Yep, we should have shut down the school garden last week while the weather was cool. Cooked our brains yesterday clearing out the beds with the kids and have to go back tomorrow to finish up. arg.

We got 4 of the 8 beds cleared, and one with the plastic on for the summer. Compost is full already . . . hope the rain started it really working, but it really wasn't that much.


My big raft of 'maybe Yellow Bird' is going to put on a show. Sure hope it gets busy this week because I'm taking off for Salt Lake next week to plant my kids' gardens. It's working on about 6 spikes, and the last few times it's done this, all the flowers have blasted. I hope I've taken care of whatever the problems are, and I think the spider with his web on that first flower will help, too.

I was out in it finishing up the mulch yesterday too. Hot it was!! Glad that it is finished as I am inside today preparing a presentation on the OC construction. By the way, the newspaper article came out today and here is a link: http://lakerlutznews.com/lln/?... It does not show all of the pictures but the verbiage is there. In fact, the picture it does show was not in the paper (and that is a good thing).

Jim

You are famous, Jim!!! Very nice article!!

Elaine, the maybe Yellow Bird looks great!!

Perhaps y'all will get some of the cold front that moved in last night. At 6:30 AM it was 58 F and there was brisk north wind blowing. I had to switch to long sleeves and jeans. It was downright chilly.

Don't we wish, Ken! It's not forecast to dip down this far, sadly. Tampa had a record high yesterday of 95 before the thunderstorms rolled through. More of the same predicted for the rest of this week.

Usually in summer, the clouds appear before it gets too hot, but that pattern hasn't set up just yet, so yes, it's really hot for us tender perennials here.

Nice article, Jim and the picture is just fine.

drdawg said:Amen to that, Fred. Now IF someone could put a name with the orchid.

You mean my chocolate smeller? I thought everybody would recognize Oncidium Sharry Baby 'Red Fantasy'. They're all in bloom now at my place.

I have some new blooms in the OC. First is Grt. Why Not (Gur. aurantiaca x Bro. sanguinea).



Old reliable Rby. Golden Tang (Rlc. Waikiki Gold x Bc. Richard Mueller).



First time bloomer Encyclia [E.] tampensis (alba X semialba). I was interested in knowing what this would look like.


And finally Bc. Hippodamia (B. nodosa x C. aclandiae)


Jim

great article

Jim, I love that Bc. Hippodamia !!! My Encyclia tampensis are also blooming, not sure if they are the Alba x semialba but they kinda look like that...Will inspect closely today.

I didn't realize the Hippodamia gets to be a cute rambler! Why Not is always a charmer!
Nice stuff in bloom, Jim!

My C schilleriana has now three blooms open. I took it inside yesterday with my other blooming plants as we had a chilly night here. ( I left the spiking Vandas in the cage, they were hopefully well protected in there)

I love that coloration, Ursula. I need to see if I can find a (wholesale) source for these.

Back out in the OC today and found three more bloomers. First up is Myrmecophila [Mcp.] exaltata (formally a Schomburgkia). It is mounted on a 6 X 12 inch piece of cedar and has two spikes, each about three feet long.


I first thought this was big George but lo, it is C. Canhamiana (C. mossiae x C. purpurata) v. coerulea 'Azure Skies AM/AOS.


And lastly, Den. Burana Greenstar (Den. Burana Green x Den. Madame Vipa). Lots of buds on this one as it is a large plant.


Jim

I'm glad I took this last group of photos as I noticed the spider mites on the Schomburgkia (last pic). They've been dealt with.

Jim

I love them all, Jim, but I can't wait to see some of my Mcp. bloom. I have the Mcp. wallisii 'The Bob' and the Mcp. grandiflora.

Such an unusual Dendrobium, I like it very much!! I am smitten with the Canhamiana!

What would we ever do if we never ever find some bugs on our Orchids! I think I would faint! I am now done moving my plants outside and I found my share of brown scale and Boisduval scale. I got busy with the Horticultural oil, that worked pretty well. Not sure how well the Bayer stuff worked as I still saw some scale after using it.

Just love the color combo on your pretty Schomburgkia, Jim. A very classy looking flower.

We finally have a meaningful rain shower going over, c/w plenty of thunder and lightening. It has actually rained nicely for at least 20 minutes! Guess I will get to test out my "thunderstorm orchid" and see if it puts out some more blooms after this.

Heh, send some of that wet stuff here!! For my pond and the Thunderstorm Orchid!!

Two out of three spikes are now open on my Den aggregatum/lindleyi and with that here is also a comparison with smaller Den jenkinsii.

The left coast is getting some much needed rain too. Not enough to get us off the endangered species list, but enough to keep the water police at bay for a week. Loving all your photos, but got nothing in the orchid catagory going on here. We're doing late winter...cold and windy. 50s at night and Below 70 days.

Getting much needed rain must sound like music to your ears, Carol!