Some Angraecoid "first blooms"

Some time back, I decided to finally use the coir (coconut husk fibre) planting mats Senior Management bought me for Christmas in 2011 (from a shop called Gady Gady in Krakow, Poland of all places) to mount some plants on. These nifty products are intended as backgrounds in terrariums. One ended up covered in Tillandsia, but the second I decided to make into an angraecoid mount. I ended up using a hot melt glue gun to fasten it onto a plastic chopping board, as I didn't think the wall would greatly enjoy the moisture that would permeate the mount. Plants were secured to the mount with nylon fishing line, using a curved upholstery needle to go through the coir. I was somewhat anxious that the Aerangis luteoalba var. rhodosticta (which was in spike at the time) would resent the move, but I needn't have worried. It put on a good show, with three spikes:

Aerangis luteoalba var. rhodosticta
1 March 2013

Aerangis luteoalba var. rhodosticta

Pictures from my phone, so sorry if they're a little bit on the rough side.

If my botanical Latin isn't too off, the name and variety mean something along the lines of "yellowish-white with red spots", which is a fairly accurate description. These flowers are quite rewarding; they have only now (in May) died off; they've been going strong since February. Aside from the coir background, the planting pockets are filled with hydroton brand LECA, and a little bit of sphagnum moss is covering most of the roots for a little added moisture. I can't see any reason someone wouldn't want one of these charming little plants! We've had this plant since October 2011, and this is the first time it's bloomed. It will be interesting to see how the mount develops, but given the glacial pace at which angraecoids grow, I imagine it will be a long process!

Our Angraecum distichum, which also arrived in October 2011, was mounted on a small piece of Ecoweb, and has been limping along since then. I eventually decided it was perhaps a little on the dry side and added some sphagnum moss to the mount, and since then, it's perked up a lot - to the point of flowering. The flowers are very small, but I quite like them, and the unusual growth form of the plant, with its overlapping leaves, is pretty cool. They have a crystalline texture to the flowers which comes out quite well in flash photos. When I water these plants, I water the entire thing, including the leaves, as roots seem to occasionally emerge from between the leaf "nodes" so it makes sense to me to encourage that. The plant is pretty waxy, so water doesn't sit on it for very long.

Angraecum distichum
16 April 2013

Angraecum distichum

Again, photos from by phone, so apologies that they are not the most accomplished of macros!

More sadly, our quite large Angraecum sesquipedale was developing very two promising looking buds which just decided to turn brown and die one day. I'm not too sure why, but I suspect they didn't enjoy the slightly colder weather that blew in as they were developing in late spring.

Even more sadly, our little Sobennikoffia humbertiana dropped all its leaves and died shortly thereafter. I suspect it got too much water and decided that a life of excess was not for it. Sobennikoffia are supposed to be quite hard to grow, and come from some of the drier regions of Madagascar (one account suggests they get much of their water from dew, which isn't exactly a deluge of water!). Again, these are plants that are supposed to have a winter dry rest, which this did not really have, although I watered it quite lightly, I guess this watering wasn't nearly light enough...

It's pretty crazy to think I haven't actually bought a new orchid since October 2011. 

Aerangis fastuosa

You may remember this plant from last year. It has again decided to bloom for us in September (it's still going strong now).

Aerangis fastuosa

Aerangis fastuosa
Note the long spur

Aerangis fastuosa

Again, it won "Best Miniature" on display at the EPOS September meeting plant table (we also took along the Jumellea comorensis you may remember from the previous post and our Dendrochilum glumaceum). It was pure white when we displayed it, but there seems to be a little damage to the blooms now (the slight brown discolouration at the back of the lip), presumably from being jumbled around during the ~260km round trip. The blooms aren't as profuse this year; I'm chalking this up to less humidity (because our humidifiers have all broken). Still a very charming plant, and one day I may get around to mounting it, which will let it show off its flowers to best effect! Again, it has a fairly heady jasmine smell, but not nearly as pronounced as last year (when it had more than twice as many flowers).

New spikes and flowers

Things are definitely deciding to bloom again.

Dendrobium Mini (White with Red Lip)

Our Dendrobium Mini has not one, not two but three separate flower spikes - pictured above is one of them. They're getting longer every day and the buds are starting to take shape now.

