Holy Cow!
I go away for a long weekend and miss 3 or 4 pages of new orchid flower posts!
So many beauties...good job everyone! I was in Va at a family wedding, and got
to visit some of 'my' plants that are currently in foster homes. I have been advised
by at least 3 foster parents that they have no intention of giving back the plants!
Oh well, more orchid addicts in the world can't be bad!

Ursula, believe it or not, I'm getting the hang of it. This Room Genealogy page is only for Cattleyas and their hybrids. How do you get to Oncidiums?

Jim

Lindsey, then you can go Orchid shopping again? Surely they will give them back....

Jim, here is the page for other hybrids.
http://www.orchid.or.jp/orchid...
Look at the links on the left side, the first link takes you to the now familiar Cattleya page, the second one lists Dendrobiums, the third is Paphs etc. the 6. link is Oncidiums.

Imbedded into this website are also species and tons of pictures, if one takes the time to click around. Have fun digging!

OrchidWiz has Mabel Kanda as Epicyclia [Epy.] Mabel Kanda so the x would be Epicyclia.

Thanks Kathy, that looks like a "double whammy" of Enc cordigera!

It's Cattleya skinneri time around here!
My C. skinneri var. albescens occulata 'Debbie' is opening this week! Looks like I will have a bunch of nice spikes this year. Here is a preview!
I took the plant downstairs into the Living Room today.


Iwanagaara Appleblossom continues to open


Since I did reasonably ok with my Dendrobium aggregatum, I picked up last year the much smaller Den jenkinsii. Both are in spike and the jenkinsii is opening. This is a first blooming on that one for me, inspired by Rkidkelly's plant?
Hopefully the aggregatum opens soon enough, so I can take side by side pictures for comparison.


My Microterangis hariotiana wasn't looking too great and bloomed poorly the last few years or so. I plucked out all Sphagnum a couple of years ago, that helped somewhat.
A couple of weeks ago, I removed the partially decayed wooden basket ( mostly) and cleaned it up a bit. This Orchid actually grows in all direction/produces plantlets also underneath. So how do you pot this one up? It hangs securely on its own in the wire contraption and this way it it is open to all sides! I see a few smallish spikes, perhaps it will bloom better next year.

That Den. Jenkinsii is really sweet. Very nice. I also like C. skinneri in all of its forms. I bought one this year and am happy with it. As for the Microterangis, it looks like it is living in a hamster exercise wheel. Now that I think of it, it's not a bad idea.

I went to the Oncidium page but there is not much there. Only 10 or so orchids and no Wilsonara. What a strange bunch of letters and numbers on that site. Weird I tell you. Kathy's OrchidWiz is probably the way to go but if I remember correctly, she paid a pile for it. There should be a simple site where you type in the name of the orchid and it gives you the parentage. How hard could that be?

Jim

I wish I will have a beautiful like your collections someday...

Thanks.
Hamster in an Exercise wheel? Funny! Imagine, you stand there with that bare plant in your hand and realize that it grows in ALL direction! Next, you go into the cellar/around the tool bench etc looking for ANYTHING that might be used instead of a pot....

You can nickname your Microterangis hariotiana - the hamster! I had exactly the same thought as Jim, a hamster wheel. Very clever solution for a plant that grows all over - do you turn it occasionally to give all sides some light, Ursula? It's got pretty little flowers, can't wait to see it when it's in its glory.

I got a Den. aggregatum on our Apopka trip, looking forward to your comparison pictures. I'm thinking mine has already bloomed for this year, and am contemplating re-potting it as I'm not really fond of the lava rock medium they use at Krull-Smith.

Elaine, the Den aggregatum might be a lot happier mounted, at least under my conditions it seems. Just the way it grows around the mount, I couldn't imagine how it grows potted?
I will take a picture of the plant in spike so you can see.
The Hamster it is! My conditions are relatively bright, (in Winter under the glass ceiling), I don't worry about turning it.

Thanks, yes I was thinking mounting is the way to go for that fellow. This looks like a division that someone just crammed into a pot. I have a huge hunk of cork I am getting ready to cut up for mounts, and also a piece of EpiWeb. Which do you think would suit it best?


Today I have two new bloomers, my NoID phal with the purple spots that blooms for months, and a bonus spike on Bc.Yellow Bird that seems like it just finished blooming a month ago. Maybe it was the magnesium treatment that stimulated it!


Another shot of Yellow Bird hanging over my big Rhyn. David Sander - a frustrating thing if I do say so! It puts up big, lusty new growth every year, but has not bloomed! Last pic, my little gold Vandas still blooming, but the big one on the left is top-heavy despite a huge bunch of roots, and keeps heeling over. Any harm in having it grow out sideways like this? Seems like all other Vandas I've seen have been growing vertically. These are my first Vandas, so I'm an anxious mother.

Nice pattern on the Phal!
Regarding the Den aggregatum - I suppose it doesn't matter too much which material one might use? I myself like the branch it came mounted on. It totally grew around it.
I brought both jenkinsii and aggregatum downstairs for a picture featuring a neutral background. Here is the size comparison! The aggregatum is the big brother?

I'm thinking about investing in OrchidWiz. What is out there now is frustrating to say the least and I don't want Ursula to have to ride to my rescue every month. I understad it is about $300 and you get a license to load it onto two computers. Why couldn't two of us go together and split the cost?

Jim

Unfortunately Orchidwiz seems to work only on PCs.

"MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8; 5.5 GB of disk space."

I looked at that once before and thought that this leaves me out, since we don't have a PC.

I have a PC and use it more than my laptop. I like the orchid images on the big screen.

Jim

GeeWiz, Jim. That's nearly 3 trips to Apopka worth just for some names you can look up for free. There must be a better way.

Ursula, that big Den agg is going to have 3 gorgeous cascades of flowers pretty soon! Can't wait to see it.

If I could look them up for free, that would be great. Seems that I can't. I spent three hours trying yesterday and I don't want to do that again. It is just like carrying orchids around to the garage during a cold snap.

Jim

Jim, I am really happy to help!! I don't mind at all.

5 spikes, Elaine! There are two more on the other side. I am as happy as a witch in a broom factory ( to quote a commercial)

I know, Ursula, and I appreciate it. It is just my nature not to bother others. It's something passed down from my father.

I just booked the last of the shore excursions for this big cruise we are going to take. Molde, Norway will soon surpass Anchorage as my northern most adventure. Also looking forward to St. Petersburg, Russia, Berlin, Germany and all the rest. Starting to get excited!

Jim