Nice set-up Ursula and Lindsey, it is nice to see a private collection put a nursery to shame some of these nurseries need some lessons from you all.

On side note, since my budget is very limited, o don't think I will have as many orchids as you guys have. I'm seeing serious $ in your collections, so I will just admire the pictures

I agree!

Nice to have you join the club, Gigi!

New bloom open today on the big NOID cattleya, naturally it is facing backwards and I only saw it when I walked outside the cage:


Almost there on the Cinnamon Stick, but it's raining and cool now. Maybe tomorrow.

I got into Orchids about 25 years ago, so perhaps I have a head start....

Pretty one, Elaine!!

Not to make you jealous, but is gorgeous here right now, beautiful sunshine and temps in the eighties. I just came in from "playing in the yard"!

I have 5 years into it but nothing close to a fraction of your collection Ursula.

Elaine, I agree looks good. My Catts have sheaths now but still a few months from blooming.

I look at the price of 'sneakers' these days..and think..that's 4 or 5 orchids I could buy!
Make up...another useless waste of money...the VERY expensive support stockings I wore while I was a flight attendant...If I got one days use out of them I was doing well...If I only had a run in one leg...I would cut that off..and combine it with another amputee...and get DOUBLE support !... Many of these plants were just seedlings a few years ago..I still try and buy a mix of plants from seedlings up to near blooming and occasionally, one in bloom. I'm always thrilled when I can get a 'buy one ..get one' deal at the super market because it means more money in the budget for plants, pots and the big ticket item..the mix!
Elaine, your NOID is gorgeous! how typical that it turns it's back on you!...I'm on the edge of my office chair waiting on your Cinnamon Stick...someone posted a beauty on the Florida Orchid Growers FaceBook page the other day..

@prabhisetty just posted these beautiful pictures of the Ansellia africana.
I took the liberty to move it into our monthly bloom thread, perhaps Prabhi might let us in on its true bloom time.

Very pretty!!

Hi,
Posting the images of the blooms of Ansellia African and they are old images.
Prabhi S

We've had drizzle off and on today...Wish it would steadily rain. We're getting desperate for the "wet stuff" here.

My little 'Dancing Lady' has opened up the first of many more to come today.
Gomesa varicosa

Ursula, My Ansellia Africana is starting to bloom now. It has 1spike open and 3 more coming on. There were some in bloom at the show too. edited to say that mine also blooms in Feb. so perhaps this is his winter/spring bloom?

Oh wonderful, Carol! You need to talk to Prabhi!!

So cheerful now, Tara.

Lindsey that's funny, I bought less "stuff" too when I got addicted to plants.

It rained most of the night and all of the morning. It has stopped now but still very overcast. They are calling for 10 to 15 inches of rain in the next few days. I wish I could pipe it out to California. We're just plain soggy here.

That Ansellia African looks a bit like a Grammatophylum scriptum to me. I like it.

Jim

As far as the price of a large collection, for me it's sort of a process of elimination. I buy orchids as cheaply as I can, and grow them on. The survivors will be my collection in a few years and hopefully will be large and lusty plants that have survived all the bugs and diseases my garden can throw at them. I like to try different types to see what works for my conditions. I also like to keep the numbers down to what I can fertilize with one sprayer-full. About 100 plants including a few big bloomers, and mostly small plants still growing. I doubt I'd have as many if we didn't have the easy access to Apopka orchids at reasonable prices.

Ursula has a very large collection of big plants that would cost hundreds of dollars each if you tried to buy them from a grower, but she has grown them for years - earned them, you might say. Jim's the same, although I don't think he's been at it as long as Ursula has.

Got a question for y'all...I have a Corsage Orchid (Rhyncholaeliocattleya Ports of Paradise 'Emerald Isle')

It appears to have 2 sheaths, but they look empty... Is this, or can this be a common occurrence? Or what might I be doing wrong?

Don't worry, Tara. The buds probably just haven't formed yet. Sometimes the sheaths even turn brown and dry, and then the buds develop so don't EVER cut off a sheath until after it has bloomed.

You have lots of sheaths coming along, so you're doing everything right, I would say.

Gigi, orchids are just a fraction of my many plant addictions so I too have far fewer than most here. There is only so much space as I do not have a greenhouse here. We have been considering maybe relocating closer to our FL kids and one of the first things I look for now is a good utilitarian sunroom or a place for a gh.

Dancing Lady is lovely Tara. Take heart, I suspect you will get more than your share of the wet stuff soon. That huge blob on the radar is almost scary.

Oh, ok. I'll leave them be. I didn't know if it was some kind of deficiency in what i was doing. Thanks!
I hope, one day, to be able to show this one off!

Hope so Alice, we are way below where we should be with rainfall. Keeping

Nice Tara and Elaine. I was bit by the orchid bug about 15 years ago, and still have a few of those early plants that are now very large and settled in. I also have a few cacti and Begonias and anything else that catches my eye. It all takes time.

That's normal for the Emerald Isle, Tara. These produce large, beautiful flowers with a wonderful fragrance. I think the last time one of my Emerald Isle's bloomed, it took two months from the start of sheath to the flowers. But when it got to the flowering stage, things really popped quickly. Here's that plant.

You see, I can sometimes get a nice plant going and blooming.

Day 2


Day 5