Great plants! I was afraid Larry's plants might be small, I see him selling a lot of plants on ebay but he only shows an adult example, never the plant he is selling.

In your great environment with your care, I'm sure they'll grow fast!!

Jim, now those are very beautiful and healthy plants and they should make up for the tiny ones from Larry's Orchids...

I am dying to see what the David Sander backcrossed to digbyana will look like. And will it be scented.

Nice shopping, Jim. And I rarely buy an orchid I can't touch.

I'm not surprised about Larry's. Years ago I had a bad experience and have avoided him like the plague. But very exciting stuff from Plantio La Orquidea. Can't wait for you to bloom that David Sanders x digbyana plant. And I have never seen such a healthy digbyana! Great choice. And my fav is the Mcp brysiana var. semi alba. Sexy plant and way too big for here.
I got a wonderful Max. striata in the mail today all the way from CA! http://forum.crazyorchidlady.c...

That is a very good looking flower on that Max. striata

Thanks Ted, Can't take a drop of credit!

Beautiful Max. striata, Kathy. Why can't I have decent luck with the mail order plants?

Jim

Doesn't Larry Orchids describe what he is selling? Pictures of mature plants or (future) flowers don't mean a thing without an accurate description of the size of plant and what size pot it is in. I see Cattleya Alliance orchids sold as BS or NBS, growing in 1 1/2 - 2" pots. That is not only deceptive but often down right fraudulent. Ken

I definitely prefer buying at shows and open houses. To me it is more fun that way and I know what I am getting. But I have bought on occasion through websites, and the result were spotty - some great and some not so nice.

We are pretty lucky here. Lots of shows. The Fascination of Orchids International Show & Sale is in late September followed by the San Diego International Orchid Fair the following weekend. SD is about 2+ hours from me but a beautiful coastal drive for most of the way. The nice thing about this show is that a number of growers will be holding open houses that are just north of San Diego.


Ursula, you've had good luck with Ecuagenera, correct. I was going to order an item from them, but since they are going to be here next month, I thought I'd wait. But then again I don't want to leave to chance that they will bring what I want. So I was thinking of pre-ordering

I buy mail order all the time but I have a list of fav sellers that I have had consistently good experiences with. Jim, you can always ask me if you want to know about sellers I like. There is a learning curve, but I pay close attention on ebay to the number of sales and the reviews. Larry's is on my never buy list. I have had bad experiences with Ecuagenera when they ship from a show to here (too much time on the road), but good experiences buying from them at shows. Pre-ordering is a great idea. I have had my very best experiences with South American orchids by buying from northeast US sellers who have grown the plants for a year. That way they are acclimated to North America. As far as Andy's, I have had mostly very good experiences with mail order. The best plant I bought was a specimen size laelia for a reasonable price. I would buy mail order from Santa Barbara constantly but their shipping is exorbitant. So I make a big order every 5 years. When I was running the orchid cubit, I had a thread about Santa Barbara's packing job. They send plants in flower so well!

Ted, normally I never pre-order from Ecuagenera, they bring such variety of stuff along when they come up North to us, I rather let them surprise me. Also, their plants might have traveled a lot if "my" show is perhaps not first on their list of shows. I think our Febr Show at Dearborn is at the beginning of their tour, so theoretically I could pre-order.
Now this time I have a preorder shipped from Miami in September from Ecuagenera. ( really looking forwrads to that) Touring some of their greenhouses I picked a lot of nice plants. Unfortunately not all my choices will be on the list, but it should be a really fun order. There was no way I would have been able to leave Ecuador without picking up any Orchids and that is the best and proper way to do it.

Wow, lots of chat on this thread since I looked! On the tiny plants from Larry's, that is good to know! But at least the Coelogyne might grow fast enough to bloom for you soon, Jim. Says it is a 'rampant rambling grower'. If it is, I want one! I'll trade you a division for a hunk of 'Big Jim'. In a year or two . .. right?

I have one of those David Sander X Rhyncholaelia digbyana 'fimbriata' crosses from Plantio, too. I thought it was another David Sander, until I hung my blooming David up beside it before I went on holiday. The leaves are much shorter and wider than David, and lighter green, too. Turns out I had just seen the top half of the tag that said David Sander. I apologize, but must brag that I got it bare-root at last fall's Tropiflora Plant Festival for $10. Plantio's greenhouses are either on, or next door to Tropiflora's property, a huge nursery specializing in bromeliads. I absolutely always attend their plant festivals and have scored some true bargoons there, (obviously).

Just popped out to the cage, and it appears that plant has sheaths, so . . . will have to keep up with all the water it's been getting, hopefully see flowers soon!

Very good, Elaine. I can't wait to see those blooms.

Jim

Ohh, looks promising!

So, not an orchid, but hopefully a pretty way to display them. Since my orchids are inside the pool cage where we also entertain and spend time swimming and eating, I've tried several ways to display the orchids so that they are decorative and tidy even when they aren't in bloom. My DH, not a plant person by any stretch, commented soon after I really began collecting orchids 'Hm, nice flowers but they're not particularly attractive plants, are they?' Granted, I had bought some pretty scruffy looking 'orphans' at that time.

I got this nice trellis at Lowe's today. It has six empty 'frames' that I'm thinking I will display some of my mounted orchids in. Square rafts, or pieces of cork suspended in the frames as mounts. What do you think?

Looks attractive!
Can that wall get wet?

I think so, Ursula, as it looks like one of the exterior walls in the pool cage.

I went to my orchid club meeting today and didn't win a ribbon this time. My bloomers were all past their prime and begining to droop. Timing is a big player in orchid shows. One lady had a nice Stanhopea there and those flowers only last a couple of days. Talk about good timing.

Anyway, I came home with three new babies. The first is Habenaria rhodochelia X outcross which I understand is a species in spite of the name. It is in bloom.


The second one is Schombocattleya Dulatiaca 'Lava Flow' AM/AOS. The newer name is Laelianthe Dulatiaca 'Lava Flow'. I can't resist Schomburgkias. Here is a pic of the flower: http://www.ironwoodorchids.com...

The last one is Maxillaria tenuifolia. I already have one but no one put in a bid on the poor guy so I picked it up for $8. This is a bloom from my other one.


A good day and no rain.

Jim

I see. that should make watering easy.
Very attractive purchases, Jim.
Looks like the Habenaria rhodocheila x is fairly dark pink, at least darker than my "plain" rhodocheila.
The 'Lava Flow' is gorgeous, I can certainly see the attraction! And that is a nice color too on the Max ten.

So right, Jim. It is a stucco wall and has had a little (rusting) shelf unit of orchids against it for 2 years. Not a mark on it so I'm not worried about the wall. Right next to it is the patio door that I use all day long to go out to the garden, so when I have orchids in bloom I put them right by that door.

I think I'll ask DH to mount the trellis to the wall with spacers so it will stand an inch or two away from the stucco though. Just for air circulation. Good for the orchids and also to keep the trellis from rusting out too fast. This climate is not kind to anything metal.

Nice new babies there, Jim. Love the color on the little Habenaria.