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.
Aerangis luteoalba var. rhodosticta
This is the first bloom for this lovely little African orchid. I bought it in September last year from Junginger Orchideen in Germany, and it must have come from very nice stock. On only one growth it produced six flower spikes, each carrying between 6 to 8 flowers measuring almost 3 cm across. It is quite a stunning display and I love the cream white flowers with the intensely vivid red centers. It is supposed to [...]
Pleurothallis (Ancipitia) eumecocaulon
I love this little Pleurothallis, or Ancipitia, depending on what school of thinking you go by. It blooms for a very long time once it gets going and the snow white flowers with the sweet powder pink lip are just lovely. The solitary successive flowers measure about a centimeter tall and are perched on a short reclining spathe held just above the leaf. It is actually an intermediate grower that I insist on growing cool, but it does just [...]
Masdevallia (Fissia) picturata
There is just something special about this mini-Masdevallia... and everytime it blooms I am reminded of its awesomeness. The flowers are not large, but compared to the plant they are rather impressive in size none the less. The plant is no more than 5 cm tall and the width of the flower measures just over 1 cm, but the three long graceful sepals add another 3-4 cm to that - each. The shear white base [...]
Masdevallia (Alaticaulia) norae
This species hail from Colombia, Venezuela and maybe even as far down as into northwestern Brazil. It is a warm to intermediate grower actually as it grows primarily in lowland forests at elevations of 200 to 1000 meters. However, it does not seem to have any objections to the cooler temperatures in my cool vivarium, so I would say that it is a very temperature tolerant species. A nice quality for a species in this lovely but primarily [...]
Finally a really bright idea
This is what happens when good lights go bad... or at least when you wire them up badly. They eventually burn out and die. So after about a year and a half I had to bite the bullet and rebuild all four lights for the cool vivarium. Because one after one, they had all started to give me trouble this fall. Light being an absolute key ingredient in vivarium culture, this was serious business. It [...]
Kefersteinia graminea
This is my first Kefersteinia, but it won't be the last, and it is blooming now just in time for the new year. One must appreciate a lady with impeccable timing and it sure is a lovely species to ring in the new year with. Here's to a fantastic 2012!! I was really happy when I saw the flower spike forming on this one late summer, but almost started to worry when the bud took several months to [...]