Unknown AV #3 bloom

Super cute!  It's a white with pink thumbprints.  Can't make a definitive ID, but there's a large chance it's Optimara Dali.  I know for a fact they sell Optimara plants at both Lowe's and Home Depot (I can't remember where I picked this leaf up at, could have been either one), so it's most likely an Optimara of some kind.  Dali matches the best.  As with orchids, forever a NoID, but you can always make an educated guess :)

We have mouse ears!

The AV leaves I planted last month are starting to sprout!  Hooray!  I seem to have more of the O. Chico (purple and white) than I do of the pink one, but some of the pinks are sprouting too.

These are all from the babies I'm growing for the other pharmacy kids.  They should be ready to go to their new homes in about a month to six weeks.

Now blooming: Rlc. Little Toshie 'H&R' and Phal. mini ivory

Two of its 4 buds are open at the moment, with the other two not far behind.  Buds on this plant grow FAST.

And here's another picture of the mini ivory NoID with flowers that are right side up this time :)

Optimara Little Maya

Today was "work-on-the-AV-shelf" day.  I did a lot of repotting, dividing, and even had to do a spray for powdery mildew (yuck!).  And then I dropped one of my newly repotted divisions, scattering dirt all over everywhere, but that's another story.

Most of the AVs are either done blooming, or have been disbudded (debudded?!) so they could be divided today.  One of the two still blooming strong is this one, O. Little Maya.  It's pretty obvious I'm kinda smitten by dark red AVs :)

No longer a mystery growth

But alas, it isn't the spike I was hoping for :(  Bulb. careyanum.

Just a regular ol' growth.  I've found two more of the same thing since the first post, so I guess it's just waking up from a winter's nap too.  Drat.

Now blooming: C. Purple Cascade and a thanksgiving cactus

Here's the Purple Cascade all opened up.  Had to tie the spike up with a piece of string because the buds/flowers were unusually large this time and they got a bit heavy.

And since my thanksgiving cactuses haven't bloomed for more than two years (they don't like Laramie much, I guess), I am celebrating the event this time by taking a picture of the first open bloom and learning how to do stuff to it in Photoshop...yay!

I had five different colors of tgiving cactuses at one point, but I killed one and tossed another one that struggled to live.  I'm down to three colors:  this pink and white, an orange, and a white.  The orange (Golden Dancer) will be the next one to open.

Spring has sprung (maybe)

The weather sure doesn't look or feel like spring (it's a balmy 7 degrees out there right now), but something sure has the orchids fooled.

Not only are some of the cattleyas waking up and budding (Purple Cascade, Little Toshie, and my Psh. cochleata), but both of my winter-dormant plants are growing already.  Slow down, it's only the beginning of February.  Geez.

Phaiocalanthe Kryptonite 'Red Streak'.  I've found 3 nubbins so far.  I'm incredibly sad this one didn't bloom this winter like it should have.  Perhaps it will have a better showing next year.

And my Fdk. After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl' is apparently also waking up.  It hasn't been dormant long at all, and since this is the only Catasetinae plant I have, I don't know whether to be concerned about that or not.  We'll see, I guess.

All this growing and flowering and stuff can only mean one thing:  spring is here!  Right?!  *sigh*

In bud: Rlc. Little Toshie 'H&R' x2

It must be close to spring around here...some of the catts are emerging from their winter slumber.  Two maturing growths, two sets of buds :)  Only one shown here, of course.  Another of my reliable catts, even though it's taken a hiatus and hasn't bloomed for about 9 months.  What I find strange is that one bulb sent out a sheath for its buds, but the other bulb has just bare buds.  Good ol' complex hybrid genetics, I guess.

In bud: Psh. cochleata

It's been almost THREE years since this one bloomed!  It was blooming when I bought it, and hasn't bloomed again since.  This is also a good demonstration as to why you shouldn't cut off the dead sheaths on your cattleyas.  This particular sheath has been dead and brown for at least two years.  Had to perform some delicate surgery to get the spike and buds out of the sheath, but it went well.

Can't wait...the flowers are shaped like an octopus or squid.  Definitely one of my all-time favorites.

In spike: Ddc. wenzelii

Dendrochilum wenzelii.  Another new one for me!  I've got all sorts of exciting this happening this year.  I swore this spike was a bug of some kind when I first saw it today.  Darn near got the tweezers out to pluck it.  Anyway.  This one blooms on newly matured growths, and my plant happens to have a whole handful of just-maturing leaves right now, so I'm hoping for more than just one spike.  Would it be too much to ask if one of the growths on the OUTSIDE of the plant bloomed, rather than this one in the complete middle, where you won't be able to see the flowers at all?  Groan.

Flower Presentation: Ur doin it rong

Yep, completely upside down.

This is a cute little NoID mini I picked up last spring.  This is its first rebloom for me.  And the first flower opens upside down.  What a turd.  Fortunately, it looks like the next flower on the spike will be rightside up however :)  More pics of this one later when it tosses out a proper flower.