It's May, the beautiful month of May!!
We came from here
The thread "Our Orchid blooms in April 2014" in Orchids forum
and it is now time for a new thread. Please all join in and have a good time.

Let me start with my Cattleya intermedia orlata 'Sendai' BM/JOGA, it just opened this week.


Leptotes bicolor continues to open


And a small surprise, this little mounted Cattleya luteola is a cutie.


a noid Tolumnia, although the seller some years ago had called it Ducky Doo. It was nearly dead a couple of times but always seems to come back.


And, not sparkling here under a rainy ceiling, my purple secundum type Epidendrum

All lovely Ursula. The little Catt luteola is my favorite color.

Ooh, I do miss my orchids. Will be home Monday.. This grandmother job is tough! Plus I have a ton of planting to do here,

Thanks, Elaine.
Then I can ship out your Pot Hoku Gem the beginning of next week. Perhaps you might drop me a Tree mail with your address, please.

Grandmother stuff does get easier down the road, especially if the little ones don't live too far away, it becomes fun! And one doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night.....

Will do Ursula, thanks. I am also thankful that I have not had to get up overnight. Guest room is in the basement so I can't hear her cry. I take over helping mom in the morning and let dad sleep in.

Thanks, Ursula, for the nice start to our May thread. I still like that leptotes. May seems to be our worst month for gardening here in the Tampa area. The heat is back and the rainy season doesn't start until June. We caught a break today in that it has been raining since about 7:00 this morning, a real blessing. The grass and garden plants are loving it.

Jim

We had yesterday the first really nice short-sleeve and shorts weather, after some deluge a day earlier, which had people asking for Noah. Since we had rerouted the rain from the rooftop into the cleaned out pond, the basement stayed fairly dry. Some people in other towns talked about 4 feet of water in the basement…..

I managed to finally start moving some plants out on the deck this morning, had to relocate a huge Passiflora back to its pot to move it and then I carried out the Rhipsalis and large Cacti and the Epi oxypetalum. Tomorrow more of the cool growers will go out.
Epiphyllum hybrids are already out of the garage and getting used to some sunshine.

I was just watching the news and learned that much of downtown Tampa is flooded. Nothing like that here in Odessa. I wonder what happened to Elaine's place in Sarasota?

Jim

Talked to Marsh this morning, heavy rain but we are on high ground so no worries. Pool and pond will fill up,

Noid orange Epidendrum. Feral along the road.

Nice Epi, Glen, looks like a radicans. They grow really well here but you never see them growing wild along a road.

I woke up to a steady rain this morning and it is showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Looks like Saturday will be a washout.

Jim

They are looking quite healthy too. I like them!

Glorious sunshine here, temps in the sixties F, time to move more cool growers outside!

I have been watching my Dendrobium jenkinsii and the Den aggregatum opening spikes this week. To me jenkinsii looks just like a smaller version of Den aggregatum.
First the Dendrobium jenkinsii


The Dendrobium aggregatum has several spikes, the first one is now open and I doubt they all bloom together this year. I don't mind, this way it has a longer blooming season.


And here are both, so you can see the size difference.

Very pretty, Ursula. My similar Dendrobium lindleyi dropped all of its flowers and I re-potted it today.

Jim

Thanks, Jim
I would think aggregatum and lindleyi are the same.
Btw, both my plants get watered year around! They are mounted, hang during the Winter right on the South wall and so dry up very fast. I think if really would give them a dormant Winter, ( as always recommended) under my conditions I would be looking at two dead plants now.

I tried that dry winter this past year, and those are the results I got......nearly dead plants.

Same here. Tried that last year and lost two Dens. I think our cooler, drier winter weather gives the Dens the change that they need without me fussing. I do reduce fert in winter, though.

Two small Orchids are in bloom today -
This is a very small Dendrobium unicum, I was surprised to see it working on some blooms. The nice part about these blooms is the scent- in morning sunshine here it has a nice fruity top note, reminiscent of Apricot and Peaches, which is somewhat unique for an Orchid bloom.


and I used to have a Barkeria spectabilis which really didn't like a cold and wet Spring a few years ago and succumbed to blackrot. The new growth always sort of sits on previous growth, so when that piece bites the dust, no more new growth.
I learned my lesson, this one will not go outside until it stays really warm.

What a lovely lip on the Den. But the Barkeria is simply stunning.

dyzzypyxxy said:Same here. Tried that last year and lost two Dens. I think our cooler, drier winter weather gives the Dens the change that they need without me fussing. I do reduce fert in winter, though.

Ditto, first winter with my Den.aggregatum I barely misted from the end of October till about the middle of February. Hardly any blooms. This last winter I watered a bit more, More blooms. This winter I'm going for a bit more watering. I think they were just too dry here.

I think people don't realize that there might be a lot of dew in natural habitats of many Orchids. So that supposed to be dry condition can be quite damp in the morning.