Chuckle....
No Whattheckaaras for you then?

If that's the case, you better quit paying attention to Jim. He keeps giving you the new/unpronounceable names.

You have looked at this list lately?
https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/...
Some of these names make any tongue twister proud!

What really bothers me is the parts you CAN pronounce all look like the boffins have re-named the orchids after themselves! I maybe mistaken, but . . . there are a lot of new people's names popping up.

My cute little noid Onc from Trader Joe's really shows up better using the flash.

I'm beginning to wonder if these boffins get paid by the letter!

Beautiful blooms, everyone. I'll try to get some pics tomorrow. We are back in the middle of summer here including a big thunder shower in the afternoon. We should be close to breaking out of the heat.

Jim

Yeah it's supposed to cool off Sunday and be drier into Monday and Tuesday!

A big, bad thunderstorm moved through here around 5:30 yesterday afternoon. It looked like Niagara Falls coming off the solarium. We are now 61F and noticeably dry. The high today is only supposed to get up to 67F. We have several nights/mornings of upper 40's coming up. I still can't move a single plant it. They'll just have to suck it up.

45 degr F this morning on the deck and sunny here and supposed to go into the sixties. Perfect Fall weather!
Pretty TJ's noid, Elaine.

Don't worry, Ken. Your oak trees will supply at least a little bit of cold protection for your orchids. The ground is still plenty warm and they will be fine. Guess you couldn't squeeze/pile all the porch furniture into one greenhouse so at least you could use the other one, huh?

We sure are looking forward to that cool front reaching down to here tomorrow! Had a 'teaser' of cool dry air last week and it sure was nice.

I can move the two large Vanda inside but that's about it. I don't want to begin (really) moving anything inside until I can empty the greenhouses and spray the polycarbonate panels, shelving, and flooring down with a bleach solution. I sprayed the outside of the greenhouses with bleach yesterday, so at least their outer shells are clean.

The porcelain tile floor is supposed to be put down Tuesday/Wednesday, and when it is cured and sealed, I can begin moving my work bench and furniture inside the solarium. The painters are supposed to be (mostly) done Monday, sealing the stained ceiling and putting a second coat on all the painted surfaces. The gutters are supposed to be all tied together and downspouts installed so that there will be no more Niagara Falls events on the glass structure. We had a severe thunderstorm yesterday afternoon and you should have seen the cascade of water pouring over the glass roof.

Perhaps you can place a large Carboy under a spout to collect that rainwater! Add a compressor and you can water your Orchids against the glass without getting salt deposit on those gorgeous shiny glass panels.

Around here a couple of Darwinaras / Vandachostylis are starting up - this is Darwinara Charm 'Blue Star'

And Darwinara Walnut Valley (2007)

So right, Ursula. I was going to suggest a rain barrel, too. Don't know if Ken can handle yet another addition to his new project though. I'm sure he is taking a break and watching football today.

The Darwinaras are delightful - look a lot like voilets, I think. Carter and Holmes has those little guys on sale this weekend.

Elaine, years ago at work I used to see the gardeners driving around with their huge plastic Carboy on a truck watering and fertilizing the landscape! Somehow Ken's description just made me visualize something similar, especially as we collect the rainwater coming over the greenhouse roof into the raingutter routed into the garage into large containers. I have then the option of pressurizing one of the containers to be used outside in Summer or, with the help of a vacuum pump, fill another container located upstairs next to the entrance of the greenhouse. Watering with rain water made easy.
But yes, surely nothing now to think about.....

I'm right with you, can't stand to see rainwater just flowing away and I have to catch as much of it as I can. I have 5 rain barrels and two 600-gal. cisterns out behind my husband's shop, and still I'm running around placing watering cans under all the various drips . . .

That's a lot of water!

Yep, and 3 weeks' dry weather uses it all up, too. The fatal flaw with collecting rain water is that when it doesn't rain, that's when you use it up and don't get any more . . .

Ursula...love your Darwinara ...really pretty!
I am hoping to get a rain barrel with the next handy man visit... he doesn't normally
work with gutters..but is so sweet and accommodating ...fingers crossed! Today he
built me 3 orchid benches from photos that I had pulled off the internet...I could not
be any happier! These are all 8' long x 2' wide and made out of pressure treated wood..
so should last a few years!






there's about 33 inches between the lower shelf and the upper shelf, so I should be able to put
as many of the big Cat's as I want, along with the oncidium family that I'm so fond of!

Awarded today at the St. Louis, MO judging center, Phalaenopsis hieroglyphica var alba 'Mahvelously Yellow' 81pt AM/AOS; 88pt CCM/AOS. Woot!

I got to count the flowers and inflorescences! 158 flowers, 6 buds, 28 inflorescences.