Thank you, commentor Glidwrith:
Orchids are a blog favorite. I usually have around twenty, though not all will re-bloom for me.
I choose my orchids for not just the flowers, but for the structure of the plant. If it never blooms for me again, at least I have something interesting to look at…
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What’s going on in your garden (planning / prep / indoor), this week?
AM in NC
Wow – very cool! What kind is the one whose flowers look like a long yellow zipper? Thanks!
Jeffg166
Very nice.
I’ve had a few orchids in the past. They turned out to be a lot easier to grow than I thought they would be.
eclare
Such an interesting variety! I also would like to know the name of the one that looks like a long yellow zipper. Never seen anything like that.
JPL
Lovely pictures.
OzarkHillbilly
I lurvs me some orchids.
It is officially spring. The birds are singing with the predawn light and the ticks are embedding in the darkness of my shorts. Gonna be a good year for the ticks, not so good for me.
delphinium
Very nice-I like the variety of hanging planters you have as well! Got a taste of summer yesterday with highs in the low 70s; this morning it is back down to 24 degrees. The daffodils and hyacinths are coming up so expect to see some blooms in a week or two. Need to trim a few shrubs and trees but it will have to wait a bit until the freezing temps are finished.
Betty Cracker
My husband is the gardener in the family, but I take care of ONE plant, which is a Phalaenopsis orchid. Someone gave it to me, and I’ve kept it alive ever since. It’s super easy to care for.
WaterGirl
@Jeffg166: I think that certain plants like us. Not really us, but the light, or the location, or the particular quality of the soil. So they may seem easy to grow for us, but not for everyone.
Nice that orchids like “you”.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: You got a gardener and a baker?
The people who go for money are not choosing wisely. :-)
Gvg
I can grow most plants but not orchids. A shame because they are easy to find here in Florida. Friends will give them to you, lots of club sales, even the box stores sell them cheap.
I can grow ferns from spores and root cuttings of most things but kill orchids.
Yesterday I moved my seedling trays to mow and discovered something is eating the tops of my sprouts. Will have to dust with an insecticide. Never had to do that before. Not sure which culprit yet. I keep them under covers made of hardware “cloth” wire to keep out larger critters that dig so it has to be an insect type. Fortunately I was doing the successive batches so I had longer blooms and it was not all my seeds planted yet. Still disappointed. Also tired.
Amaryllis and larkspur blooming. New kinds of rain lilies came this week.
http://www.edensblooms.com/
MomSense
I love orchids. Got to spend some time with orchids at the botanical gardens in Naples FL and they are so beautiful.
MagdaInBlack
@OzarkHillbilly: The froglets in the forest preserve ponds are singing, so yes, spring is official here in outer Chicago-land too.
MagdaInBlack
I’ve never tried orchids, but there is an orchid grower here in the suburbs worth a visit, if only to stroll and gawk.
https://www.orchidsbyhausermann.com/
OzarkHillbilly
@MagdaInBlack: I haven’t heard any peepers yet, I’m beginning to wonder where they are.
sab
Howling scary winds and massive rains yesterday. Today calm and sunny.
PaulB
It looks like the yellow “zipper” orchid is a “Dendrochilum magnum.”
https://www.orchidees-parenthese-tropicale.com/boutique/dendrochilum/dendrochilum-magnum/
oldgold
Here on the outer rim of the Hardy Twilight Zone, just north of the odiferous community of Sulphur Springs, situated on the shore of a small glacial lake, the first harbingers of Spring have arrived – Canadian Geese.
These geese are the fowlest of the fowl. They are aggressive, ill-tempered, honking, hissing sh!t machines that love to paint my Viagra inspired pier, trample my garden, West of Eden, and scare the young goldflakes from the beach. Yet, federal law prevents me from doing a damn thing about these feathered international terrorists.
Well, there has been a clarion call for action, the Motherlode, heretofore the family’s premier birder: “OG, do something about this!” As such, we are now on war footing. As the Spring warms, I may post more dispatches from the front of this Get the Flock Out War.
Eljai
@oldgold: Last year a couple of Canadian geese decided to hang out in my sister and brother-in-law’s yard in northwest Missouri. At first, they were fun to watch. That didn’t last long.
Jeffg166
@WaterGirl: They are a very hardy plant.
Yes, some plants won’t grow no matter what I do. I found benign neglect seems to work. The more indifferent I am to their survival the more likely they will.
I have been out tearing out things that have become invasive. One is the variegated vinca that wasn’t suppose to be zone hardy here.
Glidwrith
@AM in NC:
@eclare:
@PaulB: Thanks Paul. The tag is grown over and all I can see is “Dendro”. Colloquially, I was told it was a Chinese New Year orchid. It has a lemony smell and around the Chinese New Year it blew out eight more of those zipper flower spikes like party favors.
kindness
I used to have terrible luck with orchids. They’d only last 6 months. Until I moved and put a bay window into the kitchen where they now get full morning sun. Now I have orchids that are 5 & 6 years old and bloom twice a year mostly. Love the planters you show. I need to get some of those.
StringOnAStick
@oldgold: The parks and recreation department here issues a call every year for people to get their dogs certified as official geese harassment troops. I’m assuming that means chase, but not bite or kill.
Seems like people who do well with orchids aren’t ones who live where forced air heating is common. I really wish that heat vents weren’t always placed under the windows where my houseplants need to be located.
Anyway
Love all the pictures and absolutely loved the non-flowering greenery. I I’ve never tried growing orchids — might have to try one this year
ETA what’s a good starter orchids? I’m in the Philly area…
oldgold
Seriously, with these waddling honkers I don’t no whether to be serious orchid around
Glidwrith
@Anyway: The ones you see in the grocery stores are pretty hardy. They will have large leaves and the classic orchid flowers.
Water no more than once per week, allowing it to drain completely. Indirect light is fine. If you have a flower spike, don’t cut it off once the flowers drop. Sometimes a happy, hardy orchid will put out a secondary spike and you get more blooms.
Anyway
@Glidwrith:
Thanks, that’s perfect — starting with a grocery store orchids… I’ll give it a shot.
Glidwrith
@kindness: Cal Pacific Orchid Farm in Encinitas is where I get my orchids and planters. Lots of common orchids and once in a while the unique beauties that I buy.
kindness
@Glidwrith: Thanks. I’ll use the web to go there. Being in Modesto, Encitas is kind of far to just stop by.
SteveinPHX
I thought all the corn grew in Kansas!
Wishing you total victory.
satby
Glidwrith, on the way to Seattle, but wanted to say beautiful orchids! Thanks for the growing advice, I may attempt an orchid next.
Denali5
I never had any luck with orchids but did enjoy a recent visit to the orchid room at Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia. The guide told us that one of the rarest orchids is the Darwin Orchid. The rarer orchids are not on display because they might be stolen.
Glidwrith
If any of you happen to visit San Diego, the Zoo has a rare orchid display. Open only one day once a month for 2-3 hours, you are escorted through the greenhouse and told of histories and types.
We have these orchids because of smugglers bringing them through our international airport. The Zoo rescues them and preserves what they can.