Ursula, your Tubecentron Niu Girl IS CUTE! The way it's lit , I'm reminded of those old fashioned sugared violets...and Tutankamen 'Pop' is so dark and sultry...beautiful!
I've got a couple of things that opened overnight.. the recently liberated from the Tamiami show
C. Purple Cascade 'Fragrant Beauty'


and the very generous bloomer...second round since September ....C. Love Castle 'Kuren'

Very pretty, both of them! The Love Castle is nicely appropriate now for February!

Gleni said:
Elaine, I am having trouble photographing them well. For some reason the camera keeps on concentrating on the background leaving the flowers out of focus even though it is set on macro. Just now, I put a kitty litter tray behind and tried again. A bit better.

Gleni that's beautiful! Try using the macro setting. If you don't have macro setting, you can try taking a picture from a distance until the focus is on the flower then move closer, making sure the focus is still on the flower.

Ursula must be nice to have gorgeous blooms all year round.

with Ursula but am fascinated with the purple cascade.

I think I have some Purple Cascade seedlings but mine are Lc. Purple Cascade 'Shang Beauty'. I wonder if the Lc. has been changed to C.?

Ken,
Jim is on close terms with the Boffins that are in charge of identity confusion amongst the orchid family...he gets all the memo's that must come out daily. When I post in the other thread that I recently purchased 10 plants..he generally lets me know that 9 ( or more likely) 10 of the labels are wrong. This one used to be a Lc...

Yep, it is now Cattleya [C.] Purple Cascade

Pretty blooms, Lindsey, especially the C. Love Castle 'Kuren'.

Beautiful show, Ursula!

Jim

I'm enjoying the big game. It's halftime now.

Jim

Don't miss all the fun music, though Jim. There are flowers on the field right now!

Bored.

So far, the Intel ad has been the big winner for me, but that last one for Jeep was pretty neat, too.

The halftime show was pretty colorful, great dancing and not bad in the music department, I thought.

Lady GaGa was the big surprise for me; her red eye shadow was a bit much but she nailed the National Anthem. That was a first.

I liked the reverse umbrella flowers the best!

Yeah, they were really pretty weren't they. Too bad they really didn't put on much of a football game for those lower life forms that were watching for other than the "real" entertainment.

Alice, I liked Lady GaGa's national anthem pretty well too. She sure can sing and the fact that she limited the over-the-top costume thing to just red eye shadow showed a little respect, too. I just kind of wish they wouldn't make it into a performance, though, so that the crowd can't really sing along. People like to sing the anthem, so I think it should be sung straight up, like a march (which I think it originally was anyway).

I'll always remember the anthems at the Stanley Cup hockey finals in Vancouver a few years ago where the famous opera singer (an imposing bearded fellow) got up to sing O Canada, started off and sang maybe half of the first verse until the whole crowd was well into it, then just conducted like a choir leader for the whole rest of the anthem. It was a beautiful thing, and when all's said and done, it's supposed to be that way. jmho.

Unlike most anthems ours is an impossible melody and difficult to sing. Usually it is painful to listen to the anthem at these events. Often the performers get so overly dramatic and way off the rails but she was more than decent to listen to. I did get a kick out of her shoes. Big ugly platforms, and one was sparkly blue and the other was red and white stripes. Who dresses these people????

Yep, she's known for wild costumes at her concerts, so that was very conservative for her.

To justify hijacking the thread, here's my Bl. Punakea with now four flowers open.

Looking good, Elaine!

that's a pretty one Elaine...do you remember where it came from? It might have to go on my wish list
Despite being cooped up on the rolling rack in the dining room...shoved up against the only light source in the house, a sliding patio door...and having the vent for the ineffective heat pump blowing directly on it..buds are opening. Here's Bc. Marg Putman 'Doris' it opened the other day but it's coloring is so subtle that I had trouble getting a decent exposure on it.


This plant last came in bloom in October.

'Doris' is a beauty, Lindsey. You can sure see its graceful Brassavola parentage in the shape.

May I suggest you throw a wet towel over the rolling rack for the night? It will bump up the humidity for the plants and block the warm air blowing right on them. I have wet towels and damp laundry hanging all around the house at the moment to keep the humidity up.

Punakea came from the "orphanage" along the street - an old fellow who had a small cottage business growing orchids had to go to a nursing home, and his son was selling off all his orchids at phenomenal prices. I'm sure I brought home at least 30 small plants and a few big ones from there. Sadly, I was still struggling up the steep part of the learning curve, and lost a number of those babies before they had a chance but I still have probably a dozen survivors.