That's what we get for visiting those darned orchid orphanages . . . like going to the SPCA - you're bound to come home with a puppy or kitten.

Beautiful new babies Lindsey - and only one is a Rum Punch, too! I love the nice frilly red on Blc. Fort Watson 'Mendenhall ' .

And wait! You say Krull-Smith was actually selling bare-root plants? No more gravel.

Only 12 more days, Ted, then they'll be jumping into your arms too....and mine.

There were soooooo many temptations there today...I would have liked to have spent more time with the folks that had nice bare root divisions..but only one vendor had photos (Krull Smith) the rest would have involved an internet search of each name, 30 minutes after the doors opened , it was already too crowded to get through the aisles.
Elaine, I definitely want to go to Plantio's open house November 4th & 5th..I will probably take a pass on the Tropiflora open house on Sept. 30th.

Back to the painted cactus for a minute. They are real live living plants that have been somehow colored. Like the Phalaenopsis that show up in vivid colors every year holiday.

Costa Farms, the 'inventor' of Desert Gems Cacti are dyeing the spines. The ones in your photo are Mammillaria vetula ssp gracilis - Arizona Snowcap - but there are Opuntia (prickly pear) also. As the cactus bodies aren't dyed, the plants eventually grow out of the dyed part and become normal looking cactus again.

Other nurseries are spray painting barrel cactus. These plants can't photosynthesize and end up dead. And then there are all those cactus with strawflowers hot glued to their heads.

But consumers don't seem to mind because we live in a throw away world. How many orchids do you suppose get thrown out when they stop blooming?

Don't get me started. Oh wait, you already have.

Yep, you're so right about the "throw away" part, Daisy. Probably half those Phals they sell everywhere end up getting tossed, maybe more.

Must be dozens of posts over the past few years on our little forum here saying "I found this orchid in the trash and brought it home". So some get adopted, and some may actually live to bloom again and grow up into beautiful mature plants.

Wish we could start up the SPCP - Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Plants. But . . . here we are just trying to educate the public, one orchid lover at a time.

Daisy...I had totally forgotten about the cactus plants with the straw flowers glued to their heads...they sold like HOT CAKES in my 3 NC Lowe's stores! When I walked past this display and quickly took the photo...I didn't really look at the plants to see if they had been spray painted or what..but now with your comment..I am getting a scary ( and a very ugly) mental image..of the old lady with white hair that has it dyed red....and REALLY needs to go to the salon!
During my 3 years working in the garden center I met many people that didn't know where to begin with growing plants..I would steer them to the easy..pothos..snake plant..philodendron group and usually they would come back months...even years later to tell me that it was still going strong. The folks that gravitated to the glued on strawflower...or this fluorescent monstrosity...didnt care if it was real or not...it fit the decor..or was 'new'...or 'different'.

I, personally can't stand the phony appearance of them. That being said there are laws about false advertising, and I think that's what the growers are doing if they don't state clearly on the tag what to expect. Not everyone carries a tablet with them to do the research.

Lindsey, that is a really nice haul!!
The years I used to drive into New York City for an Orchid Show - first at the World Trade Center and then in later years at Rockefeller Center, where I always went by myself, I had to park a couple of blocks away. I truly could only buy as much as I could carry. Weightlifting as preparation seemed like a good idea in those years.....I don't know how I managed sometimes to get that stuff to the parking garage.

Regarding the Cacti, I saw this week a whole shipment of these Cacti with fake flowers at Home Depot! Awful !!

I haven't been to HD this week, but if they have those here, in the land where lawns are giving way to cactus, I will be surprised. Not pleasantly!

Just as I was making plans to go to Tropiflora on Sep 30th, Lindsey is pulling the plug. I may have to drive down by myself. It wouldn't be the first time. I have probably pitched 70 or so orchids and Rafael's selection of Schomburgkias and Brassavolas are just what I'm looking for.

Jim

Oh well, I'll get to see Lindsey in November, and you can ride with her to that one - Plantio's open house.

I need to throw out another half dozen or so of my 'slackers' but I just haven't had the heart. Everybody put on new growth after the storm last week. You'd think I wasn't watering enough or something . . !

I spent the day cutting the top out of the tibouchina tree. Now I have to wait until the yard dries out a bit so I can drive the truck back there and try to pull it upright.

Jim

Ohh, I like that you can save the Tibouchina!!

Might want to save a few cuttings, Jim. If the Tibby doesn't survive being pulled upright - or if we get another windy storm you'll have a new start to replace it with. If it DOES survive, you have friends who would love a start of that nice one.

How about the mango tree? They're pretty resilient - we moved ours from our other house when it was about 12ft. tall. Might need a fair amount of thinning to keep it from thrashing around in the wind until it gets rooted again.

The mango tree roots didn't pull out of the ground so it is just a matter of pulling it upright and staking it. The tibouchina' root ball is tilted with half of it above ground level. I'll have to dig under those roots before pulling it upright. Almost all of the foliage was removed today so I am dealing with just trunk and limbs to about 10 feet tall.

Jim

Jim, do you think it was the full canopies that caused the trees to go over? I've seen Japanese maples where the canopies were so full they acted like a kite and caught the wind and went over. Being on the lake, you probably have a high water table/shallow roots too.

Yes, Alice, the tibouchina was 20 feet tall and all of the flowers and foliage were at the very top. I have cut all of that off so pretty well have a 10 foot high nicely branched but bare tree. The mango tree is dense from top to bottom. The roots are still nicely in the ground so it is just a matter of propping it up.

Jim

Sounds like you've got everything under control over there in Odessa..fingers crossed that your tibouchina re groups . I spent the morning digging up some of the hateful and oh-so-invasive purple Mexican Petunia that one of my tenants thoughtfully planted at the edge of the patio. It probably started as a $4.95 plant and now occupies close to a quarter of an acre! I am making room for one more bench and (hopefully) handyman Steve will be able to get a roof over the patio and bench area for me ..soon!
Elaine...Krull-Smith still has the gravel mix and all of their in bloom plants were in that...the bare root pieces were nice size 4-5 pbulbs for $15.00. They had about 6 varieties of bare root Catts..I'll have to look up the name of one of their plants that I bought last year...and might have re bought at this show...the tag name is similar and I am hoping that Jim will tell me it's a different named variety!..otherwise , it'll go to my sister..always an appropriate hostess gift!

I am getting ready for one ( JUST ONE!) new 6' bench!

Looking good, Lindsey. Best of luck with the project!

Jim