It sure does look the same, Jim.

I love the Kodama, Ursula. I have a single plant left and it is in sheath. I have grown it for 3+ years from a tiny seedling, but it is due to be shipped out this week. I won't ever see mine bloom. The lady has promised to send me pictures when it blooms though. That's as close as I will come to enjoy the flowers.

I wish I could send you the scent along with it, Ken!

One day there may be an App for that, Ursula. I guess then I'll have to get a smart-phone.

Jim,
to my untrained eye it looks darn close..are the leaves close in appearance as well?
I went back to the Tampa Orchid Expo today..to look for plants for my sister...sadly,
all of the ones she coveted were gone...
I saw this budget buster... and wanted it soo badly...






maybe I should have stuck around until the show closed for the weekend and gotten a good bargain?

Mean while back in reality at the orchid bench...another new plant from my wish list has bloomed...it has 3 spikes!
psychopsis Kalihii alba

Just got my e-mail invite from Plantio la Orquidea for their annual Open House coming up the weekend after next. They have some really great Schomburgkias, Lindsay and the prices are more reasonable than at a show.

Yes, that looks like a Schomburgkia tompsoniana you left on the table there, Lindsey. It's a great orchid. By the way, Rafael will be the guest speaker at our club meeting next February and will bring plants to sell. Nice alba Psychopsis and three sequential blooming spikes make it super.

I was at the Expo for a few minutes this afternoon to pick up my show orchids. I won a 2nd place ribbon for Bc. Memoria Bernice Foster and a third place ribbon for Bc. Marg Putman. There were lots of nice orchids there.

One of the vendors at the Expo was from Apopka and I really liked her plants. Her place is called Orchids in Bloom and the address is 2001 Rock Spring Rd. It is just past Krull-Smith. She seems eager to sell, unlike Charlie Chapman, where it was like pulling teeth to get an orchid out of there no matter what you were willing to pay.

Jim

We have visitors from Vancouver here this week, and we went to Selby today. So these blooms are not mine, but we sure enjoyed them. Seems the theme in their orchid house was blue and purple today, as there was also a blues concert going on in the gardens. Dozens of those lovely V. Pachara Delights in bloom, amongst other lovelies:


How about the name on this one??

These two Dens had relatively small flowers but the plants were both mounted on tree trunks and were around 4ft. high from top to bottom, maybe several plants of the same variety, I guess.


Last one was just a really huge, floofy Catt that smelled wonderful, but I couldn't find a tag.

Nice blooms, everyone!

We took two of the MBG Vandas back this weekend. Here is V. Sansai Blue 'Blue Moon' AM/AOS. It is a nice mericlone and has bounced back very well. I divided the plant back in June to help it grow better and it promptly put out bloom spikes about 2 months ago. There are a total of 3 spikes on the two divisions. It had a bad attack of thrips, which took some aggressive treatment, but I got them gone before they got to the spikes.


Elaine, that floofy Catt is probably C. Dinard. It has the most wonderful spicy/sweet scent.

Is this your C. Dinard, Elaine? If so, she is C. Dinard 'Blue Heaven' HCC-AM/AOS.

I've always liked V. Sansai Blue and yours looks great, Melissa. It may well be the Vanda in Elaine's pictures.

Another big Catt is opening in the OC. This is (Rlc. Steve Stevenson x Rlc. Drew Simon Smith)


Jim

Beautiful and interesting flowers, all of you.

If I still lived on the Gulf Coast, the weather today would be typical of a tropical storm. We have had over 2" of rain in the last 24 hrs. and the winds today are 25 mph, gusting to 55 mph. I have had to deal with plants blowing down and off tree-shelf perches. I have had fits with all my plumeria and had to re-stake and then re-wire them all to hold them upright. This weather pattern is supposed to continue without much break for another 48 hrs.

Sure looks similar, Ken, but sadly that one's not mine but growing at the botanical garden where we visited yesterday.

I do think it's going on my 'wish list' though. Such a huge gorgeous flower. After I recover from the open house at Rafael's and our next Apopka trip, maybe I'll be able to afford to buy one, or . . . well I could put it on my list for the kids to buy me one for Xmas. They love it when I send them a bunch of links for orchids I would like. Ready made, unique gifts for b'days, holidays and Mother's day with just a click of a mouse.

Looks like we'll be getting some showers out of the tail end of that weather system, too. That's good because it hasn't rained here for at least 10 days.

There you go, Elaine. I sold my last 'Blue Heaven' yesterday and it ships out tomorrow. I have had to bring almost 2 dozen orchids into the greenhouse today, getting soaking wet while doing so. I had hoped to ship some of them out this AM. They are all water-logged and I don't like to ship soggy plants. I have a couple of fans blowing gently across them all so that they will dry out some.

Lovely blooms, Elaine. Must have been fun to walk through Selby.
I would love to know though who ever picked the Genus name Cahuzacara/Wthacara to say it gently.....

Melissa, great job growing those Vandas!!

Jim, interesting shade on your pretty Catt!

Ken, hang in there. Patricia is supposed to bring us a bit of rain on Wednesday.

I'm off to sing at a nursing home now. Orchid club meeting tomorrow and I have seven ready for the bloom table. Choir practice Thursday and we're off to St. Louis on Friday.

Jim

Have fun, Jim!

Oh, yes, enjoy!

Have a safe trip Jim! I leave on Halloween for a week with my Grandma in Oklahoma...I get back late on the 7th so I guess I'm going to miss Rafael's sale this time. You could tell him I said hello, though!
I love the pastel-y colors on that catt!

I've been checking out my plants and it seems like a lot of the bloom sheath's on a bunch of my catt's are duds! Could that be because of the wet weather we've had all summer? I've lost at least 6 orchids! Even though I moved them all onto the porch at the end of July, I think I waited a little too long. I'm sad about the whole thing, and every time I find another pot with a dead orchid in it I get more sad.
I lost one of my all time favorites, that I've had for YEARS...I don't even know what it was cause it was one of the plants my son 'cleaned up' (by removing all the tags)when he was little...but the psuedobulbs looked like small (big marbles, small goldf ball sized) green round balls, with a new one every year. I'm not sure it ever bloomed, but I just loved those balls sitting in the pot!

These were all BS plants, Patty, and not seedlings?

Your Spring- flowering Cattleyas will put out a sheath in the Fall and then many of them dry up that sheath, given you the perception that the budding aborted. Do check if they had bloomed previously in the Spring, then this would be normal.