Oh boy Motes buy 1 plant and you get this free
https://www.motesorchids.com/s...

It's awfully hot to be buying plants online, Gigi. Don't forget they'll have to ride around in a truck in this heat, and may arrive cooked! Been there, done that. I won't order any plants until October, myself.

That's a lovely bonus plant they're offering, though.

about not ordering until October. I can get away with late Sept. here some years, but I won't risk ordering plants in Summer.

Good to know and that is probably an old ad. Also I just learned that my terete Vandas are now called Papilionanda

They're not necessarily giving away that dark purple one, either. Kind of misleading.

I went back and looked at the other pictures under the ad, and there are some I really wouldn't want like the last one, sort of brownish flowers . . . you can bet they're unloading their unpopular colors on people as bonus plants.

So far I am pleased with mine so I keep looking if they will have more of the terete Vandas with free shipping promo again. I got mine around September/October many years ago. Hubby now likes them now too because they are full of blooms!

And now for something "native"! Native in ", because the plant was introduced from Europe years ago. Epipactis helleborine
We still look at this plant as one of the native plants in our Pennsylvania woods and we track the stands year after year. Many grow right at the edge of the walkway through the woods and get wiped out by overzealous bulldozers straighten out the road every few years. Luckily quite a few plants survived a couple of feet inside the forest and they also come up in other safe locations. Hopefully not in a deer path!
This year we are seeing the tallest plants ever, some hit almost 3 feet in height. Surely the amount of rain coupled with warmer temps made them feel pampered!!
Here are a bunch in different stages of blooming -


















Ok. that's it! 🙂



Ursula

you have more than just it ! A ground orchid I'm it's natural habitat

Thank you for the lovely walk through the woods, Ursula !

Those are some magnificent helleborines, for sure. Nice pictures!

Glad you enjoyed it too!

The first week in April iwas expecting guests and picked up this little Sogo Grape Phal in the grocery store. It has survived on my minimal care, I never even repotted it. The flowers are finally finished and I went to stash it outside in the camellia I noticed these roots. It seems quite happy without care.



Once my plants seem to be on their last legs I stick them outside and let them fend for themselves. I found this lettle yellow Phal a while ago, it is still happy and recently I found this little red one. Both have labels but it is too hot to go out and determine names.



This Spathoglottis 'Lemon Kiss' never stops blooming.

Very funny, Alice!
The next person asking for Phalaenopsis advice will get a link to your post on how to grow happy plants by ignoring them! 😄😄I think you are on to something, they don't really like being handled much?
Nice Spathoglottis!

Edited - tongue in cheek ?😄

I tried ignoring mine and put them outside and they look bad. I need to put them in the basket and put them under the my mango tree.

Normally I'd say "don't mess with success" for your Sogo Grape, Alice. But it doesn't look like you've got much longer to get that baby out of that plastic pot. I do recall our guru Bill saying Phals always respond well to up-potting, too.

Mine are outside on the wreath mount, with hunks of cork and wads of coco-coir as medium, and they are in the section of the cage that gets misted every morning, through the summer. It's so much too hot for them, I figure they survive like this because they're getting enough water, and the shade cloth keeps it a bit cooler if it's sunny in the afternoons.

That little plant is in one of those soft plastic pots, more like a plastic bag, and crammed full of moss. Yes, it needs repotting but I hate to mess with a good thing. LOL
You are good about daily watering, I am not. I do use a timer and drip on the front porch, it connects to the only spigot on untreated water. All the others have salt and I don't like to use that water on plants. I have one 150' hose hooked up to the well that I use for hand watering but the well is too far from the plants that need a drip system. .

I wish my Phals. looked HALF as good as yours do Alice. My two that I used for Christmas decor are pretty pathetic looking and the (3rd) Spathaglottis that I've tried is officially dead...the weeds in the pot are looking pretty robust though.😆


This bag baby , Rby. Copper Queen bloomed for the first time and went directly into the trash can. The color break there on the right side is a tell tale sign of virus.



C. Olivia with just one pretty flower


Rhynchovola Jimminey Cricket was blooming and I didn't even notice it! The flowers blended in so well with the heat stroke foliage around it


C. Valda X B. nodosa with a nice flush of blooms
and blooming for the first time


Trichocentrum (jonesianum × stacy)
It's a neat looking plant ...sort of resembles those really long string beans

What beauties, Lindsey! And the Trichocentrum is really special! Such a great plant and bloom!

Yes, I like that dotty Trichocentrum, too. Do you think the name comes from the 3 different details on the lip? Just a thought.

But the little C. Valda X B. nodosa is one I would look for, for sure. Love that color combo and of course the graceful shape. Does this one change color as the flowers mature, Lindsey? Show us another picture in a few days if you think of it, please?

I have nothing new blooming atm. Need some new orchids for sure. My job today is to power wash the floor of the pool cage. Happily, I can do that from IN the pool so I won't get overheated in the process. Have to wait until later to do the walkways. Sure wish some clouds would drift over and keep us a bit cooler . . . this has been a long, hot summer and it's still not even halfway done yet.

My C. Penny Kuroda 'Spots' opened right on schedule, it always blooms in the Summer.



And Stelis ciliaris surprised me with this "mini-garland"