Elaine, Your Chia Lin…The media looks like rocks!?!? Is that the case? Or are my eyes

I have a Phal. Sogo David that I'm in anticipation of right now.

I do have a concern though…If one, or all of you can tell me…What's up with the lower leaves looking wrinkly/leathery? They started that after I repotted it last year. It came out of sphagnum, and went into an orchid bark media, with a little bit of sphagnum on top. Any ideas/suggestions/opinions appreciated!

Tara, the medium in the pot is orchid bark, but after I re-potted, the plant kept wanting to tip out of the pot again, too heavy up top, not enough roots attached . . so I went out to our gravel driveway and collected a handful of the biggest chunks I could find to put on top. Probably doesn't need them now, but I think they look nice anyway.

The wrinkly leaves on your Phal is a pretty typical response to any sort of stress, like re-potting. Mine all looked like that last fall, but they have all come back to more 'normal' leaves now. Phals dislike any sort of disruption, and they will even sulk like that if you just move them from one place to another. I mist the leaves often, but don't water the medium in the pot very much until they start plumping up again.

Elaine, thanks so much! I was thinking that it was a reaction to the repotting, but as a second leaf started showing the same, then I felt better safe than sorry…had to ask!

The stone does add a nice touch!

Well, thanks! Considering how ratty the rest of the plant looks . . I have to keep reminding myself what gorgeous flowers it had or I really should have thrown it on the compost.

Just curious, is that wrinkly little phal getting any of that direct sunlight I see hitting the windowsill? They really don't want direct sun, especially when they're pouting. Maybe put another plant between it and the window so it will stay in the same situation but have some shade?

Ah, yes…It is getting some of that sun…It's a SSW window. Might be best for me to pull it back away. I'm glad you noticed and mentioned that! I will pull it back away!

Phalaenopsis are very prone to loose their lower leaf/leaves regardless of growing conditions. It is simply a matter of (leaf) age more than anything else. The more roots that are established, the less leaf-loss though. As my phals get larger, they will have to go into a clay pot or a 6x6" or 8x8", shallow, flat basket. They become top-heavy and the clay's weight and the basket's stability counters this.

Getting excited .. the Bletilla are starting to show color!

Oooo, very pretty, Anne!

Thanks Ken…These are older leaves, and when I removed this from the bigbox store pot…It was full of sphagnum, and many dead roots…Now in a bark mix, and new roots, and now a spike. So I'm feeling a bit optimistic! These leaves will eventually have to be removed? There will be no recovery for them? I guess just a careful trimming?

When they begin to yellow, you will know that is the beginning of their end-point. Then it is simply a matter of aesthetics when you cut them off. Ultimately, they will brown and fall off on their own. When I am lecturing to groups, and most lectures are orchid-based, I always have a question and answer period afterwards. It never fails that I have someone tell me they got such and such orchid that was in bloom (usually a phalaenopsis) and that when the blooms finally ended the plant either died (usually) or never bloomed again. They want to know what they did wrong. My first response is always to ask what the plant was potted with. Of course, I already know the answer - sphagnum moss. Unless someone is awfully, awfully careful about limiting watering, in most cases sphagnum moss is a sure killer of orchids. At least that has been my experience.

Anne, I love the Bletilla buds!
I checked mine yesterday - they are growing smack against the South facing house wall for many many years now, but with this unusually cold Winter I was wondering if they survived. I was very happy to see ca 1 cm tips coming up, most advanced were the ones at the wall. I removed the pile of Oak leaves ( I always mulch them after they drop their leaves) , pulled some weedy grass between them and covered them again with those leaves, much more loosely this time.
Hopefully it will warm up one of these days around here. We had a 55 degr. F day yesterday, but it is supposed to go down again to 17 degr F tonight with perhaps snow on Tuesday. That's why I covered them again.

Ah yes, the dreaded Sphagnum moss! I simply do not buy plants anymore at Shows if they are in Sphagnum, ( or show me the roots) since I will have to repot them and many times the roots don't look so hot underneath that Sphagnum.

