Orchid blog
This blog is dormant at the moment, but it is still getting a lot of visitis so I will keep it up for you guys as a resource. My future adventures will be published on my new blog, hope to see you there!
My focus… if pressed to name favorites it would have to be orchids of the Pleurothallid Alliance. But a Paphiopedilum was the first orchid I ever fell in love with so slipper orchids will always be close to my heart, and while we are on the subject I might as well disclose a love affair with Neofinetia as well.
Masdevallia norae
This little Masdevallia can be found in Colombia, Venezuela and possibly north-west Brazil at altitudes between 200 and 800 meters. I grow mine on the windowsill, medium light, intermediate temps and planted in sphagnum moss. I bought it from Orchids & More last summer and it is now blooming for the first time. The flowers are small (approximately 2 cm) and delicate and the plant itself is small to medium size. I really like the color [...]
Cool vivarium – day one
Finally there is a new large terrarium standing in the orchid room. Empty as of yet, but full of promise. This is truly a Valentine's Day gift right up my alley, much better than roses! I will convert this terrarium into a cool vivarium and create my own little orchid cloud forest in there. Well, perhaps "little" is an inappropriate description since it measures 175 cm wide, 160 cm high and 65 cm deep. A [...]
Trichosalpinx – another name to learn to impress your friends
This lovely little miniature epiphyte hails from Costa Rica. I got it in a trade with a friend late this fall and it is now blooming for the first time for me. It has tiny (5 mm) flowers, in fact they are so small you almost have to photograph them to really see how beautiful the flowers really are (just wish I had a proper macro)... The second photo allows for much larger magnification - [...]
Masdevallia vs. the wallpaper
I have two very nice Masdevallia tovarensis orchids. Both of which are in bud right now. One bud opened early in December and it was beautiful!! But the rest are just sitting there, waiting. Waiting for what!?! Every day go in there looking, hoping, waiting. But nothing. I finally figured out that I think they want more humidity in order to deliver the big price. We have had an unusually cold winter here, so I have [...]
Ornithocephalus manabina – or is it?
This is a warm growing miniature epiphyte from Ecuador found at elevations of 200 to 500 m. It is a small orchid, the fan measures about 7 cm across and the flowers are only about 0,7 cm a piece. But what she lacks in size she makes up for in abundance. It was quite exciting to follow the development this season, with more flower spikes appearing pretty much daily, eventually producing 11 spikes all together. Impressive! [...]
Aw-shucks…
I used to think of zip ties as a marvel of modern invention, a convenience so brilliant I'd put it right up there with duct tape. But not today. I hang one of my light fixtures from a shelf about half way down in my window. Today when I came home one of the zip ties had broken, not slipped out of the lock, but snapped in half! The light fixture was hanging from one [...]