You may recall, only a couple months ago, I had given up on this thing as dead. Well, what a difference a fresh sterile potting medium can make! After repotting it, it set about blooming nearly immediately, with three new canes shooting up in short order afterwards. Additionally, there are two keikis forming: one on a dormant cane, and another near the base of the same cane that is blooming. This one is one of my all-time favorites, Dendrobium Green Lantern, which is a mix of Den. cruentum and Den. formosum (I believe a 75-25 mix).

I did have a minor mishap where I dropped my watering can on the new growths. I’m still not sure whether they’re going to die (again, ugh) or power through. It was more than a week ago and it seems to be holding steady. Hopefully the growing core was not damaged and I’ll only get a little bit of die-back on the outermost leaves, but honestly it’s too soon to tell. If it hasn’t grown any more in a month I’ll know that the new canes are toast. But hey, at least the keikis are doing well!

This was sold to me, in November, as Dendrobium anosmum. I had no reason to doubt the seller; he grows, shows, and sells orchids for a living. He seemed to know what he was talking about. Besides, it looked like a Den. anosmum; how many pendulous Dendrobiums can there be? 

Well, I noticed last night when I was watering it that the buds were opening. This was very surprising to me, because they hardly had any color to them, I figured I had at least another couple weeks before they darkened to the characteristic lilac color that I expect Den. anosmum buds to be. I shrugged it off, initially, as this being some strange, lighter-colored cultivar (which was annoying in and of itself, because I wanted an ordinary, species, Den. anosmum).

Imagine my surprise this morning when I go in to water it again, and the buds have fully opened to reveal… It is not Den. anosmum at all. I had been sold Den. aphyllum. This was really disappointing because I sought out Den. anosmum, I bought this plant from this guy because it was a blooming-size specimen of Den. anosmum, and there was evidence that it had already bloomed, in which case he should have been able to tell that it was not Den. anosmum. The two flowers look nothing alike. For one, Den. aphyllum has a fuzzy yellow labellum. 

This is, nevertheless, a beautiful flower. You can tell I didn’t winter it long enough because it’s still got leaves, but that didn’t evidently interrupt its willingness to bloom this spring. There are not nearly as many blooms as there should be because I had a slug get to it over the winter, destroyed every single flower bud on one of the canes before I caught it. Those things can do some major damage overnight, as this one did. Oh well, until next year I suppose. There are some keikis growing off of this one that I will eventually break off and repot, so if anybody’s interested in a Den. aphyllum, I’ll have some to spare at some point.

The saddest part is that this seller had a lot of plants that were interesting, but if he sells mislabeled plants, I won’t be buying any more from him. This is just not acceptable in the orchid trade.

Edited to add: Because of the absolute frustrating endeavor that labeling orchids turns out to be, even calling this Den. aphyllum seems to be incorrect. Like Den. pierardii as well, these all seem to be incorrect labels applied variously to different plants at different times, and it seems that it is now, actually, called Den. cucullatum. I hate everything.

squeezebottle: I’m just going to do a post spam here, I’ve had these pictures piling up on my phone for a while and finally got around to dumping them onto the computer. This one is a rose, obviously, of the Portland variety (I’ll often call it a Damask, but evidently the two are different), called Comte de Chambord. I didn’t do any fiddling with the colors in this photo whatsoever, they really are that intense. They’re actually a bit more intense in real life, but this photo really did a pretty good job capturing the color. They are also intensely fragrant; the entire bush is in bloom right now and you get knocked over by the most beautiful rose scent you can imagine as soon as you walk out the back door.

squeezebottle:

I’m just going to do a post spam here, I’ve had these pictures piling up on my phone for a while and finally got around to dumping them onto the computer.

This one is a rose, obviously, of the Portland variety (I’ll often call it a Damask, but evidently the two are different), called Comte de Chambord. I didn’t do any fiddling with the colors in this photo whatsoever, they really are that intense. They’re actually a bit more intense in real life, but this photo really did a pretty good job capturing the color. They are also intensely fragrant; the entire bush is in bloom right now and you get knocked over by the most beautiful rose scent you can imagine as soon as you walk out the back door.

(Reblogged from squeezebottle)
squeezebottle: This one is a Hybrid Tea rose called Garden Party. It is a very pure white rose, with the tips of the petals kissed in pink. Even on the same bush, at the same time, some will be pinker than others; I have no idea why. It is also scented, though not nearly as crazy strong as the Comte de Chambord. These roses smell like how I sort of conceptualize how roses “should” smell. Not overpowering, but not entirely scentless either (like the long stem cut roses). I never understand why anybody would want to spend 20 or 30 dollars on a dozen cut roses when you can just grow roses and have them in great abundance for 6-8 months out of the year. There is remarkably little time during the year when roses  don’t grow; some varieties even thrive in USDA Zone 3, which is god damn freezing if you ask me.

squeezebottle:

This one is a Hybrid Tea rose called Garden Party. It is a very pure white rose, with the tips of the petals kissed in pink. Even on the same bush, at the same time, some will be pinker than others; I have no idea why. It is also scented, though not nearly as crazy strong as the Comte de Chambord. These roses smell like how I sort of conceptualize how roses “should” smell. Not overpowering, but not entirely scentless either (like the long stem cut roses).

I never understand why anybody would want to spend 20 or 30 dollars on a dozen cut roses when you can just grow roses and have them in great abundance for 6-8 months out of the year. There is remarkably little time during the year when roses  don’t grow; some varieties even thrive in USDA Zone 3, which is god damn freezing if you ask me.

