Here is a different cym but similar colors opening. I think the form is rounder.

Here's Den. Princess x Den. unicum today. The color is a hair too light. They have an orangey glow.

This sad phal opened today. It's one of my favs though.

This Slc. Mem. Alvin Begeman 'Poet' is full of buds!

Great show, Kathy. Thanks for posting.

Jim

Gracias! Que pasa? Any in bloom there to show, Jim? (Not sure where the Spanish came from.)

I'm very new at Orchids and I am fascinated by the wide variety of plant types here. So many Beautiful ones, my head is swimming with questions.

I have one Blooming Orchid plant to my name. I just bought it about a month ago at a local grocery store. It's a Phalenopsis, and that is all that is on the tag. I don't know the variety name, anyone recognise this one?

I'll start with the basics, Kathy, you said above you have your phalenopsis planted in:

I have it growing in aliflor and sponge rock now

I am wondering just what those two items are, and where would I find them?

Nice one!
I doubt you need aliflor (clay pellets) and sponge rock (large perlite). I use them because I mist everyday. That's cause my roots grow out of the pots a lot and because I have many mounted orchids with roots totally exposed. So I need a medium that doesn't breakdown and that drains fast so the roots won't rot. A bark mix is fine for most easy orchids in pots that are "windowsill" orchids that get watered once a week. With 350 orchids inside my house that I water daily I work fast and furious to water them and get out the door at 7:30 AM so I tend to over water and thus need a fast draining medium. The exposed roots need to be watered daily so they can dry before night especially those hanging in my windows with temps 7 degrees outside at night. So unless you have my conditions and habits you probably don't need this medium. It took me years to figure out what works and I still lose orchids often that don't adapt to my conditions (temps, humidity, ventilation, watering). The orchids you have are more forgiving than many of mine. One thing you should avoid is sphagnum moss. Many phals pots come packed with sphagnum but although it is good for a seedling to grow in, all of a sudden the roots can rot really fast. If you have your pretty phal (no idea of it's name since there are way too many) in sphagnum, you should repot it in a bark mix pronto. You must keep an eye on the bark, however, because it will eventually break down and become dirt, which again can kill off the roots. People repot every year or two depending on how fast the bark mix breaks down.

Venice,
I am finally back, I had some technical difficulties getting back in.
To answer your questions about my plants from Lowe's markdown table, The large phalenopsis' usually cost me $4.00 . I just bought 2 more this past week and paid extravagantly...$6.45, but they had 2 plants in each pot. It would make me sick if I worked at one of those orchid growing places that supply Lowe's and they forced me to pack the pots with sphagnum, knowing it was a death sentence for the plant. The 3 plants flowering in my photo were purchased about 3 years ago.The baby catteleas that I just got came from ebay and I paid $.49 - $.99 for each of those , of course with the shipping it worked out to about $4.25 per plant.
Here's a picture of the new little ones waiting for their terra cotta pots.
Todd, I love your photography! Can you share some of your secrets with us? The black background is fabulous, is it velvet or some other fabric? I have tried ,without luck, I am getting flash shadows and it's really annoying me!

oops, I guess you have to preview before you finish!

Boojum,
Your plants are georgeous! I'm curious, with so many plants, many hanging ..do you grow them in a glassed in porch or someplace where the floor doesn't mind getting wet?
My new little plants came potted in this...is this the aliflor product you were describing earlier? I've never tried cymbidyims or dendrobians...do they like similar conditions? on the cool side?

Sugarcane, I put some leftover orchid bark in my nearly dead orchid plant. However, with the aliflor on top with the bark, they look like truffles! Sorry if that is how they should be placed.

they do look like truffles...only smaller...marble size.
oh dear, now I need chocolate.
when I am looking at a marked down plant, I look at a couple of things..the leaves and what I can see on top of the bark..and whats underneath..I have no problem at all at tipping the plant out of it's pot to see whats going on with the roots.Most of the time the orchids are in a fancy ceramic (coffin!) pot . But inside is usually a plastic pot. If the gods are smiling then it's clear plastic,
otherwise, it's black or green. If the leaves look fat and happy, if there are still dead flowers on top of the bark, then I am hopeful, if
the plant is in sphagnum moss and it is dry , I'm even more hopeful. If I can see that the plant is totally encapsulated with the moss, I may get concerned and start picking around investigating, once you learn what a good root looks like, it's pretty easy to spot. Mostly, those plants get too much water at the store and the roots rot off. like everyone has said it's too much trouble, especially if space is a concern,to try and rescue them. Some plants also go dormant after they bloom and your plant maybe one of those.

So dry roots are good? Since I didn't know any better, I thought that the dry ones were bad and I bought wet roots!

Your plants look great, lindsey! Those pebbles are aliflor. I grow in my office and my art studio in winter. Outside June 1-frost. Large windows in both rooms-south light in my office (warm room) and north light in the art studio (cool room).

You new folks need a thread since this is for showing off Feb. flowers and I love all your questions. Here ya go. http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...

I hope experienced growers will visit this thread regularly and make sure that questions are answered by several people, not just me since I consider myself new, too. Be sure to read the Information thread (which will get better as we add resources) http://cubits.org/orchids/thre.... That way, new growers will not ask the same questions repeatedly.

I've also added a bunch of threads:
Where we grow them http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...
Orchid heaven thread http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...
An ID sorta thread http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...
A photo tips thread http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...
Medium and pots thread http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...

One more for favs http://cubits.org/orchids/thre...

Thanks, I think I looked at all of those links but none said anything about dry vs. wet roots when purchasing an orchid plant. Since I don't have anything to show off, I will see you later.

Enjoyed all of your photos. Great orchids!

Boojum,
Thanks so much for all your work here today! I'm sure we'll have lots of cool ideas and info soon. I love the cymb picture you posted yesterday,with the diagonal light and shadow, very dramatic! Here's one of my (many)failed attempts with a dark background.

Doesn't look failed to me. Maybe Todd will give a tip about how to get darker backgrounds on the photo tips.

Venice, it's really hard to answer this question because many orchids want to be moist all day and many want to be wet for short periods. In general, orchids are watered once a week with every other week fertilizer. Did you watch the videos in the Information thread? Unfortunately, that's a big "in general." They are a fussy group so it depend on how well they match the conditions of your home, how well they do. Humidity, circulation, wetness of the medium, and light all are very important factors. See you on the new threads!!

Todd, Kolibri is magnificent. Eye candy for sure.