Well it’s been awhile since anything was posted, so I should probably give an update.
Many plants have been growing strong. Many are beginning their growth spurts, some have started growing that I thought were just sitting there doing nothing since I had gotten them.
This is my first post of the new year, and with it comes my orchid resolutions. Sure I have the usual ones, like getting out for daily walks, or trying new foods, but the most important ones are about my plants.
Valentine’s day is coming! Which means spring is around the corner! New growths should begin sprouting, and plants will begin growing like weeds!
I decided to begin the new year sick… I’ve caught that nasty flu that’s been going around lately. So I’ve been curled up on the couch covered in blankets with a thermometer sticking out my mouth. Yay… Continue reading
Now I know it’s not an orchid, but my Venus Fly Trap is flowering. The first bloom opened last week, surprising me. I knew it was going to bloom, the spike is really long, but I didn’t expect it to be so….. pretty.
Such a delicate little flower for a plant I honestly didn’t want to get. I only got it because we had a fruit fly problem during the Summer that had to be taken care of. From the looks of it, I will end up with 4 flowers. Most information I’ve found about it said that often spikes are just cut off so the plant can focus on growing. Well I might do that in the future, but this time I wanted to see what they looked like. I’m glad I did. The first bloom has since dried up, but the other three are beginning so show their colour, and will probably open up before Christmas.
I have been so busy lately, that I haven’t had time to post. We had a city water pipe burst a few weeks ago, that flooded our property and part of our basement, so we’ve been in repair mode. The house looks like a disaster zone, but the orchids were untouched.
Being so busy with trying to clean up the giant mess, I haven’t had much time to look after the plants. I still managed to water them when they needed it, but I didn’t pay much attention to them to see about new growths and what not. You’ll understand my surprise then when I finally had a few minutes to look at them and notice all the changes.
All the plants I purchased at the Orchid Show last month have been moved into the main case with my other plants. So I was able to inspect each plant.
Over the weekend it was the Fraser Valley Orchid Society Show and Sale, my mother and I went for some “girl time”, and had a really nice time. This is one of the bigger shows to go to, and I was really excited to go because they usually have vendors from all around the world. I wasn’t disappointed!
I forgot to take my camera with me so I wasn’t able to get pictures of all the displays from the local Orchid societies, but they were amazing. There were lots of miniatures, and some massive specimen plants there to be seen. I was there for the juicy stuff in the next room though.
In previous years when I’ve gone, I brought a long list of plants I wanted to get, hoping I would find them there. This year I went with a different approach, I had an idea of some I would like to get, but there was only one or two I was specifically looking for that were must haves. Sadly for me, I couldn’t find any of my must haves, but I didn’t walk away empty handed.
It’s obvious, summer is technically over, but the warmth is hanging on – that too will finally starting to make it’s way out. The cooler, more humid temps of fall will make their way into the spotlight. I, personally, love fall, I hate summer, it gets too hot, too dry… you get sunblock all over your clothes, it’s nice because stuff grows but that’s about it. I’m not a summer person.
Fall brought new worries this year for me. This is the first Fall since I started collecting Orchids again, and I’m worried that things might get too cool or wet for my babies. Hopefully this won’t be a problem. But it brings to the forefront the idea of lowering watering amounts, fertilizing less and possible winter rest periods for some plants.
I’ve done some looking, and most of the plants I have bloom in the Fall – Spring period. So while summer was mostly bloomless for me, I’m hoping something will bloom in the next few months and brighten up the cold days.
The cooler weather also means I’ll be going longer periods in between watering. I don’t want root rot to set in, but some like the Bulbo like being wetter, so I’m going to have to start playing it by ear.
Every week I’ve posted something talking about how each plant has grown. Well last week I decided I wasn’t going to post anything because saying “a root grew an inch!” just isn’t exciting…
So my updates will probably be fewer, so as not to bore people. That being said, the past two weeks have been great. The weather has been super hot, but really dry. I had all the plants in a humidity tray, that had a lid to keep humidity up. With all the plants growing so much though, space was really cramped.
Queue my darling hubby. Due to a move at his work, he was able to snag a glass container for me! And it’s awesome! It’s 4 shelves tall, all glass except for the base and top, and has a spot for me to hook up a light at the top. I’ve moved all the plants to it, but it makes me realize I have a LOT of free space now. Keeping humidity up in the new cabinet is challenging. With so few plants, humidity is lower, I’ve now resorted to leaving a tub of water inside it, and spraying the glass several times a day to keep it around 40%.
I’ll probably end up having to make a sheet of plastic wrap to put down the edge of the door, so keep humid air in. And I’ll probably think about using some Aluminum foil to reflect light back into the plants.
But this is a site about plants, so here’s what’s going on with them.
Well the hot summer temps seem to be over for now in Vancouver, which means more clouds, higher humidity and the plants aren’t drying out as quickly. I’ve begun to reduce watering to avoid root rot, so the updates aren’t as frequent. But the change in heat, hasn’t stopped the plants from growing like mad!
My Phal. NoID that I believe to be Phal. Ever Spring Prince is growing quickly. It’s new leaf is coming out a nice round shape and a healthy green colour with little freckles all over it. It’s exploding with roots from the crown, and existing roots are growing thick and healthy into the media. I know this one just finished blooming, but I’m hoping maybe when the temps get really cool, I’ll be treated to another spike from this one. I really liked the small purple blooms.
Rebecca's Orchids 