Ursula your Rlc Hawaiian Green Valley has what looks like gigantic flowers for the size of the plant! I love BOTH your Chia Lins , I imagine that's a nice fragrant spot in your greenhouse!

Wonderful show Ursula, I love them all. All I have blooming are some Spathoglottis out in the garden. Happily, as I was fertilizing today I discovered a few new spikes coming along.

Elaine, I'm sorry to say...I killed the beautiful Spathoglottis you gave me...

No worries, Lindsey there are lots more where those came from. Lowe's often has them, and in some nice colors, too.

I've killed a few clumps myself, truth be told.

I have never had luck growing them in pots..If I try them again I will put them in the ground and if it gets too cold for too long , I'll just go buy a bag of mulch and throw the whole bag (without cutting it) on the plant to protect them. I feel better now, knowing that I'm not the only Spath killer out there..

Nice to have some blooming Spathoglottis in the garden!! Elaine, these are always pretty!

Around here, yes, the greenhouse smells really lovely, such a contrast to the snowy, chilly outside.

Some days, including yesterday, it still feels a little bit like summer here. Tonight, I think we'll be able to open the windows back up and turn off the a/c again. When you wake up and it's 70deg. outside and foggy, you sure know there's a bundle of humidity around. The orchids love it so I shouldn't complain, but really the weather is SO wonderful most of the time it's easy to get spoiled.

Save some of that warm weather for me, Elaine. I will be there Saturday.

Oh, well, WE got up to almost 30 today. A veritable heat wave..............

My Potinara Hawian Prominence'America'
Had 3 blooms ,two buds aborted because of unusual
Rains we had for December.
Now coming back to the flower is lovely flower but if you
carefully watch you would see linear markings ,thought it was colour brake ,but I am not shure.
Appreciate any comments.
Prabhi S

It's such a wonderful color, Prabhi. Those marks look like they could be thrips (or some other insect) damage, rather than color breaks to me.

It IS a wonderful color , Prabhi!
I agree with Elaine in that it looks like thrips..fingers crossed for luck that
the next round of blooms all look normal.

Barkeria melanocaulon starts up. This one will bloom right into Spring. I started to take some pictures and I tried to get the whole plant into the frame, spikes and roots.

Then I took a closer look at one of the spikes! Well, picture a fat Mealie with sun glasses hanging out with one of those umbrella drinks in a lounge chair!
Sorry, she didn't see the Tsunami coming.....

Geez, Ursula...........rub it in with those roots. LOLOL

It's such a pretty little thing, and nice catch on the mealie. Every time I think it's cool enough to spray the dormant oil it warms up again and I'd have to wash it all off.

I've used SunSpray ultrafine oil during the hot months without any damage. Have you tried that one? I spray oil in the early evening to prevent any sunburn.

I don't have anything new in bloom, but here are a couple of plants that are continuing to open, the C. maxima semi-alba (Lowlands Type) and the Slc. Fire Magic 'Nora'. There is one more bud to open on Nora.

I did contact Equagenera several times about the C. maxima, and another question about ordering from them, but never heard back. I also tried to reach them via their FB page, but again, never got a reply. I made one more attempt to contact them this morning.

Ken, in my limited interaction with them, I find communication isn't their strong point.

So far, I would have to agree, Carol.

Just this moment I got a (sort of) reply from someone there. The reply said that Elizabeth would contact me sometime later today (I imagine she's one of the owners).

In any case, you have some really nice blooms there, Ken.
I guess, my personal interaction was of a slightly different nature. These people are wonderful in person.