Heck, Alice, I cannot even remember being 35. About the only thing that I do remember is being carded every time I wanted a beer or a glass of wine. I looked so doggone young back then. No one cards me now.

I would love to come to Florida for the simple reason that i could get some Vandas................*sigh*......................

Anna, if it weren't so cold in WI I would ship some to you...you're probably already shoveling snow there?
Alice, I remember asking my Mom once 'How old do you feel?'..she was in her 80's at that point. and she said..oh..my hips hurt..my eyesight is bad..blah, blah,blah...MOM! ( I said) how OLD DO YOU FEEL? after a brief pause she said..35.
and now, from the bench...something I have been patiently waiting for , for almost a year.. Rby. Haiku Dawn 'Sunshine and Raspberries' finally decides to bloom (it's first).

35 sounds just about perfect!!
Pretty one, Lindsey!

I Sunshine and Raspberries.

LOL, my mother in law used to say "I just don't feel as old as I look."

That really is a lovely one, Lindsey. Reminds me strongly of Frances Fox and will probably survive, too!

Lindsey, I haven't even turned the heat on in the g'house yet! And it was glorious out today, high 60's or low 70's. I'm just thinking if I could buy down there they wouldn't be $40 or higher...........*sigh*.............. Hope that there is no SNOW for at least a month...............

Here is the Vanda I have............it's putting out a bloom spike.

Anna, if it's still that warm up there, take a look at Motes Orchids. www.motesorchids.com They specialize in Vandas and have some good prices. (although watch out, the ones you'll fall in love with can be pricey) I just got a "Florida only" package deal of 12 Vandas for $96 plus shipping so that's only $8 each. That's less than we pay for them on our Apopka runs and they're probably better plants, too.

Martin Motes wrote "The Book" on growing Vandas as well as another great book on growing orchids in Florida and their video is the Sticky one at the top of the list on the Orchids forum.

Elaine, I'd LOVE to get in on THAT deal................unfortunately I do not live in Florida and cannot take advantage of that. *sigh*............

You might want to contact them and see what they've got for "non-Florida" residents though. I'm pretty sure they had an out of state package deal a while back and they might put something together for you.

Elaine.. it is similar to Frances Fox.. without the 2' spike.
Anna, the Apopka vanda are usually $14-$15.. if you want some of the smaller varieties with short roots. I would be happy to ship to you ( we can do PayPal) . Many of the Apopka Vanda plants are MONSTERS... leaves and roots and would not be practical to ship as the boxes would be long and wide. It would be cheaper for you to drive down and load up your SUV!

Lindsey, I cannot seem to find any of those.............can you give me a link?

While Lindsey looks for that link -
these are now the rescued Ornithophora radicans pieces. They seem to have stabilized and they are blooming on schedule and hopefully start adding growth again.

And I would like to see a picture and price of those "Monsters".

Anna, I'm sure that First Orchids does not have a website..they are from Korea and hardly speak English. The monster Vanda plants are usually around 3-4' of leaves and another 3-4' of roots. They are generally labeled with names that can sometimes be found on the internet. I don't know if they sell any of the other smaller plants that are now lumped into the Vanda family...Jim would know. The monsters are sometimes in spike and always $14 or $15 each. I don't think I took any pictures as I was in shock.
Elaine, speaking of Frances Fox..mine is starting to spike!
Ursula, your Ornithophora radicans have settled in quite nicely...

I think I would pay to get one of those here......................

Lowe's had some Vandas the other day, poor things were in terrible shape and hanging in full blazing sun and it was obvious they had not been watered in forever. No labels of course but from the width of the foliage and the large size of the half dead flowers I think they would be considered larger varieties. There were few roots of any size hanging down though. It was so sad. I also noted the "interesting" foliage on these Phals.

Hmmm, very interesting. I've often wondered how those Phals do when they're planted in combination with other plants. They're really pretty boring for the 9 months of the year when they're not in bloom.

This does look a bit weird!

My handyman gave this to me last year after he built my benches..


This is what it looks like now...


I've killed the bromeliad, just about killed the Phal. With crown rot after moving it outside ( I even sat the pot on its side!) the croton and dead twig are doing fine.