Happy that's spring is here in Memphis! No more in and out, back and forth from racks in dinning room to porch. This condo does not allow anything to show above the railings, so I had to unload the racks to the porch then reload them to bring in doors. Not again till mid Oct! Biggest problem with the rules for me is that I can not put up shade cloth, I need a better way of protecting them this year. Last year I put sheets over them at 11am and off at about 430pm mostly daily. But had to supplement with shade cloth also draped right on top of the sheets. And the angle of the sun of course changed a little every day, so I was rearranging constantly.
Well really I wanted to show what's in bud!
This is lycaste cruenta, I got this several years ago from New Vision orchids from Indiana.




I wanted to show last years blooms, let's try again.

My goodness, Bert. You have quite an array of orchids there. It is just a shame you have those limitations put on you by the condo owner. I wish I had an answer for you but with that "Nothing showing over the patio walls" rule, you are doing about all you can. Come on and move to MS. We don't have those "silly" rules. LOL

Hi Ken, I'm renting my house out in Corinth so I don't have to pay the note that's left on it. And it's been a nice tax deduction so far, I'm not old enough for the age property tax exemption but in a few years I'm going and not looking back!
I want to get the flower beds started, but renters rarely take good care of yards. So I have 5 pots of my favorite irises in flower pots , can't see them in the picture they are bench side in full sun. It's going to be partly cloudy for the next few days, have you got your greenhouse emptied out yet?

Just a thought here, Bert. Seeing your cute little table with the glass top gave me the idea of a shelf unit just the height of your railing, with a piece of glass sitting on the top. You could buy one with adjustable length legs, or build one out of cinder blocks, maybe?

A friend of mine in Salt Lake used to paint some of the top glass panels of his greenhouse with a coarse scrub brush in summer, so there was about half the glass painted - the brush strokes giving just a texture, not covering all the glass. He'd use some cheap type of paint he called 'whitewash' that would scrub off in the fall when he wanted the full light again. Later on he'd use his power washer to wash off the paint. He was very artistic, so the paint texture always looked pretty and interesting, too. Wish I had a picture . .

It would be inexpensive, store away easily and not have to be removed and fastened in place so much. You can come by glass shelving pieces very cheaply at second hand stores etc.

Thx Elaine, I also looked at the little table again. It has texture in it and diffuses the light perfectly. Maybe I can get it in lighter wt plastic in the HD and let them put anker holds in it so I can fix onto poles that the shelving is made from, I have some left over. What do you think, maybe even shower doors. So a trip to the do it yourself stores tomorrow. Thanks, a lot!

I put a few staghorns and tillandsia out this afternoon. My oaks are starting to leaf-out but they have another week or two before they will offer enough canopy to shade the more-sun-sensitive plants, such as bromeliad, fiddle leaf ficus, and orchids. I tucked the tillandsia and staghorns behind the east-facing trunks of the trees, so they will only get a few hours of early morning sun. I also rigged up some wires, going from tree-to-tree, and draped Spanish moss every 6" to give some additional shade. Those wires are10-12' high. Another "experiment".

I think I will remove the solar blanket from the roof and two sides of the two greenhouses tomorrow and put on the shade-clothes. This should not be all that much of a chore.

We hit 50 degr F today and by afternoon we had beautiful sunshine, the best weather in a long long time. I am looking forwards to perhaps start digging in the garden tomorrow…

Bert, your orchids look wonderful! I hope you work out that shade thing, sounds like you got good advice here!

Ken, you are way ahead of us, we have a few more weeks before I can start thinking about moving the hardier plants outside/Epiphyllums, other Cacti etc.

I believe I'm expecting!?!?!
This is one of the Cattleyas that I 'rescued' some time back. My first ever Cat, so I'm really hoping that what I'm seeing is a spike just getting started. I'm looking for some "experienced" eyes to tell me...
When it first began protruding, it was very dark in color. Nearly black. But as it has continued, more color seems to be coming on.
I'm really excited about this, and I'd love to hear any advice or recommendations from your experiences with Cats.

Well, certainly a nice new growth, Tara. But Catts put out their bloom spikes on top of an existing pseudobulb, beside a leaf not from the base of the plant.

Which gives me a chance to show my new anticipation, Blc. Anduril 'Krull's Scarlet' with three big, fat flower spikes coming on strong.