That's a beauty, Jim!

How pretty!

Jim , I know you can't wait to get everyone back in the lanai...but isn't it fun finding all these treasures
blooming in your trees?

I was thinking the same!!

Well I'm done for now. I kept a few blooming and budded ones indoors. Phew! Now to clean up the rooms! Pics soon.

Out again digging through the bushes and found one of my favorites, Blc Hawaiian Leopard 'Mai Ling' (Blc Walanae Leopard X Bc Richard Mueller). I love the colors and spots on this one.

Jim

One more pic of Aerides houlletiana. Look closely and find the intruder.

Jim

Is that a good bug, or a bad bug?

It looks like a jadera bug to me. They feed exclusively on the seeds of the goldenrain or chinaberry tree and are considered harmless. If I were to get rid of the goldenrain tree, they would disappear.

Jim

If they eat those seeds, they are GOOD bugs! I don't know about the chinaberry, but every seed is viable on the golden rain tree.

Between that, the lucky nut and the black Surinam cherry, I have plenty of seedlings to pull each year. The jadera bugs arn't pulling their weight.

Jim

Blc Hawaiian Leopard 'Mai Ling' is a keeper, as well as the Aerides houlletiana which thinks of bugs as pollinators rather than intruders I'm sure!

BTW, I finished!!! I repotted about 15 plants, debugged 100, and tossed about 15 plants that hadn't thrived for years.
With screen rolled, with it down, new technique for small hangers, expanded technique from last year for phals, pots on pots.

Nice Blc Hawalian Leopard 'Mai Ling' !
Kathy, your collection has expanded tremendously and everything looks really wonderful! Great JOB!

Around here the Dendrobium batanense did what I had expected - the switch to outside conditions triggered a nice bloom! Tiny buds/flowers appear on seemingly dry branches. The little flowers smell very sweetly.

edited to say, the plant was bought as Den. batanense but I was told it is perhaps Ceraia pseudoequitans. In the meanwhile Parkside, the vendor, lists it now as Dendrobium equitans. Whatever.

Thanks for the encouraging words.
I hope that happens to my Den. schoenina! So pretty, Ursula!

Ursula, the Dendrobium batanense is great and your pictures really show it off. Good job!

The first Bletilia bloom of the season opened today. Here is Bletilla yokohama 'Kate' p.p.a.f.

Jim

It is Grammatophylum scriptum time. Mine is Grammatophylum scriptum X Self and I've had it for about 6 years. This year, under adverse conditions hanging from a tree instead of in the lanai, it put out 5 spikes, each about 26 to 28 inches long with about 40 flowers per spike. The roots consumed the basket during its second year and I have no idea what is going on inside the bowling ball sized mass. It is heavy and the spikes in a good year can be up to a yard long and go in all directions. It is not the plant for those with space constraints. It gets about the same light as my Dendrobiums or let's say medium light. I mist it every day with a weak fertilizer solution and hose it down once a week. Here she blows:

Jim

Wow! Awesome photos of the Grammatophyllum Scriptum, Jim! You are right, it is not for constrained spaces heheh! My now failed Grammatophyllum Scriptum 'Hihimanu' pseudobulb is just sulking at a corner near the sink. I will just admire your photos heheheh! Thanks for posting it!

What a beauty, Jim.

And it is great that you can grow Bletillas in your zone. Nice one!

Thanks for catching the typo, Ursula. I may have to put the Bletilla in the lanai for the winter along with a few others.

Jim

I doubt it since it grows in zone 6. Even standing a freeze shouldn't touch it in the ground. My Bletilla ochraceas 'Chinese Butterfly' are taking their sweet time....

I repotted the digbyana this morning and while I was sticking it back in the bushes, I discovered two more bloomers. Not much needs to be said about these as they are classics.

Jim

Laelia tenebrosa



Laelia purpurata