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The thread "Our Orchid blooms in April 2016" in Orchids forum

We had a great month filled with wonderful blooms and interesting discussions and here is now May 1. and with that a new thread!
Please all join in!
I am starting with another spike on my C. intermedia orlata 'Sendai'. The plant received a bit too much sun and looked slightly desiccated. I moved it already to a more protected spot and watered plenty and the leaves are plumping up.

The Dendrobium distichum looks somewhat like a smaller Den anceps, but the tiny blooms appear at the tip of the growth.

My Iwanagaara /Jackfowlieara Appleblossom finally starts up with three spikes this year. (This one really needs a good repotting after it is done blooming.)

and in afternoon light

I am smitten with this cute Bulbophyllum falcatum 'Standing Tall' AM/AOS. I had picked this one up last year from New World Orchids, a vendor more known for Neofinetia falcata. Nice two-tone tiny blooms along the rachis.

And one more update on the Asctm ampullaceum, now the other side of the plant is loaded with spikes. Happy!

What a great start of the month of May, Ursula. You sure have an array of unusual and interesting plants. Those tiny blooms are real cuties. I love the Appleblossom.

Nice start to May, Ursula. I just love the little Bulbo flowers, too. Appleblossom is such a classic beauty with the combination of soft colors.

I have one, not even sure it's an orchid but the flowers do look like orchids. Anyone know what this is? I found it growing 'wild' beside one of the beds at the school garden last spring. Brought it home and plunked it in a pot then more or less forgot about it. I do recall seeing it having leaves last summer, a sort of fan, like an amaryllis would have but the leaves were pointed.

The spike is over 2ft. tall but the flowers are barely 1/2in. across. The bulb looks like a large tulip bulb. There are no leaves right now.

Can I transplant my Stanhopea into a basket lined with coconut fiber? I could use long-fibered, sphagnum moss instead if that would be better. I have never had an orchid that had its inflo. grow from the bottom of the plant and downward rather than from the top and upward.

Keep in mind that Stanhopeas like lots of water an a nice shady spot. I wouldn't put coconut fiber under this plant. I usually put moss under mine.

Jim

Please explain the "no coconut fiber", Jim. Is it because the fiber doesn't retain moisture as well as or as long as sphagnum moss? Do you not grow yours in an orchid media (bark-based)? I have started adding chopped up sphagnum moss to my bark mixes to increase moisture retention for those plants that like a more moist media. I was just thinking of something to line my basket with. I can use a wire (more open) or wood (more closed) basket.

Thanks for starting the new thread, Ursula. You always have such interesting and lovely blooms!

My oncidiums are very late to bloom this year, but they're putting on a show just the same. I got a start of these from my aunt many years ago, she called them Dancing Ladies. Despite my haphazard care, they just keep growing and blooming every year. Some of the easiest plants I've ever had!

What A beautiful display those make, Ibis!

Oh my, Ibis, they are just gorgeous! What a Show!

Elaine, somehow that mystery plant rings a bell, but I don't recall what it was.

Ursula you sure have a lot of pretty ones! I love the den and the bulbo! I go for some of those stranger blooms! Colors on the Appleblossom are very Easter-y! Are the blooms as chocolaty colored in person as in the photo's?

Ibis, your dancing ladies are awesome, and really brighten up that spot under the trees! I have one that a friend gave me that does pretty well but every time I try to divide it, the division dies on me. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.

Elaine, maybe you should drag that plant to the meeting tomorrow night and see if Jim or Roy know what it is. It does look like an orchid bloom....

I have a few things blooming:







I love the way the sun was lighting up this den this morning!

Ursula, your C. intermedia orlata 'Sendai'. is BEAUTIFUL!
'Standing Tall' cracks me up..there's a similar one at the University of S. FL greenhouse and
for some reason, I smile when I walk by it!

Ken, I suspect you want to use moss instead of the coconut fiber because the flower spike wouldn't be able to penetrate the bottom of the basket..

Ibis, that is one happy dance troupe you've got going on at your house...a regular chorus line!

Patty, GREAT color on your Ascda...love that sunny hue.. and that rum punch vanda is stunning!

Thanks, everyone. Sphagnum it is then. I have several baskets already lined with it.

Patty, your photos are beautiful - the one with the wasp on the buds has so much detail, even the water droplets shine. Love that orange vanda - really catches your eye. The sun shining through the dendrobium flowers makes it look almost like stained glass. So pretty!

Patty, I love your show!!
Are you asking about the color on my Bulbo? If yes, it is indeed that chocolate color. I love the yellow and brown contrast.

About your cute Asctm miniatum - I have never ever come across a true Asctm miniatum, it is most of the time Ascocentrum garayi or something similar.
For a while I was on a quest to find a true miniatum. As soon as it bloomed, there it was, another garayi. Looking at your plant and seeing a straight lip/ it is not recurved as in miniatum and there is no veining in your blooms. I am pretty confident, yours is not miniatum, but most likely garayi.

@dyzzypyxxy
Elaine, could this be your plant?
http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/G...

Awww, thank you Ibis...I like to tinker around with photography as well (but I've yet to spend time reading the 'encyclopedia' that came with the camera, or the one that came with the Lightroom program either...so I pretty much point, and shoot, and if I like it I keep it.)

Ursula, no, I was asking about the unopned buds of the appleblossom! They look deliciously chocolaty brown in the photo's...

Ummm, thanks for the info on the miniatum (or not). How would I know which it is...or what a garayi is...what should the tag read? Veining...recurved lips...I don't have any idea! Just tell me what to put on the new tag please....

This might be a little off 'bloom' topic but it's been an interesting week in my garden and I thought I'd share with all my orchid friends! I think it will henceforth be known as Critter Week!

Edited by Ursula -
I deleted these pictures here, but Patty was kind enough to repost her very interesting pictures into a new thread called Critter Week.

The thread "Critter Week" in Orchids forum

Thanks Patty!

OK, you two (or anyone else). Tell me what my Ascocentrum Mona Church is. The cross is miniatum x ampullaceum. At least that what I have written down. By the way, Asctm. is now Vanda.

5/12/15

A reverse snow-bird owl, huh? That's so neat. We have some that hoots all the time, but I have never seem any of them.

Patty, I love your pictures, but could we please set the cute animals free in one of our more appropriate threads? What else do we grow etcetc?.
I would relabel your miniatum as Vanda garayi, as this is now the accepted name.

Ken, I also have Mona Church, i am leaving the tag exactly as is. Who knows what the hybridizer hybridized!

I surely can't know. It is a cute lil' miniature though and blooms twice a year.