(Reblogged from squeezebottle)
squeezebottle: A bud on the Comte de Chambord. It’s remarkable how all of those petals fit in to such a small package. I find the buds on this one to be particularly beautiful. Sometimes I’ll just cut them at this stage, put them in a bud vase, and let them bloom on the kitchen counter.

squeezebottle:

A bud on the Comte de Chambord. It’s remarkable how all of those petals fit in to such a small package. I find the buds on this one to be particularly beautiful. Sometimes I’ll just cut them at this stage, put them in a bud vase, and let them bloom on the kitchen counter.

(Reblogged from squeezebottle)
First roses of the spring are starting to come out. I usually don’t go for red roses, but this variety was just so striking. Though it should be a crime, when I bought it it was not labeled, so I have no idea what the variety is. It is, obviously, a dwarf, however. View high resolution

First roses of the spring are starting to come out. I usually don’t go for red roses, but this variety was just so striking. Though it should be a crime, when I bought it it was not labeled, so I have no idea what the variety is. It is, obviously, a dwarf, however.

Hippeastrum in full bloom. I was honestly not aware of this, but it is actually quite fragrant. A very delightful spiciness that seems to get a bit stronger at night. I love walking by it.

The Hippeastrum finally opened at some point last night. I’m sure it was very dramatic, going from being wrapped up in the sheath to the large flower buds suddenly dropping out, wish I could have seen it. Maybe next year I’ll have a Hippeastrum vigil. Apparently Hippeastrum always has four flowers come out of one stalk. You can see there are two well-developed buds, one less-developed one, and one just starting.  Behind it, you can see the second (and third) Pescatorea. You may remember a couple months ago I got the Pescatorea cerina off of ebay, which turned out to be three plants in one, and that I had read that it was a cool-too-warm growing epiphyte and so I decided to do an experiment. Well, I think the experiment has concluded. The plant, which I put in finely broken bark medium and placed in a very bright, warm window has done very well. New leaf growth, very vigorous new root growth, altogether a great looking plant. The other two, which were smaller and I had put in moss medium and down in the cooler (but still bright) section of the basement, have not done a thing. They have not deteriorated, but they have also not grown at all. This leads me to conclude that the cool temperatures put the plants into stasis, and the warmer temperatures tell them to grow. For that reason, I moved the two basement one (in the same pot) upstairs to the same window where the other one is. We’ll see what happens. I moved my Dendrobium lindleyi upstairs, as it has become nearly entirely dessicated, and so I’m also starting to water it vigorously. Hopefully I’ll get the damn thing to bloom. The Den. anosmum has started to erupt in buds, so I’ve started to water it again more frequently, but am leaving it down in the basement until the buds become better developed, in which case I’ll move it to successively warmer (and brighter) windows to bloom. Other spring bloomers, the Dendrochilum and the Maxillarias, are not showing any signs of activity. But I seem to remember the Maxillarias sort of flowered out of nowhere and had no real signs they were going to do so until they were blooming so I guess I won’t give up on them. The Dendrochilum has never bloomed so I don’t know what its deal is. Some people have suggested that it is “fussy” about being repotted, and I have had to repot it just about every year for various and stupid reasons, so maybe it’s my fault. We’ll see.

The Hippeastrum finally opened at some point last night. I’m sure it was very dramatic, going from being wrapped up in the sheath to the large flower buds suddenly dropping out, wish I could have seen it. Maybe next year I’ll have a Hippeastrum vigil. Apparently Hippeastrum always has four flowers come out of one stalk. You can see there are two well-developed buds, one less-developed one, and one just starting. 

Behind it, you can see the second (and third) Pescatorea. You may remember a couple months ago I got the Pescatorea cerina off of ebay, which turned out to be three plants in one, and that I had read that it was a cool-too-warm growing epiphyte and so I decided to do an experiment. Well, I think the experiment has concluded. The plant, which I put in finely broken bark medium and placed in a very bright, warm window has done very well. New leaf growth, very vigorous new root growth, altogether a great looking plant. The other two, which were smaller and I had put in moss medium and down in the cooler (but still bright) section of the basement, have not done a thing. They have not deteriorated, but they have also not grown at all. This leads me to conclude that the cool temperatures put the plants into stasis, and the warmer temperatures tell them to grow. For that reason, I moved the two basement one (in the same pot) upstairs to the same window where the other one is. We’ll see what happens.

I moved my Dendrobium lindleyi upstairs, as it has become nearly entirely dessicated, and so I’m also starting to water it vigorously. Hopefully I’ll get the damn thing to bloom. The Den. anosmum has started to erupt in buds, so I’ve started to water it again more frequently, but am leaving it down in the basement until the buds become better developed, in which case I’ll move it to successively warmer (and brighter) windows to bloom.

Other spring bloomers, the Dendrochilum and the Maxillarias, are not showing any signs of activity. But I seem to remember the Maxillarias sort of flowered out of nowhere and had no real signs they were going to do so until they were blooming so I guess I won’t give up on them. The Dendrochilum has never bloomed so I don’t know what its deal is. Some people have suggested that it is “fussy” about being repotted, and I have had to repot it just about every year for various and stupid reasons, so maybe it’s my fault. We’ll see.

Went to the Charlotte Botanical Garden, took some photos.

No pictures, but that Hippeastrum from the previous post has exceeded the height of that window. The flower spike is now 28” long. