I will make note of it, but knowing me, I will never find that note in the spring.

Coelia bella is cute! But be aware that it's really a cull plant in many collections because it really multiplies and leaves get rather tall and full and obscures your view of the cute little flowers. It can be your 'bonus' plant you give to your customers. I even got mine from SBOE. But I realy do like all the Coelogyne groups! Marzipan!

Barbosella australis blooming this Dec.
It truly enjoyed our recent rainy spell.

Tarev, it looks great! good looking plant and the blooms are cute.

Here is Coelia bella in 2010.
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
The year after I potted it on rather than dividing it. A couple years later I HAD to make some division as it outgrew its alloted space.

Orchid dividing is my middle name!

A few quick shots from this morning:
#316 Rhyncattleanthe Coral Gold 'Pacific Rainbow' & #199 Rhyncholaeliocattleya King's Jewels

#163 Rhyncolaeliocattleya Bill Fender & #618 Cattleya Llory Ann ‘Paradise’ AM/AOS

#619 Oncidium Burgundian ‘#2’ & section of my right row

#188 Rlc. Island Girl & #040 Miltassia Charles M. Fitch

Beautiful, Fred. You aren't Mormon, are you?

What a beautiful show here this morning!!

And for all of you celebrating Christmas

Melanie, reference your nice Vanda, it now has a name: Vanda [V.] Thierry Giorncel (V. Perry Hollingsworth x V. Tawee). Time for a tag update.

Elaine, wonderful David Sander pics. What a great orchid it is. Sorry to hear about your orchids swimming in the pool. As you mentioned, I had a pinkish Dendrobium blow into the pool in the middle of the night and sit on the bottom for hours until I fished it out mid-morning. I washed it off and repotted it and she is still alive and blooming today. The only issue is the flowers are pure white.

Fred, beautiful show. I very much like the Catt in the first picture. Do you have a name?

Tarev, that is the reddest Sherry Baby I have ever seen and just in time for Christmas. Wonderful!

Ursula, lovely D. kingianum. I'll have to see if I have one of those. Also congratulations on the D. moniliforme. I killed one a couple of years ago and have stayed away from it ever since.

Some new blooms in the OC. First up is Myc. Luster (C. forbesii x Mcp. thomsoniana) which looks exactly as it did when I bought it a couple of years ago as a Schombocattleya. Go figure.


Floof of the day honors go to C. Irene's Song (C. Mari's Song x C. Irene Finney (1964)). This formally Lc. orchid is one of those big standard Catts that take up lots of space. I know I should stake up that bloom spike but it is fairly stiff and I don't want to chance breaking it for no particular reason.


Then there is Epc. René Marqués 'Tyler' (Epi. pseudepidendrum x C. Claesiana). This is one of those frequent bloomers and it is easy to grow. Anyone new to orchids should give it a try.


It is always nice to have dancing ladies around for holiday festivities and a new group arrived over night.


It is 78 degrees and rain expected today so all of my plants are happy. I'm singing at church tonight at the 7:00 PM and midnight mass services so it will be a long day. I'm wishing all of you a peaceful and meaningful Christmas eve.

Jim

Bert, forgive my ignorance, but what is a "cull" plant?

Good morning Ken! Glad your area was north of the tornadoes yesterday. Since I have limited space I only keep the best, so to cull is throwing out or giving away this rest. Nothing wrong with the plant per se but like the breeders do when they bloom a new flask out. They sell off what they deem is not worthy of further time and space. I think at some point every experienced grower will cull their collection.

I am not experienced yet. I just reduce the price until they are gone!

Somehow, I knew Jim was going to tell me my plant had a name now. At least I can just write it on the back of the tag. Which reminds me, what kinds of pens or pencils do you guys use that you have found to be the most permanent? The Florida sun bleaches everything here it seems. I see some of my gardening catalogs advertising those pens that supposedly never fade but I wasn't sure about that. The bromeliad clubs seem to use pencil and it lasts even in the water of the plant, but I've tried a regular #2 pencil before and it faded so I'm thinking they were using something different. Thanks in advance!

Such beautiful new blooms, Jim. The Cattleya forbesii x is very interesting.

Melanie, on a plastic tag, I use a silver Sharpie. It writes with metallic paint rather than ink fades and can also rub off.

I've taken to shoving the plant tags 'way down into the pots so it's at least harder for the squirrels to find them. But if they're in soil, the ink rubs off. So far the silver paint has lasted well for over 2 years.

Melanie, I've tried several highly recommended pens/pencils and none of them work. The best thing to do is take pictures of plants and blooms and keep track of them on line through forums like this.

Thanks, Ursula. I love Schombocatts.

Jim

"Sharpie" makes a lot of so-called "permanent markers" but one that is superior to them all is their "Industrial Super Permanent Ink" marker. I get it in the Fine Point style.

Wow. "Industrial Super Permanent Ink" marker sounds tough. My dad is a woodturner and likes to sign the bottom of his bowls so he would probably like to try something like that, too. Right now, he's using a regular Sharpie fine-point, I think.

I not only use this "special" marker for some of my plant labels but also in some of the necks of my T's and sweatshirts that have had their labels removed. It might only be an "X", but I mark them so that I know front from back. Those that were marked with the "Industrial" marker lasts many times over those marked with a "Permanent Sharpie".

I think I purchased those Industrial markers at our Wal Mart and until I found them this summer, I had neither seen nor heard of them before.

Just an update on the birdie twins, changing color gradually. The color changes faster in warm weather, so they will slow down a bit once this front goes by and things cool off again. Arg, I'm seeing evidence of flower thrips on the flowers, too. Got to get to the nursery for some of Ursula's recommended 'cure'. But . . . it's Xmas eve and all the stores are crazy crowded.

First, though, has anybody tried using Diatomaceous Earth on orchids? Was thinking I could dust it on, leave a day or two then hose off. I can't imagine it would hurt.