Odontoglossum nobile orchid ( Full Moon x Tiffany)

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidMay 10th, 2011 | 11 Comments

Another of my beautiful Odm. nobile orchid currently in flower – it’s very nice cross named ‘Full Moon x Tiffany” and it flowers with huge white pink dotted blooms. The flowers are large and free flowing relaxed petals and plant producing many long sprays of them during it’s blooming season. It’s also a scented orchid that have strong smell of jasmine that lingers for a long time – an absolute delight!

The flowers stay on the plant for about three weeks or so and many new flower spikes develop during it’s flowering time, giving an opportunity to really enjoy this beautiful and special creation.

Odontoglossum nobile native to clouded forests of Colombia, found in an high elevation of 2400m and in our climate perfectly suited to greenhouse cultivation – it needs moderate light, dry conditions between watering and free flowing orchid compost so it can drain freely. Odm. nobile have pristine white large blooms and this variety of Full Moon x Tiffany displaying larger ( 8.5cm) and more colorful flowers.

It’s another beautiful orchid that easy to cultivate for experienced orchid grower as well as beginner and will reward year after year with it’s special, majestic scented blooms.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Oncidium orchid Sharri Baby “Sweet Fragrance”

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidMay 3rd, 2011 | 8 Comments

My wonderful Oncidium Sharri Baby currently in flower – it’s variety “Sweet Fragrance” and have beautiful scented blooms, reminiscent of “sour cherries” – what a delight! It flowers with masses of small sculptured flowers on long arching flower spikes and flowers are burgundy color with just a touch of white on the petals.

Sharri Baby is one of the most famous of the Oncidium hybrids ( Jamie Sutton x Honolulu) and “Sweet Fragrance” lives up to it’s name, it’s one of the best known fragrant orchids on the market today. It’s very generous in it’s growing habit, producing many new bulbs and leaves and flower spikes during it’s growing season and can get quite large specimen in short period of time. This never a problem to me – I just divide it and share it with friends and other orchids growers and collectors.

It’s one of the easiest orchids to grow for the beginners – it likes a lot of water during it’s growing time and to be a little bit drier when it’s resting, in our climate it’s quite happy to grow outside under the shade of the trees, but in colder climates it loves sunny window situation. It have large pseudobulbs that will shrivel if the plant not getting enough moisture, indicating optimum growing requirements.

The original Sharri Baby hybrid have chocolate/vanilla scented flowers and Sharri Baby “Sweet Fragrance” beautiful “sour cherry” scented blooms and if you ever wanted to grow an orchid or two, give them a go – they easy and will reward you with their special fragrant blooms.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Oncidium orchid Sharri Baby “Sweet Fragrance”

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidMay 3rd, 2011 | 8 Comments

My wonderful Oncidium Sharri Baby currently in flower – it’s variety “Sweet Fragrance” and have beautiful scented blooms, reminiscent of “sour cherries” – what a delight! It flowers with masses of small sculptured flowers on long arching flower spikes and flowers are burgundy color with just a touch of white on the petals.

Sharri Baby is one of the most famous of the Oncidium hybrids ( Jamie Sutton x Honolulu) and “Sweet Fragrance” lives up to it’s name, it’s one of the best known fragrant orchids on the market today. It’s very generous in it’s growing habit, producing many new bulbs and leaves and flower spikes during it’s growing season and can get quite large specimen in short period of time. This never a problem to me – I just divide it and share it with friends and other orchids growers and collectors.

It’s one of the easiest orchids to grow for the beginners – it likes a lot of water during it’s growing time and to be a little bit drier when it’s resting, in our climate it’s quite happy to grow outside under the shade of the trees, but in colder climates it loves sunny window situation. It have large pseudobulbs that will shrivel if the plant not getting enough moisture, indicating optimum growing requirements.

The original Sharri Baby hybrid have chocolate/vanilla scented flowers and Sharri Baby “Sweet Fragrance” beautiful “sour cherry” scented blooms and if you ever wanted to grow an orchid or two, give them a go – they easy and will reward you with their special fragrant blooms.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Laelia tenebrosa “Nicci”

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidApr 12th, 2011 | 7 Comments

My beautiful and flamboyant Laelia tenebrosa native to Brazil just finished it’s flowering season – it’s variety “Nicci” and in our climate it’s blooming in autumn.

Laelia genus previously comprised more than 60 different species, but it has recently been revised and now contains only a few from Central America. Their growth habitat closely resembles that of Cattleya’s and in cultivation they require similar conditions. They need well-drained mix and plenty of watering during growing time and then drier situations during dormant months.

