It’s been too long since I last wrote anything, not like anyone reads this anyways haha. But it’s because I’ve been waiting. Waiting for a few things, first I was waiting for my Sophronitis cernua to bloom, and then I was waiting for my society meeting so I could have it photographed by the society photographer.
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.
My last update was almost a week and a half ago. The three new orchids are doing well, I kept them separate from the main group up until this past watering because the weather has changed. Most of last week was a heat wave, some of the highest temps we’ve seen all summer! The mounted plants loved it outside, I was almost tempted to put everyone out there but decided against it. Knowing my luck, I’d forget they were there and they’d all burn to a crisp in the sun the next day.
The Leptotes bicolor is growing slowly, the new growth hasn’t really gotten any longer yet, but the new root it was pushing out has grown a few more millimeters and is beginning to turn inwards towards the mount. Since this species is a late winter bloomer, I don’t know if I’ll be seeing any blooms from the new lead or not. If I don’t I still have one growth that appears to not have flowered yet.
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.
Rebecca's Orchids 