Even one of our two cymbidiums has had enough of sitting around doing nothing and is busy putting up two spikes. I have no idea what has triggered that, as I understand it usually takes cooler temperatures to trigger it, and it's been boiling hot around here, but I generally find that plants don't actually spend a lot of time reading books and sometimes resolutely resist such conventions! Given a few weeks, I suspect we'll see some flowers, but you never quite know when an orchid is going to be showing its blooms (at least, I never do!). I'd been starting to think that our little balcony just doesn't get enough light for these plants which have remained fairly unexciting grassy looking houseplants for quite some time now, but it seems - at least on that windowsill - there is just about enough! I wonder if it might be having a bit more water (Cymbidiums apparently quite like to be kept on the damp side), as it receives the run-off from a Vanda that sits above it and is regularly sprayed.

Our Stenoglottis Ganymede also has two spikes on it:

Stenoglottis Ganymede
Flowers beginning to open.

Stenoglottis Ganymede

If last year is anything to go by, this flower spike will get at least three or four times this length and be covered in blooms.

Towards the end of last year, I received an Aerangis citrata from Plantae which had two spikes on it; the flowers are now starting to open.

Aerangis citrataFirst flower to open.

Aerangis citrata

Aerangis citrata
showing spur

I really enjoy the angraecoid orchids, which have a delicate and graceful elegance to them (at least, I think they do!). I haven't detected a scent to this one but I have yet to sniff it in the evenings, when this group is usually most strongly scented. The flower has a very slight yellowish tint to it (hence the botanical name, I suspect) which isn't coming through in these photos very well.

OOAB Blooms Spring #2

Here's the continuation of the previous post.

Every so often you succumb to YAP (Yet Another Phalaenopsis) syndrome. These plants are everywhere, flaunting their orchid-ness in your face from shops around the world at oh-so-reasonable prices... Sometimes you just have to give in. The plant below was bought from Sherwood Garden Centre where the EPOS annual orchid show was being held; somehow, we didn't succumb to any of the plants for sale at the show (many of them were not in flower, and I don't know enough about orchids yet to jump up and down at just the name on a label, outside of things that happen to be on my wishlist!). Many of the others were large, and we're trying not to have to cover couches with plants to find them a home... However, we were faced with some delightful mini-phalaenopsis at the check-out, and we decided we had to have this one (which is still in bloom months later). How can you not find enough space for a mini-phal?

Phalaenopsis NOID mini.

NOID mini-Phal. I like the colours, particularly the off-white/yellowy picotee at the edge of the flower.

I've decided that certain groups of orchids are just great. Living in Africa, it kind of makes sense to have a fair number of Angraecoid orchids, and I cunningly bought a fairly epic tome on this group to feed that idea (perhaps not surprisingly, it's called Angraecoid Orchids: species from the African Region!). Here is another, Aerangis modesta. The leaves are a little shrivelled; previously, the aerial roots hung way down from the plant, but I've now persuaded them to wrap around the stick mount; adding a little sphagnum helps keep them a bit damper. I took this to an EPOS meeting, and Leon (owner of Caro-Lin Orchids) remarked that I should probably laugh off work to come home during the day to mist it... I think my solution is more fiscally sustainable! The plant has a jasmine scent, but much much more subtle than fastuosa; rather than filling up the room, you need to get quite close in and have a sniff.

Aerangis modesta close up
I didn't notice that crazy little structure in the middle of the flower until I took this picture.

Aerangis modesta

Aerangis modesta - long spurs on the flowers.

Aerangis modesta - whole plant

 We were quite pleased with our Dendrobium nobile, but apparently with only 7 large flowers it was a pretty poor show compared to the potential of these plants! Dendrobiums, it turns out, are a group of plants that mostly enjoy being tortured. In the wild, many (including nobile) go through a distinct dry season before they flower; if you don't replicate that (for instance, by being cavalier enough to water the poor thing), they tend to keiki more than flower. Ours did both! Apparently, you can also confuse them by making sure you don't fertilise - any nitrogen at all during the "rest period" seems to turn flowers off and keikis on!

Dendrobium nobile, close up of lip.
Fantastic colour!

Dendrobium nobile - note the whitish roots behind the flowers
Those are now attached to keikis, which I imagine I'll have to detach and pot up at some stage!
I like the delicate pinky/purple on the edges of the flowers and that deep purple throat.

Masdevallia Tangerine Dragon
Just before it opened

This is the second of our Masdevallias which decided to give us a flower; unfortunately, I never got around to taking a picture of the bloom once it opened, but it remained as a tubular flower with a fairly narrowly opened end. The M. mendozae in its ancestry clearly dominates over the M. veitchiana!  

Tolumnia pulchellum
Apologies for the rather dark photo...

