Now blooming: Den. antennatum (finally!)

Quite possibly my proudest orchid growing moment:  I've taken these dendrobiums from flask to bloom!

I ordered a flask of Den. antennatum in November 2010.  I had absolutely no clue how to deflask anything, so it was definitely trial and error.  I got them out of the flask, rinsed, and potted, then found an empty 2 gal aquarium (I kept bettas at the time, and had empty tanks lying around).  I figured the babies would need some air circulation, so I propped the glass lid of the tank off to the side a bit.  When I got up the next morning, most of the leaves of the babies had dried out tips, meaning they were lacking for humidity.  I panicked of course.  But once I got the humidity level up a bit, they recovered and continued to grow.  I didn't think they were going to make it past that first day.

I deflasked 30 plants that day, and only lost a single one over the course of their growing.  I gave away or sold 23 of them.  I still have five, and my mom has one.  Sometime last year, one of the people I sold some of them to posted a picture of one of their plants in spike, but I never saw pics of the flowers, if it ever made it to bloom.  So as far as I know, this is the first to bloom (with proof) out of that flask.

I originally got the flask because I absolutely adore this species.  I have an affinity for the strange flowers, so this one fits the bill.  I mean, it's got ANTENNAE.  It even has a very slight fragrance.  Way too cute for words.

Big in-spike/bud update!

So I guess this is what happens when I get too busy to update frequently:  I have to put lots of stuff into one giant post.  Sorry.

First up, my NoID pink dendrobium I got off a non-blooming clearance rack a couple years ago for something like 5 bucks.  It blooms lots, which is why I keep it around, even though it's pink and I'm not really a big fan of pink.

Next, my summer-blooming harlequin phallie, Yu Pin Pearl.  It's looking a bit thirsty lately...I think it's due for a bigger pot since it drinks the water out of its reservoir in less than a day now, and I can't seem to get it watered any more frequently than I have been.  Larger pot = larger reservoir, which should hopefully make it happier.  It's on the repot list.

And finally, double spikes on my Phal. Mayamar.  This is very unusual for me...in my five years of growing phals, I have yet to have one grow more than one spike at a time.  But even better yet, there's still an old green spike on this one too, and it's gone active again.  Whether or not that activity turns into blooms or keikis, time will tell.  This one grew three keikis last summer right after I got it, so it's apparently prone to keikis.  But the blooms on this one are just to die for (dark waxy red, one of my favorites), so I'm stoked about the possibility of three spikes worth of flowers.

Now blooming: Bc. Hoku Gem 'Freckles'

I love this catt.  The flowers open a rusty red/orange color, then fade to a solid yellow with red spots in a couple days.  It blooms on every single new growth.  It put out 2 growths this time, and it has 2 spikes.  The second one is about 2 or 3 weeks behind this one.

Rob's Boolaroo

I know, I've been a huge slacker, but I'm working on some updates, so bear with me.

Finally got some pics of one of the AV plants I got at the show this spring.  This is Rob's Boolaroo, a miniature trailer.  It hasn't started to trail yet, but I bought it just for the ridiculously cute little spotted flowers :)

In bud: Rlc. Samantha Duncan 'Paradise'

One of my favorite catts.  It has a nice round flower that is SHOCKINGLY red.  As in, burn your eyeballs red.  I've never really been able to get a decent picture of this one's bloom, as it's either opened upside down or hiding behind a leaf or some other such nonsense.  Hopefully this one is a nice bloom and I can get some awesome pictures.

A box for me!

Hmmm, what a lovely box I found on my porch this morning.  I wonder what it could be?

Oh look, it's from the Nortons at Orchidview!!!

Let's open it and see what's in there!

Hooray, blue violaceas!

I've been drooling over some of the Norton strain Phal. violaceas forever, so this year, I broke down and bought some.  Katherine said they were expecting all these to spike this summer, but I'm sure they'll take a while to adjust to good ol' Wyoming, so perhaps next summer.  I got 3 vios and one vio hybrid.

Top row (L to R):  N0804 'Mademoiselle Bleu' x 'Rachel's Blue Eyes'
                             N0807 'Peek-a-Blue' x 'Mademoiselle Bleu'
Bottom row (L to R):  N0921 'Swordfish Blue' x 'Peek-a-Blue'
                                  N0856 Sapphire's Galah (Purple Martin x violacea 'Grace Blue')

If you've never seen one of the Nortons' blue vios, you don't know what you're missing.  Google them!  Especially the clone 'Monster'.  I'm using a picture of 'Monster' as the background on my computer.

And finally, here's a pic of them all repotted and with shiny new tags!