Right back at you and what a happy picture that is. I think anyone who loves plants has a lot to be thankful for.

Jim, I was never happier than when my kids moved from Northern VA to Jacksonville. We had way too many visits marred by snow and ice. Stay warm.
alice

Happy Gobble Gobble Day to all of you here too!🦃

I think my brother-in-law is entrenched here. We seem to be quite different from each other.

37 degrees out there this morning and the local news is bragging about the nice weather. " We are having the best weather in the country" the local weather clown said on TV yesterday.

I think us orchid growers have plenty to be thankful for so happy Thanksgiving my friends!

Jim

And here we have Blc Victoria 'Bluebird' almost fully open. Have to still look it up in the RHS.
This one was one of the plants I spotted walking through the Ecuagenera greenhouse at our visit in 2013. I was able to buy a small piece and they sent it to me that Fall.


And in afternoon light yesterday

Oh, what a beauty, Ursula. I'll see yours and raise you a perfumed Lou Sneary 'Blue Bird', a newly opening Yellow Bird and to my great surprise, a whole new flush on Bc. Punakea. Here's hoping the other spikes open before we leave for our dive trip to the Caymans. Oh well, my house sitter will enjoy them anyway.





Our sympathies on the 'best weather' farce, Jim. That's the spin doctors trying to make the best of it. I was just out taking these pictures in my t-shirt and capris, but it's a little cool and breezy - a long sleeved t-shirt would be comfortable this morning too. A little more humidity making the orchids happy though.

Elaine, just gorgeous!

A very nice show here on Thanksgiving day. I love the color on Victoria ,Bluebird'. I can see why you were attracted to it. Elaine, the Lou Sneary is easy on the eyes as are Yellow Bird and Punakea. All have the Brassavola shape.

Jim

Wow Ursula!..what a difference a few hours makes with the blooms of your Blc Victoria 'Bluebird' ..either way..it's gorgeous!
Jim...my deepest sympathies...the most horrible thing going on in Wesley Chapel is the breeze...a top heavy NOID jumped off the bench ...broke the pot , but the plant just bounced off into the Mexican petunia patch....I decided to divide it while I was in the repotting process. It had lots of new roots..just an inch or so in length so I don't expect much sulking from them.
Elaine, I'm totally loving your Lou Sneery...and the cute freckles on the Yellow Bird are adorable!
One of my $3.00 NOID Onc. opened today...I think it will make a nice hostess gift to my neighbors that have invited me to their Italian family Thanksgiving.

Lovely, Lindsey. I have that same little Onc. blooming right now, too. Those flowers last for a long, long time!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Y'all have such gorgeous blooms going on right now! Love them ALL!!!

After a couple of fairly chilly days here, the windows are now open again to a simply beautiful 73F. Couldn't ask for better!
My 'Dancing Ladies' have been putting on a good show for me. Really like this one. "She" seems to keep going for weeks, and weeks....

Enjoy the day!

Cheery Oncies, what not to like!!

Tara, your dancing lady has the floofiest skirt...what a cutie!
I gave the little Onc. to my Thanksgiving hostess...I thought she was going to have
a heart attack ..worrying about killing it. After about 5 minutes of trying to talk her
down off the ledge..I just gave up and said ' SUSAN...I paid $3.00 for it...dont worry!"

I would have told her I paid $40 for it and watched her jump. Extra pie is a good thing.

Jim

Evil Jim, downright evil. (plus, I don't want to hear the words "extra pie" right now, for sure!! )

Y'know Lindsey, if you'd given her cut flowers, she wouldn't have worried about killing them . . . well, they're already dead essentially, right? Why worry about an orchid whose blooms will last a LOT longer than cut flowers. It's puzzling. Orchids are certainly being sold as disposable flowers everywhere, anyway.

So, she can always rush it over to your house for triage when it gets to critical condition. But you watch, 10 years from now you'll visit her and there it will be hanging in a tree in her yard with 17 spikes of flowers on it.

I went to the gym today...and spent 55 minutes on the rowing machine..keeping my heart rate above 135....and am happy to report that despite all the ravioli..eggplant parmesan and tiraramasu ..I did not gain any weight!!
Elaine, you are SO right...If I had shown up with one of those $40. supermarket bouquets of chrysanthemum and fake autumn leaves..she would have been...oh..how beautiful! thank you!
I'm going to have to figure out some windscreen for my benches...pots have been jumping off the cliff like crazy...maybe theres a way to wire the pot to the bench? hmmmm ...I'll have to put my thinking cap on

It has been awfully windy for days and days now, hasn't it! Luckily most of mine are hanging now.

How 'bout a nice backsplash of lattice material across the backs of a couple of the benches, Lindsay? At least if there's one that faces south you could lattice the north side of it. That would give you some place to fasten the pots to when it's windy, and would also give you a framework to fasten frost cloth to when you need to cover your orchids for our (rare but chilly) winter "cold front" nights.

I use bulldog clips from the office supply store to make my frost cloth tents. Lattice is just the right thickness to fasten a bulldog clip to.

Ceratostylis rubra or retisquama has blooming for weeks now! I thought I post it again, I am enjoying the plant.

And Bc Binosa 'Tetraploid 'opened the last spike of the season

Lindsey, can the nice fellow who built you those beautiful benches, fashion you a nice backing? I like Elaine's suggestion.

Love the Ceratostylis, as always Ursula. You can post pictures of it every day as far as I am concerned.

The Binosa has an awfully pretty dotty lip.

I'm planning to fertilize everything tomorrow before we leave for Grand Cayman. Let's hope the "cold" fronts stay north of us for a week at least. The forecast looks good so far . . nothing below 55deg. Will check in while I'm there but not sure if I'll be able to post pictures of orchids, if any. Seems most of the orchids at their Botanical gardens are springtime bloomers.

Thanks.
I hope any cold front will stay to the North of us too!!
Elaine, you will surely have a splendid time! Have fun!