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The thread "Our Orchid blooms in February 2014" in Orchids forum

Jim posted his awards pictures last night and I think they need to be repeated here:

hawkarica said:The awards pictures just came in. One with the Cym and the other with the Den spectabile.


Jim

Awesome!

March is the time when our Spring blooming Orchids come into bloom and delight us! Please post along and have a good time!

In my greenhouse I see a lot of Spring bloomers ready to open, but not in time to start this thread. So, I will start it with some repeat bloomers and
the little Domingoa haematochila with its surprise bloom


Potinara Hoku Gem blooms year around, I would think it is one of my easiest bloomers. I have 'Sunspots'. Both plants ( I divided mine a few years ago) sit right under the glass ceiling and truly bloomed all Winter. Had to really reach to get them down for some pictures.

Looking at this - can you see the spike coming right out along with the new growth?


Barkeria melanocaulon started blooming last Fall and is still at it


And the Lc Love Knot coerulea is producing nice blooms here and there all Winter high up in the ceiling. Unfortunately I discovered a scale attack when yesterday I took it down to inspect. I cleaned it up immediately, luckily the bugs didn't get too deeply into the clump. The pictures shows the clean plant.


Talking about Dendrobiums, here is one of the tiniest! I like the interesting growth on Den. toressae and the teensy blooms are a bonus. It is this Winter crawling around the mount and finally seems to take off.

I love them all. Now, if we could just get some springtime weather. We will be back in the 20's Tuesday and Wednesday AM's!

This must be the coldest Winter since we moved here in 1966! It just doesn't quit this year!

Amazing little Den there Ursula. Is there white variegation (dots) on the leaves or are they a shiny pebbled texture?

I do love the Hoku Gems, I got 'Freckles' from Lindsay last year, but it fell victim to the black plague last fall, sadly. Keeping my eye out for another.

Elaine, it is not a variegation, but yes, the light bounces off the rough, pebbled surface.

I can send you one of my Hoku Gems, when the weather gets warmer.

What a wonderful offer, Ursula. If you're sure you want to part with one, let's discuss what I could trade you for it?

As you say, much too cold still to be mailing anything.

Nice ones, Ursula!

Thanks, Kathy!

All are nice, Ursula, and I certainly don't mind seeing them again. I went back to the show today at 5:00 PM to collect my spectabile and it is now safely back in the OC. I have an orchid presentation to give on Wednesday night and I'm nor sure if I should take it or just let it rest. Lots in bud right now but only one ready for prime time. Here is Brassavola glauca (now Rhyncholaelia [Rl.] glauca). I wonder if Rhyncholaelia will ever roll off the tongue as nicely as Brassavola did?


Here is the well traveled Den. spectabile back at home.


Jim

The Den. spectabile looks downright fierce there!! Great plant.
Did you sniff the ..... .glauca at sundown? So nice!

Yeah, no snow this morning, we dodged a bullet as the snow line was South of us.

And the orchid cage is fixed! Klaus stabilized the ceiling with 10 foot sign poles across the top, before we were supposed to get another load of snow! He is the Best!

That's great to hear, Ursula. A sure sign of spring?

Jim, that Den spectabile really is magnificent, but too bad somebody scrunched up all the flowers, huh??

Good morning all, snow falling this morning, ice thunder last night and Memphis is closed. Power is gonna take a while to get back for about a third of the city because the ice on power lines needs to melt. That will be tomorrow to get above 32 degrees. It's beautiful looking out at the Zoo and Rhoads college campus.
So I got on ebay and there are coel Jannine Banks plugs that I ordered with buy it now! I'm so happy, happy today.



Looking at Chinese panda house and pagoda across N Parkway, fountain never froze even though it was a low of 13. Snow has stopped and sun is coming out. Monday morning work day and this was a great excuse to stay home! No one out at 9AM.

Bert

I thought you only purchased BS plants, Bert.

Bert, that looks so cold! {{{{{{shiver}}}}}} I guess YOU have power?
Looking forwards to see your new Coelogynes!

Hi Ken, you are absolutely right! My conditions in this concrete cave are not the best. I lost a great deal this winter due to low humidity, etc. but I have found that my coel are a hardy bunch. They seem to be very tolerant. As I was on Ebay I found them to be very large plants and robust looking, so transplanting them early spring and going out to patio in 3-4 weeks I think they are worth a try!
Same ebay seller that I got the 10.00 Den kingianum, free shipping and little devil bloomed in 4 weeks. Out of Cali and called' phapina.....' I'll correct this when I find it.
How was your weather last night, I woke to ice thunder!

Name of ebay seller: paphinessorchids
I recommend them, nice variety and some odds and ends.

We have missed all the bad stuff, just cold (and still dropping) and very windy. We are supposed to get up to 40 this afternoon (its 27 now and was 32 at 7:00 AM) and then back into the mid-20's in the morning. I heard a report that it is snowing in several locations in MS, including Jackson, but no snow here so far.

Other than all the plants I had to leave out, I have only had a couple of varieties of ficus damaged, and they were in a far corner of one of the greenhouses. I guess they were in an area that not only did not get enough heat but also must have had some sort of cold draft there. They may come back but I have my doubts. No problem, I am still getting my air-layered cuttings from my "mother" fiddleleaf. That's the only way I can obtain 18-24" plants of that variety.

This winter was a good test for your 'solar blanket idea', you have the wild Mar weather changes coming then will you take this layer off or keep it on for trial in summer?

IF we ever get spring-like weather, I think I may take the two roof covers off, which also covers two sides on the free-standing GH and one side of the lean-to GH. Those will come off easily from my two greenhouses. That would leave two end panels, including the doors. Those solar blanket panels are all screwed in and would be more time-consuming to remove. I then would have to put the "shade-cloth" back on the two greenhouses, and those two cover exactly what I would remove with the solar blanket material. During the summer months I leave the doors open and the vents all open. The heat escapes through those doors/vents, so the solar material left on the end panels shouldn't make any difference and will actually give me a little bit of diffusion of the sunlight. I run four fans in the "Orchid GH" and three in the "Everything Else GH", so that certainly gives some cooling effect as well.

You are right, my solar blanket material has had the ultimate test, at least for my part of the country. I think it greatly aided my GH's in trapping heat inside and keeping some of the cold outside. That is only my observation and I really don't know how I can ever prove it, one way or the other. I still want to figure out a way to cover all my exposed marine vinyl panels, those that cover the screening of my porch. If I can figure out a way to do that, and I want to be able to roll the two large solar blanket panels up during nice weather, I think it would really make a difference in keeping the temperature warmer on my porch during the cold months.

Phew, that sure sounds like a lotta work, Ken. I guess I shouldn't complain when I have to cover my orchids or bring them into the house for a few days here and there . .

It seems we are forecast to just catch the tail end of the cold front this time. We'll get rain on Wed. cool and still rainy Thursday and a high of 68, low of 50 Friday . . once again the bloomers and Vandas will have to come into the house.