The flowers of Laelia tenebrosa are large and showy( 19 cm/7 1/2 inches) , scented, wide open up to four blooms on each flower spike. Colors can vary and my “Nicci” variety displays beautiful bronze/purple blooms that loved by everyone, even though it’s unusual color combination, being on the opposite side of the color wheel. Nature’s creations…

This beautiful orchid was first documented in 1800′s and it’s origin’s traced to small area of Espirito Santo state in Brazil, where it now considered virtually extinct. It grew in dense forests on large trees and that area of the rain forest now been totally destroyed. Most of the plants available today come from sub crosses or clones of old jungle plants. One really hopes that some original genes still left and breeders can recreate this magical orchid, to be enjoyed by everyone.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Phaius tankervilleae orchid

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidMar 29th, 2011 | 9 Comments

These beautiful orchids native to India, Southern Asia, New Guinea, Australia and many islands of the pacific very popular with gardeners and orchid collectors. There are currently about 50 species in phaius genus and tankervilleae is one of them. In nature they can be found in a variety of habitats and altitudes. They have squat pseudobulbs and large, pleated leaves. The flower spikes erect with several large, colorful flowers.

These species are terrestrial, which means that they happily grow in the garden and present great opportunity for landscaping with orchids in mild climates. They quite easy to grow and to flower, providing some of their requirements are met – they love organically rich soil, they prefer to be kept moist year-round and fertilized while actively growing. Plants of this very popular species will grow and flower under direct sunlight, but the best results are achieved with shaded conditions. If you have shaded spot in the garden and would like to grow an orchid or two, try phaius – they quite hardy and easy to grow and will reward you with many beautiful blooms.

There are other colorful phaius varieties – for instance phaius flavus have huge yellow/red color blooms, phaius pulchellus blooms with dark burgundy color flowers, there are others with lime green or dark brown or orange/ copper colored flowers, presenting quite a range for landscaping with orchids.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Rhizanthella slateri – rare underground orchid

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidMar 8th, 2011 | 5 Comments

This very unusual and very rare eastern orchid lives under the ground as rhizomes. When it wants to flower, it comes up to the surface and breaks the surface but is still under the leaf litter, and that’s where it flowers.

Eastern underground orchids have been spotted at just a handful of sites in NSW and southern QLD, but scientists think there may be more undiscovered colonies of this rare and unusual prehistoric orchid. Through painstaking field work about a dozen of this endangered orchids were identified – but the exact locations were kept secret from the public.

Scientists are celebrating saving of this unusual orchid from the blades of a bulldozers on the NSW central coast earlier this year and their protection from a new highway project, north of Newcastle. They collected the plants for seed and transported them 430 km south to Canberra, but never expected them to survive and to flower. But they have – sending up several red-brown heads of flowers about the size of 20 cent piece – living scientists, and all orchid enthusiasts hopeful for the future of the species. They are planning to introduce this orchid back into the wild and ensure the long-term survival of this rare plant.

There was also extensive negotiations with RTA ( Roads and Traffic Authority) and the route of the highway was altered to avoid the known colonies of rhizanthella slateri, while other native plants were salvaged from the bulldozers.

So, here it is – extremely rare underground orchid saved for future generations to admire and to study and preserve and cherish and the motorists using soon-to-be-completed highway bypass North of Newcastle will notice strange bends in the highway – they actually tweaked the highway… it’s got slight kink in it, because the orchid’s there.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Orchids in the Moonlight ( 1933)

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidFeb 15th, 2011 | 1 Comment

Orchids and Tango – how appropriate, especially on Valentine day!

This beautiful Tango was first recorded in the film “Flying Down to Rio” in 1933. Raul Roulein sang this tango in the movie together with Delores Del Rio and in the film was also the possibly the most famous dancing duo – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

I watched this old black and white movie the other day and enjoyed the beautiful music and singing and dancing and suddenly remembered my grandparents dancing to this beautiful tune! Memories galore!

Over the years, many artists sang and recorded “Orchids in the Moonlight”, the following song was recorded by The Platers in 1960′s and to this day remains one of the popular versions of this Tango. It’s a special tribute to Orchids and to Tango.

I am sure you will enjoy “Orchids in the Moonlight” on this Valentine’s Day.

Source: My Orchids Journal

Oda. Shine Gate x Oda. Wearside Pattern

Posted by Alex in Types of OrchidFeb 1st, 2011 | 5 Comments

This beautiful odontoglossum cross orchid flowering at the moment – its a cross between Shine Gate and Wearside Pattern and it’s producing hot pink relaxed blooms with many contrast markings on the petals. The flowers are really nice and one can’t miss it in the greenhouse – bold, vibrant splashers of color is what this cross all about.

Odontoglossum genus native to Andes and freely grow mostly in cloud forests in constantly cool, wet habitats at altitudes above 5000 ft(1500m). The flowers of this genus is mostly large and showy and these orchids are very popular among growers with cool orchid houses.

Having said that, they are not the easiest orchids to cultivate and need a bit of dedication to bring them to flower. The trick , like with many orchids of course, trying to duplicate as close as possible their natural growing conditions – they require constant watering and high humidity with good air movement and a lot of shade, particularly in our hot summer conditions. At the same time, they don’t like a lot of moisture in the leaf axils, so it’s kind of constant search for a balance with these one’s.

Still, a beautiful creation by Nature that conjures up image of exotic, delicate, rare, romantic, spectacular blooms and an interesting challenge for someone like me to be able to grow them and to reveal and appreciate their special beauty, vibrations and diversity.

Source: My Orchids Journal