Tuesday, 24th of January 2023 [32]
Browsing through my list of drafts, I found lots of pictures of my orchids here. Of course! I was planning on doing my orchids update, following my first orchid related article here, on Hive. Since the new weekly edition of the contest organised by @bucipuci in #amazingnature community has just been announced, why not have an early start for a change, raher than waiting till last minute with my entry 😉
Looking at the date stamp of these pictures, they’re from 29th of December! Oh well, almost a month later update, hey? Some things have change since then I shall make a newer update, but on the other hand, nothing new has bloomed, so I’ll post another one once something new shows face!
As for the cover picture - really not much changed. It was in bloom on the first update in November, although only 2 flowers were open. It was in bloom in December, as you can see above and it still is in bloom now. Knowing this phals habit for the past few years, it will still be in bloom in summer 😉 Still, it’s one of my absolute favourite Phals. I love the pattern and I love its story, which I’m sure I already mentioned before. Did I? 🤷🏻♀️
December/January have been #Cattleya months this year. This girl just went out and beyond, posing from many angles. She had so many spikes, that I didn’t even count how many 😂
They just keep coming, one after another. The flowers don’t last all that long, possibly around 2 weeks. It’s not even featured in November update, so I’m sure it wasn’t in bloom then.
As I check my album, the first picture of flower this year was on the 7th of December and it still in bloom, but only because older spikes died back and new ones opened.
I remember picking this cutie up on sale, with one almost gone flower at the Polish supermarket. It looked somewhat lime yellow and I wanted a warm yellow (which it turned out to be).
It was heavily reduced and I paid maybe $6-7 for it. This is what she looked like back then. Already a mature orchid with many healthy bulbs.
I really wanted a yellow Cattleya back then, but for that price I’d pick it up no matter what colour or shape it was. At orchid shows I used to attend or in specialists nurseries, Cattleya prices start from $30, so this one was a no brainer.
Above you can see it had 3 spikes opened by the end of December and below are some more unopened ones, so I’d estimate she gave me 6-7 spikes in total this season. Hence why I am able to enjoy the blooms for almost 2 months now.
Just a few more captures of new canes and unopened flower buds covered with lots of happy sap.
And finally the secret to these amazing blooms! A spiderweb? Does it have a secret spider worker that helps it bloom so well?
Hmm… I don’t know about that, but the origin of this spider web is from the ‘holiday’ time. We had a beautiful summer this year and after all Cattleyas are tropical orchids, growing outside in different parts of the world. In summer I let some of my orchids have a holiday time outside too. She clearly must have liked her holiday time, as can be seen by so many flowers this season 😍
From happy times to a bit more sad/embarrassing times. You might have remembered me getting excited to see my dark red #Dendrobium #Phalaenopsis orchid getting ready to flower. Well, that’s where the story ends. It was getting ready then it changed its mind half way there and now flowers are no more 🤷🏻♀️
Sad as it is, it does happen at times, especially when there are big and sudden changes in temperatures and/or humidity. Like what we get when seasons change and we start turning central heating on. Many time I’d loose all the blooms on my orchids in the first week of central heating being on.
Here another failure story. Her name is Chelonistele Sulphurea. I mean, what a tongue twister! I can’t pronounce it properly, let alone remember her name! She was doomed to die due to lack of unconditional love from my side.
No, I’m just kidding. Partly. She wasn’t top of my list of my orchid babies. No reason to die though! I think she had some pests infestation, as her leaves turned white a few months before she passed away. I used to have much more time and will to research these things and find a solution, but 2022 was way too busy for this. Luckily she hanged all by herself, with no other orchids around her to spread whatever she had. Sadly this is the only picture of it I found. Very poor quality ;)
And here some #rootporn again. Cattleyas, once they’re happy, they grow pretty strong roots, reaching out to find something to hold on to. I never let her. I love those crazy roots 😂
Next up, we have a few more Phalaenopsis spikes. I featured them all in November update and I’m featuring them again to show you the pain of waiting for them to flower. Once you see the spike, you’re like ‘Yeah! Flowers soon!’… a month later:
Or this even:
Alternatively this:
Until one day, you walk past and then came back to have a closer look and there is finally a flower:
This is a baby of my suicidal orchid and she’s like another species on her own. Everything is out of norm with this orchid, so unlike all the other Phals I have, she never let's me wait for flowers for long. Although they can drop very soon too if they don't like the conditions. I managed to catch this one just in time before she decided to throw her toys out of the pram. I noticed one browning flower and I removed her from the windowsill to a shelf further away from the heater and so far, so good. She's still blooming.
That will be it for today. I have plenty of newer pictures for another update lined up, so maybe next week I'll get to it. Right now it's a movie and sleep time. I have a plane to catch tomorrow morning!
Until next time 💙
| Camera: | iPhone11 |
|---|---|
| Photographer: | @fantagira |
| Editing apps: | none |