Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Wonderful, Kathy and well done on your awards!
May I ask the names on a couple - the orange spikes c/w spotty variegated foliage really caught my eye, and the Den nobile in the picture with the beee-yewtiful leather handbags? I'm sure I have that same Den but bought it at Trader Joe's as a noid. It's blooming for me right now.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
I know I should know this, but I really have never had many Dendrobium plants. I occasional see the term "Den. nobile" used and don't really know what plants (specific?) are being referred too when the "nobile" term is used. Is the term "Noble Dendrobium" a synonymous term?
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)
The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
Ken, Den. nobile is a species that has been used for countless hybrids. Many of these have been used for the flower trade and do not have names. Therefore, you will often see the term nobile type hybrid used for these soft cane Dendrobiums with the big spot in the center of the flower's throat. Here is a pic of one of mine:
I have been preparing for the orchid meeting tomorrow so I will show you what I'm taking for the bloom table:
First is Den. speciosum. These flowers have stayed true to their white color.
Then there is Rth. Carolina Golden D'Or (Rth. Bouton D'Or x Ctt. Warpaint), just opening.
Then another species, C. skinneri.
Brilliant colors on this Ctt. Gold Digger (Ctt. Red Gold x Ctt. Warpaint)
Finally, the big elephant in the room will be Cym. Leodogran 'Cradlemont' (Cym. Sweetheart x Cym. Liliana). Kathy was showing this one too. Mine weighs about 80 lbs., thus the 2 wheel dolly. I'm thinking ribbon winner here as she won one last year.
My cousin is here from Indiana so we have been showing them the tourist spots. Last Saturday we went to the Tarpon Springs sponge docks where boats go out to harvest sponges from the sea floor. There are plenty of sponges for sale and one type looks like it would make a good orchid pot. I'm going to pick up a small orchid and see if I can grow it in this sponge. It should be interesting.
Jim
"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it." -- Steven Leacock
Thanks for that information, Jim, and good luck with the show. You have beautiful plants, along with lots of other of you "serious" growers.
I used to have a whole bunch of those sponges, and yes, they were purchased off the dock at Tarpon Springs almost 40 years ago. Some pieces of those are still around. I have never considered trying to grow an orchid in one though. I figured they might/would hold too much water for too long. But thinking on this, I would imagine the side-walls would not have much chance of capturing water. Only the bottom would. So perhaps, they might work out.
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)
The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
The problem you'll have, Jim, is their lightness and unstableness. I would suggest you put a lot of clay shards before the media. I am not sure that will even solve the top-heaviness problem. You might have to sit it in a pot as well. It sure would make an interesting/unusual "pot" though.
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)
The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Sure looks like it would work Jim! The only things I'd worry about would be salt (just soak in fresh water for a while) and structural integrity. You might think about suspending the sponge in a net support, maybe? Just thinking about my kitchen sponges that start to come apart after just a few months, and they're not natural sponges either! When they're wet they're pretty soft and pliable.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
Elaine/Jim, those sponges are tough as nails. They simply don't fall apart like man-made sponges do. I still have pieces of some of mine, not because they fell apart but because I cut them up and used/lost most of the pieces. After forty years these remaining pieces are still as tough as the day I bought the sponges in Tarpon Springs.
A wire basket suspended sponge sounds like a great idea.
drdawg (Dr. Kenneth Ramsey)
The reason it's so hard to lose weight when you get up in age is because your body and your fat have become good friends.
Name: Elaine Sarasota, Fl The one constant in life is change
Oh yes, but beware the wire basket trap! Once the orchid devours the sponge and grows its roots through everything, you won't be able to extricate the wire basket, ever, or at least not without major surgery on the plant's roots (something I just can't bring myself to do) So 'just sayin' be prepared to move the whole thing, including the wire basket, to a new mount or basket down the road.
I've done that a couple of times with the wood slat baskets, and it works great. But I got my original 'maybe Yellow Birds' in a very restrictive little wire basket, and it took me hours to divide it and re-mount the pieces because it was one solid mass of roots trapped in that little cage . .
Den anceps with lots of little flowers, Renate fading out to soft pink now, and the big noid Catt lighting up the place.
Elaine
"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill
At least the Laelia makes up for the Epidendrum secundum not being so graceful! Those upside down blooms always make me smile.
