Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Mine seem to bloom in all types of weather, Kate. The flowers just last a lot longer when it's cool and misty. Same with my brugmansias, the flowers last only 3 or 4 days in the summer heat, but at this time of the year they go for 2 weeks.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Just great. The roofing company ripped the old shingles off of our house yesterday and today we have rain. I just called them and they have the tar paper on but no shingles. He said not to worry. I'm worried.
Jim
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it." -- Steven Leacock
I thought I show you my Barkeria melanocaulon a little better. This one has very long, wild looking roots and the new growth always appears on/along the old stem, reminiscent of keikis. I took the plant downstairs in search of a more neutral background and I discovered another, smaller spike.
The lower roots didn't all fit into the plant pictures. This plant starts blooming in late Fall and continues right into Spring, the spike usually branches out and keeps on blooming.
Kate, climbing an imaginary tree trunk - I would surely think it does growth that way.
And according to this http://www.orchidspecies.com/b...
It also grows on Limestone boulders.
I bought it bare root some years ago and it just seems to like growing this way. I flood it daily!
I had a Barkeria spectabilis, this one is just as pretty, but I found it a bit harder to keep going than melanocaulon. Last year I found another small plant of this one, hopefully it blooms next year for me.
Name: Kate Holmes Beach, FL (Zone 10a) Not all those who wander are lost.
That flower has such fantastic little details all over it. It looks like a painting. And I love the strange growth habit. That's why I love orchids anyway...because they have such unusual adaptations. The Saprophytic orchids are pretty weird, too! Like mushrooms!
"A garden isn't meant to be useful. It's for joy." - Rumer Godden
with Ursula on the roof issue, Jim. It will turn out the same whether you worry or not. Be glad you aren't home! 
