliceara Pacific Trasures. Another happy name change to make things easier, right?
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticu...

The Brassia Memoria Fritz Boedeker
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticu...

Jim, have fun at your meeting and good luck!

Thanks, Ursula. You're the best!

Jim