Thanks Ursula. That gives me some breathing room !!

Another front of some kind is going through and we are stuck with overcast skies and drizzle all day. My company left this morning early and will try to make their way through Tennessee and Kentucky on the way to Indiana. Better them than me. I took five of my best bloomers over to the big Tampa Bay Orchid Society show and sale this morning and have them registered for AOS judging. I'm thinking my huge Dendrobium spectabile has a shot at some sort of prize. It was fun to watch the heads turn as I drug that thing in the door.

With the big boys out of the way I had a chance to take some pictures of a few odds and ends out in the OC. First up is C. tenebrosa x Rlc. Chinese Bronze. I wish they would register this one.


Then we have the sponge orchid, aka Vaughnara [Vnra.] Fiftieth Anniversary. It is an old Richard Mueller cross. The buds are all opening nicely. So far so good.


Then there are a couple of little Phals blooming. The first is Phalaenopsis [Phal.] lueddemanniana 'Krull's Red Devil' X self. By the way, I saw Jim Krull at the show this morning setting up his shop.


The other one is Phal. Charm (1987) (Phal. maculata x Phal. cornu-cervi).


Moving to Dendrobiums, this is Den. Nora Tokunaga (Den. atroviolaceum x Den. rhodostictum)


Finally, Den. Green Elf (Den. alexandrae x Den. convolutum). It just keeps putting out new spikes. Great bloomer.


Jim

Good luck, Jim. Lots of pretty and interesting blooms. That Den. Green Elf has really interesting flowers.

Such lovelies there, Jim. The little stripey Phal. Charm is just a cutie.

Darn it, DH is flying out of Tampa, but not until Monday. Hmmm, I wonder if I could convince him to push his departure ahead by a day so I'd have an excuse to drive up there for the orchid show . . . He 'owes' me a new orchid for my birthday.

I thank that's a grand idea, Elaine. Y'all could take in the show and have a nice dinner Sunday, and he can still fly out on Monday.

Missing that Orchid Show would be too bad, Elaine!!

Jim, such a nice display you have here! I love the tenebrosa x and those Phals are really pretty! Good looking Sponge Orchid too!

Love the colors on the sponge orchid - Jim you know that it will forever be known as that to all of us now, right? Vaughnara? Who's that?

We once again missed out entirely on the clouds and the rain, beautiful sunny day down here in sunny Sarasota . .. we could use a good little shower or two about now!

Well, my rainwater containers in the garage are full to the brim from all that snow lately. The greenhouse ceiling was clear today by noon time, and somewhat more moderate temperatures are in the forecast. Things are looking promising.

Thought I share today's update on Lc Rojo -

Oh, just love the color of that one, and it sure has a ton of flowers on each stem as well! What a beauty. The flowers are very similar in shape and markings to my Lc. Blazing Treat but just more red than orange.

Ahh, not too surprising, Lc Rojo is the mommy of Blazing Treat!
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticu...

Wow, I sure hope baby grows up to flower like mommy does! I'm going to start pampering that little guy a lot more, . . well, at least a nice new pot anyway. I see Trick or Treat is the other parent, and I have that one, too.

Turns out the old fellow who had the hobby orchid business down the street here sure had some good taste in orchids! The orphans that have survived for me are all wonderful choices that I knew nothing about when I got them. I was just buying inexpensive babies to try my hand at, and the prices ( $3 to $5 ) were truly a steal. My Iwanagara Apple Blossom, and Lc. Renate are two more I got from his closing sale. Here's Renate just finishing up after at least 2 months of lovely blooms!

Here is Leptotes bicolor not fully open yet, but presentable for blooms. I love it!

That's stunning, Melissa. Just beautiful.

Jim

Elaine, lovely Renate and
Melissa, can I say "gulp" ? That is really nicely bloomed! Mine never ever does that!

Beautiful! My poor little one is just starting to bud.

Hey orchid people! Not much going on here, but I'm going through some old pictures to see if there are things I can add to the database. And I believe this is a Rose Pogonia (Pogonia ophioglossoides) but I wanted to double check before I added it to the database. I took this back on April 22, 2007 in Brooker Creek Headwaters Preserve (not too far from Jim!). As you can tell, my camera was not as good back then! I may have to go looking for them next month. I think I still remember the general vicinity.

Yes, it looks like it. Nice find then. It would be nice to visit this year to take more pictures, surely you would enjoy it.

It looks like I need to get over there. I drive past the place on my way to and from church. Thanks for the heads up, Melanie.

Jim

Jim, I found those on the side you enter off of Lutz Lake Fern. There's a little gate there right across from Angel Lane, I believe it's called. I just checked Google Maps and I'm pretty sure that's it. There's a fire hydrant right there, too. I had to walk a little ways in to get to them, but they were on that side.

It is Springtime here in NJ! The thermometer hit 50 degr F today and I saw my first Robin of the season!!