This plant managed to put out a spectacularly long spike from a relatively small plant. I'm quite pleased with it, and can see why many people find Tolumnias very pleasing. In nature, they're twig epiphytes in the caribbean, so they enjoy breezes, light showers and quick drying off. I guess this loooong spike helps it stand out from the tree/bush it lives on! Note to self: remember light coloured flowers fool your light meter.

Dendrobium unicum
This plant has very unusual flowers, and I can't wait for this plant to get bigger and bigger!

Dendrobium loddigesii

This is a fabulous little plant - it had about 20 something flowers on it. I really like the colour combination and the frilly edge to the lip. Very sad I never got around to using my "proper" camera on it.

One of the nice things about belonging to an orchid society is you get the chance to interact with lots of other orchid growers, many of whom are generous with not only advice, camaraderie and encouragement to squeeze in just one more plant, but also help out in that regard by thrusting plant material at you. You can almost picture it as Orchids Anonymous.
"Hi, my name is James and it's been over 3 weeks since I last bought an orchid"
"Shame! Here, have this one!"
Eventually, I'm sure I'll be able to repay the kindness other growers have shown me, but it's a while off yet!

The following plant was kindly given to me by fellow EPOS member Sean, who said that Senior Management needed a gift (she's currently in Poland for 6 months).

Epc. Kyoguchi 'M Sauno' sub var SVO x L Seagulls Tangerine 'SVO' HCC
I imagine crossing the Epc with the L would make this an Epilaeliocattleya (Eplc.)!

Close up of the lip

I think SVO = Sunset Valley Orchids. They've recently bred an orchid that has essentially black flowers. For $100, you can have one...

This picture was taken just before the flowers finally scenesced, so it was originally better, with fuller flowers. It's a nice orange colour, and I like the contrasting colour on the lip too. The fairly understated flower overall also appeals.

After the EPOS annual function, where as well as a delicious braaied (barbequed) lunch, we also went on a walk down a forested valley looking at indigenous orchids (mainly Polystachya, all resolutely far away from my camera lens), Sean invited me back to his house, where we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering through his shade house and garden admiring the various plants he had. As well as the plant above, he also gave me a NOID Masdevallia which was practically bursting its pot, so I later divided it into 3, a Prosthechea prismatocarpa and a chunk of his Nepenthes pitcher plant, which I'm trying to persuade to root! EPOS gives each "family" that attends the function one plant in a lucky draw - ours turned out to be a Cattleya aquinii 'Francisco Miranda' x Cattleya loddigesii 'Aranda B' AM/AOS, which was not in flower - something to look forward to!

I ended up effectively swapping one of the NOID Masdevallia divisions for a Brassocattleya Morning Glory (B. nodosa x C. purpurata) a few weeks later with another member Margaret, after I trekked through to Port Elizabeth for some orchid supplies on a wet and rainy Sunday. It turns out that the society's "Cottage Shop" is on the plot where Caro-Lin Orchids greenhouses/shadehouses are, and I got a tour around the greenhouses and shadehouses from Christo. I saw even more examples of that orange Epilaeliocattleya cross, and each of them was quite different. There were lots of tempting things wafting around, and an entire mini-greenhouse filled with Masdevallias. And literally tens of thousands of Cymbidiums. Absolutely staggering numbers of plants, and I imagine I'll have to go back there with Intent at some stage in the future!

OOAB Blooms Spring #1

I have, alas, continued in my plague theme of being far too busy to muck about with plant photography and blog posts; there have been quite a few nice blooms come and go here at OOAB HQ. I did manage to snap a few pictures of them here and there - sometimes only with a cellphone camera, but here they are nonetheless!

Beallara Peggy Ruth Carpenter 'Everglades'
(Bllra. Tahoma Glacier x Milt. Purple Queen)
Taken way back in September

This plant has recently re-bloomed; the flower looks better coloured this time (last time the inflorescence had several crowded blooms; this time just one - see below) - although Senior Management reminds me that the colour fades as the flower gets older, and the picture above was of fairly old blooms.

This plant seems very easy to grow and keeps throwing out new growths like crazy - it's starting to look quite crowded in its pot and may be ripe for a spot of dividing. One thing I was surprised at is if you stick your nose right in the flower and sniff, it smells very much like freshly ground white pepper. I've decided I quite like the idea of fragrant orchids, so I often "stop to smell the flowers". Apparently some of the other closely related hybrids smell of pepper strongly enough to fill the room with that scent.
Senior Managemetn and I really like the crazy petals both in their blotching and twisted shapes, but I'm sure orchid judges - those whimsical arbiters of "greatness" - would hate their deviance from perfection!

