Friday, March 16, 2012

 this is one of my $12 Phalenopsis that I buy at the grocery store, after the plant has gone out of bloom.  It is easy to bring them into bloom again on my light garden.
 This is an airplant that Ihave had for several years.  It is coming into bloom, at last!  These plants are very easy, and interesting.  I have only 2 of them, both have had spectacular blooms.  Otherwise, they need very little care.  I mist them every day as I am misting the orchids and African violets.
 This is Ludisia discolor.  It gets planted into ordinary planting mix.  I added a bit of cactus mix for better drainage.  I bought it at the orchid show for its lovely foliage.  It was featured with some of the dark lady slippers in a display at the orchid show.  Looked really good.
 This is one of the winning plants at the orchid show.  There were too many people for me to get any good photos, so I gave up trying to get any worthwhile photos.  The show did not seem to be as big as it has been in the past.  The vendors in the sales room seemed to me to be showing less variety, also.
 These are my new purchases from the orchid show and sale.  Five plants for total cost of apx $85.  I will list them below; and hopefully in my garden journal... if ever I get time to do it.
My new Plants:
1. Ludisia discolor - lovely floiage, It spreads easily in ordinary planting soil.
2. S/C Jewellers Art x S/C circie of life.  This one is interesting.  It is about 4 years old from seed.  When it blooms the breeder will apply to have it registered and named.   It is tiny and may come into bloom in a couple more years.  I think it is a miniature cattleya.
3. Masd. 'Dark Star' - macrura x cucallata - this one has a tiny bud.  A new kind of orchid for me.  I believe it will have several flowers on the the spray of blooms. (Chow)
4.  My notes say:  Pot. Lisa Taylor Gallis "Nora" (BLC. California Girl x SC. Beautort)  A small cattleya, in pink/purple tones, I believe.  We will see when it comes into bloom in a couple of years. (H & R Nurseries, Hawaii)
5.  Paph. Wossner's Vietnam Love (Forest View Gardens  www.fvgardens.com 
I attended the orchid show and sale on March 3, out at the Students Union Building at UVic.  The show did not seem to be as big as I have seen it in the past.  There were some fine displays but the opportunities for photos on the day I attended were limited by the number of people, as well as more photographers.
I have repotted my orchids and they all seem to be doing ok.  The Masd's little bud is progressing.  I hope to have a flower from the little Paph. in a year or two.  The miniature cattyleyas may take awhile.  I do have a lovely 'Pixie" cat. that blooms and is very forgiving of my neglect.   I have no success with dendrobiums.    I have 3 of them languishing at the back of the light garden.  I might liberate their pots and space for something that I can get to bloom.
I am quite excited about the air plant.  It is going to be spectacular.  These plants seem to take ages to bloom, but are worth the wait.
I transplanted my orange trees a couple of weeks ago.  I might have lost one or two of them.  I transplanted them because I had some with 2 plants per pot.  I mist them every morning.  Yesterday, I watered and fed all the indoor plants.  All are doing well, but will watch the Orange trees.
Otherwise, I have been cleaning cupboards, closets, etc in the suite.  The renovation is coming along quite nicely. Painting is finished.  Flooring is done.  Counter top needs some adjustment.  I have one side of the cabinets to clean and do shelf lining.  The drapery is to be done on the 20th.  It smells of paint, but that is far better than the cat stink.  
 We have had some high wind storms recently.  There have been a lot of people with their power out.  Lots of wind damage.  Fortunately, we had no problems.  Our power was on all the time. 
Since taking the photos of my crocuses, the crocus field has suffered a bit of damage from the high winds and rain.  The daffodils will soon be open.  The hellebores, cyclamens and a few of the primulas are in bloom.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mighty fine light on the flowers; you did them justice.
I didn't know you could have flowers registered and named; sounds reasonable though.

filipino woman said...

Maggie, the flower pictures of the orchid is beautiful. I love orchids, and grew up with it back home (philippines), so when I came here in American I bought from Home Depot Phalenopsis for $10. I went thru the care instructions I was just surprise when you cant put it directly to sunlight. Coz back in the Philippines, all orchids we had of different kinds are exposed directly to sun. :)

Maggie said...

thanks
My orchids, cactus, African violets are all under the lights of my light garden. I think I would give the orchids as much sunlight as possible, if I did not have the light garden... and lots of water, with very good drainage, or orchid mix to grow them in.