Elaine, you have an important Tree-Mail that needs your action.

Kathy,
My Neolauchea lives a bit of a different life during the winter that most of my other orchids. Most of those go in the garage with fans and lamps on timers. But the Neolauchea has always come into the house and is about 10 feet back from a west facing window. So lots of indirect and a little direct during the winter. I bring mine in when the temps are forecast to hit the low 40's. I started doing this just because I like the plant and had a spot for it. That's when it decided to bloom

Hope this helps

Thanks Ted. I'll try it warm and see if that makes any difference.

Nice ones, Ted!
Good spike you got there on the Dendrochilum javieri!

Another new bloomer for me today, Lc. Renate has 3 spikes! This one has been a great bloomer for me this year. We did get a little bit of rain early this morning, and it has cooled off now. Low 70's today and another cold night tonight so covering and moving orchids indoors this evening for me.

Elaine, such a pretty one! Good looking plant too!

and - I wish you a





Ursula

That's going to really pop, Elaine.

And a sandy greeting to all my orchid friends!

Ooh, Elaine, I like that!

I brought the vandas in (again) since it's supposed to be 43 tonight in Lutz. I'm a little worried about my big yellow vanda that I've been posting pictures of. It has lost quite a few leaves which is what the other one I bought from Goodwin Orchids did. Although, to be fair, the other one did it much quicker. The yellow one lost three more leaves today but in good news, all the leaves it has left (which is more than a few) are green and healthy so I don't think its going to lose any more any time soon. Maybe it's just a weather-changing thing?

And here's my picture to share with everyone for this Merry Christmas evening. My Chia Lin opened up its other flower and it smells sooo good in the shade house!



Merry Christmas everyone!

Nice blooms,Elaine and Melanie. The floor guys finished up about noon today and that is a Christmas gift enough. What a mess it is around the house but at least it is all clean up from here on. Ken, I don't envy your upcoming ordeal. Beautiful weather here today with a high around 70 and the stuffy humidity is gone. I have closed the windows on the OC so the predicted mid-40s lows should not harm a thing. I'm soon off to church for the first of two services and the choir will perform at both. I have a nice duet and a solo which is odd for me as I am a bass.

Merry Christmas to all of my friends here. Stay safe and live in the spirit.

Jim

I am glad your floors are finished. I have that to look forward to after the holidays. The installer is due in Jan. 6. All my GH's and porch heaters are going full-blast. 27F this morning and four more mornings in the mid to lower 20's. Ouch! The highs are only in the 40's then 50's with a brisk wind out of the north. At least it is sunny.

A beautiful sunny Christmas morning here, very cold and crisp with a touch of snow on the grass. Elaine, I like the sandy Christmas card!

Melanie, I hope your Vandas stabilize for you. I think they might complain about being moved a few times? Pretty Chia Lin.

Merry Christmas to all from Ca.! As is typical, Christmas day is shorts weather here. Yesterday it was 44 deg. on my porch at 6:30 am...today it was 64 deg., with an expected high in the low 80s.

Carol

We had about the same, Carol. It was cool enough last night that I brought all my blooming orchids into the house and covered up my tomatoes. Today, it's gorgeous and mid-70's and we are going out to the beach to make sand angels.

Discovered new buds on my Bl. Richard Mueller and also my big NOID catt, too. Happy days!

Lugged all the vandas back out and watered everyone. In what I suppose is good news, most of the rat poison has been eaten. I'll have to get Dad to refill it. I also have a surprise cattleya that's about to bloom. I knew I had a couple sheaths, but nothing looked ready to bloom and then they go and surprise you. And if the rat gets this one I will be so mad. Hopefully, they're all dead by now.

I took a picture of V. Pachara Delight just because I thought the shape and the color looked really good today.



I found this weird mix of stuff that looked like old fur mixed with some leaves and such and thought maybe the rat had been gathering nesting materials? I should have taken a picture but I forgot. It was in one of my cattleyas which I thought was weird. Anyway, while I was inspecting it, I checked out my smaller orchids which I have clustered in one corner of the shade house. Turns out, one was blooming!

Ok, it only has two flowers and last time it bloomed it only had four. But they're still blooms, darn it! They also smell good! Here's Onc. Tsiku Marguerite.

Just shows you, sometimes moving the plants around makes you discover treasure. Love the little Onc. Melanie.

My little purple noid Den has developed some nice white mottled markings. I was wondering if it was just water spotting at first, but now all the flowers look like this. Could mites cause this? I kind of like it.

Melanie, the Pachara Delight sure does look nice and blue there. That fur mix you describe is surely made by a rodent. Before we switched to metal cabinets at our Pennsy place, we used to see those in wooden drawers etc. after the Winter shut-down.

Elaine, then you might want to tell whatever caused the mottling, to do it more symmetrically?

Some stuff in bloom here today -


My Laelia autumnalis v. atrorubens is opening 4 spikes after aborting at least 4. This one is really a tough one for me to bloom. Once I see buds, I water the whole plant/spikes and all, but some still shrivel up and die. Last year I lost every single spike! grrrrr

( L anceps is a lot easier, in spike now without problems)

Bc Little Mermaid 'Janet' has two full spikes this year, on opposite ends of the basket.


Lc Mini Purple 'Shibuya' starts looking nice with a couple more spikes to open


Tiny Macroclinium manabinum has another cute little cluster, so delicate!


and Barkeria melanocaulon continues to flower right under the ceiling

Oh my!!! Such beautiful blooms!!!! All of mine are looking good, even the 'rescues'I made, but still anticipating something that may look like a spike/bloom….I'm so looking forward to being able to post pics of some beauties!