Zelglossoda Calico Gem 'Green Valley #1'

This is a great little plant that Senior Management saw at the local florist and decided we must have. I had spotted it a few days earlier and been sorely tempted by its deep purple flower buds, but Senior Management had strongly hinted that there is little space at OOAB HQ for new aquisitions, so I sadly passed it by. Imagine my delight when it showed up a few days later in bloom as a gift! Unfortunately, it didn't have a label and was a NOID for a little while. Shortly after we got it, I thought I should take it to the next EPOS meeting in case anyone had any idea what it was. It turned out that local orchid vendors Caro-Lin remembered selling this to the local florist, and so a few days later, I was given the name of this charming little plant.

Aerangis fastuosa

We took this Aerangis fastuosa plant along with the Zelglossoda above to the September EPOS meeting. One member remarked to me that we should have taken it to the annual show, where he considered it would have done very well in miniature or African sections - of course, stubbornly, not a single flower was open in time for the annual show. In the end, it won best species on the plant table at the meeting, joining the ranks of our plants other people think are quite good (the other being our Rhynchostylis coelestis)! This plant is remarkably strongly scented, like jasmine - almost overpoweringly so in a small car, particularly as the scent is strongest in the early evening; precisely when we climb into the car to go to EPOS meetings! I really like the delicate white flowers. I'm thinking about mounting this plant when I can find something to mount it on; the flowers would display much better.

Finally, here is our Dendriobium kingianum, one of our original orchids (prior to the fateful trip to Exotic Plant Company nearly a year ago) - i.e. before full blown orchid mania struck!

Dendrobium kingianum

These plants have an amazing variety of different lip and flower patterns - some people have literally hundreds of them! They're quite tough, forgiving orchids - pretty good beginner plants in my opinion - although their flowers are quite modest in size. I think they smell like hyacinths (not a smell I particularly enjoy).

I'll add another post a bit later with some more - spring time is good to us around these parts!

New Plants: Plantae

Nice Wrapping work!

The order from Plantae was quite a bit larger, with me basically choosing almost everything on the list that was under R100 and had nifty looking flowers, plus a few other things I fancied...!

I was really impressed with the way the order was wrapped, with each plant separately wrapped in paper, with more delicate plants also getting a layer of polyester wool under the paper. Only one of the plants was sent bare root (other than those which were mounted, obviously), which I quite like - saves potting up, and I think the plants might get less stressed; the potting mix was held in place with newspaper and packing tape.

Extra polyester fibre protection.

Delicate cargo.

With that, on to the plants!

Aerangis fastuosa

Aerangis modesta
I accidentally ordered one from each of the two suppliers. Oh well :)

We ended up with quite a lot of Dendrobiums:

Dendrobium harveyanum

Dendrobium hercoglossum

Dendrobium loddigesii

Dendrobium moschatum

Dendrobium nobile

Dendrobium tannii
This plant was a generous replacement for a Masdevallia which was unavailable at the time I placed my order -
apparently, they were badly affected by scale,
and Tinus didn't want to send me infected plants -
which I'm more than happy about!

Oerstedella centradenia
A rather lovely plant name, somehow.
(I forgot to photograph this one; will rectify soon - done!)
This was the only plant that wasn't mounted or in a pot,
and looks like it was a recent cutting off a larger plant.

Schoenorchis fragrans
A very cute, minute little orchid; you almost need a magnifying glass to see it!
The leaves have a very cool sculptured texture.

Tetramicra canaliculata
Hard to forget the name of this one; reminds me of a seaweed whose specific epithet
was quite amusing in undergrad (Pelvetia canaliculata [can-I-lick-you-later...]
- hey, we're all young once).
As it was quite small, it was thrown in as a "freebie" - many thanks!

Tolumnia Jairak Rainbow
I don't remember ordering this - will find out how it ended up in this order. :)
Edit: Tinus confirmed this was indeed a bonus - yay! Thanks :D

Tolumnia pirinochila

Tolumnia pulchella

Tolumnia urophylla

With that, the OOAB growing areas are certainly starting to look a little tight. We've even had to relegate a few plants to the windowsill behind the main plant rack! Fortunately, a lot of the plants are quite small and are mounted on bits of wood, so they don't take up too much room. I really like the look of all the hanging (mounted) plants - and being naturally epiphytic, this probably suits them quite well. You just have to water them more regularly than potted plants, which suits me fine!