Temps steady in the 60s here. No rain but it is damp and no heat or A/C in the houses. Everyone is constantly wearing a jacket. Apart from that and crazy traffic, no problem.

Beautiful show, Ursula, in spite of the crickets.

Baked scallops, suckling pig and cherimoya on tonight's menu. I see a diet in my future.

Jim

Roberta, I can sympathize with you! We've had several of those hiccups here, and I've lost a lot of my orchids. More to come, I'm sure, as our hottest, driest months are yet to come. I wish I had more room in the house for them, but the best I can do is put up shade cloth and mist often. I do need to find some more of those pot holders to make moving them safer and easier.
Carol

Carol, Hi! I have burn area that came up over a 10 min exposure. I had to be fast once my mind realized what was happening. Just a daily sun angle change and leaf tissue was bubbling and blisters are there. I really could not leave the house from 1pm to 5pm. My porch was so packed I could not pull them to safety but had to bring them in. The coel that are still outside are just now putting out roots and like hot, humid and watering daily so the overhang shade is perfect, so I'm off to HD to get wheels for that shelve unit.
I have a C violacea cross sdly from Ebay, I am not good growing warm catts so I thought I should raft it and leave it on the kitchen sink till weather gets below 90 again then give this a big clay protective pot to live in?
C violacea x L purpurata

Ursula, yes, Dendrobium has been subdivided. With molecular taxonomy, splitting is all the rage. Unfortunately, so much of it is unnecessary and is starting to be ignored.

Well said. I'm definitely on the 'ignore' side of that debate, Glen. I think it's a case of (mad?) scientists doing something just because they can.

There are so many great books and online publications about orchids that have the 'old' names in them, all this name updating just causes endless confusion and frustration amongst hobby growers.

Not to mention the commercial growers tearing their hair with inventory all labeled with last week's names.

Roberta, Good luck with your Catt.! Some of those crosses work well for me, but others are struggling to stay alive.

Glen, I love Rosa borderline yellow!


Carol

Thank you carol.

Roberta, around here I would grow that particular Cattleya x probably in a clay pot too, with really good drainage.

Jim, the "Baked scallops, suckling pig and cherimoya" would easily let me gain some weight too!
I loved the Cherimoyas in Ecuador!

Elaine, it is also the non-scientists alas. Once people understand how to name things and how to propose them legally, amateurs have done hundreds of splits and new names, often in one publication. This will give you an introduction to the problem which is happening throughout biology.

http://blogs.scientificamerica...

Yikes, Glen it's too late at night (here) for all those huge words! Hoser sounds just like he's doing what I mentioned above = renaming reptiles just because he can. Incredible. And confusing.

MMmm, Jim you'd better get an upgrade for your flight home - the seats are wider!

Look, look what opened this week!! Not perfect, since it it bloomed in the cage, but I am not complaining. The deep violet color shows up really close taken with my IPad.
Cattleya lueddemanniana 'Cesar Fernandez' x 'Infierno '.
it's a first under my care, this one of the plants I picked out last Summer in the Ecuagenera greenhouse and got it shipped last September.
The scent is truly beautiful.

The color and throat(?) is truly beautiful as well! Really wish we had "smell-o-vision"!

Edit to say...I guess that would be called the lip? And not a throat?

Nothing serious but my stomach finally revolted today so I'm fasting until it passes. We are booked on the red eye to Miami Saturday night and should be home mid-afternoon on Sunday. I really enjoyed my time here. I hope the orchids are happy.

Jim

Tara, technically it would be called a lip, but there was nothing wrong with calling it a throat!
And I think that throat is gorgeous too.

Jim, too much of a good thing.....

Hope you're feeling better soon Jim. But I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for ya .

You know you've had a great time when you welcome the opportunity to 'rest' on the plane ride home.

Ursula, that pretty Catt sure does have an elegant lip and throat.

New bloomer for me, B. Yellow Bird sure pops open and changes color fast in this hot weather we're having! I have two new spikes open on B. nodosa 'Big Jim' and a couple still to come. Very nice of him to bloom sequentially for me. The flowers last a week or two in cooler weather, but only a few days when it's hitting 95deg.


Couple more 'last looks' on the pretty Bc. Renate fading to pink now, (but has another spike ) and the big NOID just about done.

Very pretty, Elaine! i just love the color on your two Catts.
Why would anyone buy Roses or similar, which wilt in a couple of days, when you can have Orchid blooms lasting for weeks and weeks, right?

Hi All,

Sorry been busy at work and with the GH doing so well, I haven't had to worry about it so much. I've been patiently waiting for the few in spike to bloom.

Bert, yes it has been hot. I remember the days when I had to rush to move the orchids around. We used to move them outside the SH during the summer and put them on the fence. Then started the "musical orchids" dance.

I have to say that the investment in the aluminet for the GH was absolutely worth every penny. I am still getting great light while it is reflecting the heat away. I know you don't have a GH, but you might want to invest in an aluminet tented area. You could just rope it around a few trees.

Hope to see you today at the MOS meeting!! Green Growers starts at 1pm and regular meeting is at 2pm.

No kidding! Even a suicidal Phal from Wal-Mart is a much better value as far as blooming for weeks rather than days.