Dear husband actually picked out this Ludisia silver velvet in a flower shop last year. To be honest, I think he just liked the pretty, nearly black, velvety leaves and didn’t even know it was an orchid – until I told him so. But naturally I leapt at the chance of possibly snaring yet another orchidoholic (what’s better than an enabler when there are orchids around?), so the little Ludisia came home with us.
However, I must admit that my heart is not all a flutter when I think of this particular kind of orchid… the typical terrestial. I really don’t know why. It thrives well on the windowsill without much fuss of any kind… not much light, and hardly any water, so what’s not to love? I guess it just doesn’t “speak” to me. I recently got the alba version in a trade with a friend – well, technically dear husband did… his plant had to provide the trade (a small cutting) – and I do think it is nice. Perhaps it will grow on me too. I have to admit that I have a little bit more feelings for it now that it is finally blooming. The small white flowers are quite delicate and beautiful, a nice contrast to dark leaves.
In any case, since dear husband likes it, it is here to stay. Besides, I will just sit back and wait for the orchid powers to work its magic on him, and perhaps one day he will feel the need to tag along with me to OA (orchids anonymous) or the orchid society meetings, whichever comes first…
lol, dear husband will turn into an orchidophile by association in no time!
Clearly, the orchids powers have already started to work since he picked out an orchid without prior knowledge 🙂
What will you do when he whisks you off into the cloud and rain forests of South America, on an orchid hunting expedition, hmmm?!? Ahhhh, wouldn’t that be a dream 🙂
Ha ha… I think you are right my dear. He’s already a closet orchidophile, he just doesn’t know it yet. Hmmm a cloud forest vacation, that would be something. …Although, I would have to do something about my mild Insectophobia/Arachnophobia first… 😉
Or…cue the Indiana Jones music 😉
Ha ha… right. 😉
Hej Karma, question about mounting. Do you find a difference between mounting on wood, and mounting on epiweb? I mean in terms of growth quality of the orchids. I have not mounted orchids ever, but i plan to. It’s a little hard to get epiweb in the states, but someone is manufacturing something similiar under the name ecoweb. Get this, i read somewhere that someone is using some type of aqaurium filter, that looks just like epi/eco-web. But the price is much cheaper, because it is sold as aqaurium filter. I am going to a local pet shop over the weekend to research it because i am curious now.
I have only mounted orchids on cork or EpiWeb. But My experience is that in the right conditions either works just great. Anything in the vivarium grows like gangbusters mounted. I have chosen to mount mainly on cork in the viv, mostly because dear husband did not like the look of the EpiWeb… Personally I don’t mind the look too much and once the EpiWeb is covered by moss it looks quite nice. I do like EpiWeb for many reasons. It is a recycled material, it does not break down, it is almost impossible to over-water (but it is easy to under-water in dry climates), and orchids seem to really, really thrive in/on it. I am actually planning on putting more orchids in EpiWeb on the windowsill after my successful experiment with a Mastiphyllum Louis Sander this year. I am also planning to build a new large cool vivarium. For that I will use exclusively EpiWeb. More on that later… I have not tried it myself, or talked to anyone using aquarium filter pads to mount orchids. I do not know how much water it holds since it is designed to let water filer through it not hold it… I suppose it could work, just make sure they do not treat the pads with anything that could harm the plants. Keep me posted on how it goes. 🙂