Yesterday was the Vancouver Orchid Society Sale at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens. I sat on the bus for over an hour and a half in the burning hot sun, to see what they had for sale. It was a member sale, there weren’t any big growers from out of country there, only one local vendor from up the valley, so I wasn’t expecting a lot.
The sale was located in the Floral Hall of Van Dusen, so we didn’t get to go in and wander around, we didn’t have much time anyways. There was a display table, but it was just various plants in bloom. I didn’t take a picture since there were so few plants, but they were very nice either way.
We tried to get tickets for the raffle, but sadly we didn’t win. I was hoping we’d get something since they told us it had been slow. They hustled us! Haha, that’s ok though, it went towards a good cause.
I purchased 3 new plants, Leptotes bicolor, Bulbophyllum lobbii, and Sophronitis cernua. Only one of these was one I really wanted now. The other two were interesting, and I did want to get them but I had ones I wanted more on my list. Sadly, I didn’t see the ones higher on the list. BUT I am glad I got these three.
I’m interested in getting Leptotes bicolor to bloom, the blooms seem to be cute, and it’s a miniature, so that means more space for other plants :D. And since I’ve always loved Brassavola nodosa and it’s unusual leaves, this one was a no brainer for me. Apparently the pods from this plant can be used to flavor milk and ice cream, like Vanilla.
Bulbophyllum lobbii is actually an awarded plant… ohh ahh… it’s actually Bulbo. lobbii “Kathy Gold” AM/AOS. I know what you are saying to yourself right now. What the heck does that mean? Well it means that the American Orchid Society judge gave the blooms of this plant a score between 80-89 points on a 100 point scale. So that’s pretty good. It has 3 bulbs already, and is growing a fourth. Unfortunately, the plant I purchased was a division, and it had been from an overgrown part of the plant. So the roots have had nothing to confine them, or guide them in a specific direction. It’s a mess of roots all over the place. I originally was going to mount it because of that, but after looking online, I thought it would be better to pot it.
Because of it’s unusual growing pattern, I wasn’t able to make it fit into a normal pot. So last night I sat down and broke down my orchid mix into smaller pieces, and put it to soak overnight with rooting hormone. This morning I got an oblong plastic food container that we no longer use, cut some holes in the corners for drainage, and tried my best to pot the beast! It’s going to be awhile for the roots to begin growing downwards and hopefully the new growth will begin to turn and face upwards. My husband liked the look of the flower, and wanted me to get this one. So I’ll have to bust my butt to make sure I can get it to bloom.
The last new plant I got was Sophronitis cernua. I got this plant because I’ve been lurking the Orchid Board forums recently again. Every season they try to get together a group of people to do a project, they’ll vote on a set of plants, and everyone will purchase the winner. They’ll then try growing the plant in their different areas of the world and compare notes and tips on how to successfully grow and bloom it. Well Sophronitis cernua was their last project, and I have looked over the thread and looked at every pic posted and just fell in love with this plant. I quickly added it to my wishlist, and when I saw it there (it was the only one), I knew I had to grab it.
So I didn’t post any updates last Sunday for a couple reasons. One, I had made a midweek post about my Ludisia discolor. Two, it was my husband’s birthday so we were busy celebrating with family. Three, one of my cats escaped our house and was hit by a car and passed away 😦 so I wasn’t in much of a mood to try being happy about growth.
This week is a different story, it’s time to turn a new leaf, so to speak. And the phals are proving that to be a literal meaning. Every single one of my phals has a new leave growing. In the case of the triplets, there are three new leaves coming, as well as an explosion of new root growth. It’s awesome.
My NoID phal #2 ( Phal. Ever Spring Prince) is also exploding with new root growth and a new leaf. Which is great since it’s leaves were so flimsy when I first got it. It’s really coming back now. All the blooms on it have fallen off, but it’s beginning to put energy into it’s subspike. So I cut the spike until just before the subspike starts, in hopes it’ll mature faster. I decided to try an experiment with the spike I cut off though. I’ve placed it in water culture to see if I can somehow get it to keiki. I don’t expect it to work, but it would be nice to get another plant out of it, and it will give me some experience with water culture for the future.
Phal. NoID (a.k.a. Sylvester) is doing great too, it’s oldest leave is now yellowing and preparing to fall off, but it’s new leaf is growing strong and ready to take it’s place. The roots are now snaking their way down the side of it’s pot. It’s now time to look towards it blooming. It’s the only thing left for it to do to be a complete success.
My Ludisia discolor is doing great still too. The leaves have darkened up nicely since I moved it to it’s new spot, and one of the new growths is beginning to get a darker colour on it, hopefully it will make it’s appearance soon.
I got a massive surprise when I went to water my Den. kingianum today. I currently have it in sphag moss in a net pot, then I have the net pot sitting in a cup (make shift pot) with S/h clay pellets in the bottom. I pour some water in every few days to keep humidity up. Well today when I pulled it out to water it I noticed the roots for it had grown straight through the bottom of the netpot and had grown an inch and a half past it. I’ve almost noticed a bunch of other roots trying to push through the holes elsewhere in the pot. I think I might have to repot this bad boy soon.
My Maxillaria sophronitis is doing well. The weather has been weird here recently, really hot days, then thunderstorms with downpours or really cool temps. All the new growths on it are growing nice and large. I’m going to have to make a point of spraying it during the day more since the heat doesn’t seem to be cooling off anytime soon. I don’t want to lose many leaves to sunburn.
So massive update was massive, sorry for the wall of text hahaha.
Rebecca's Orchids 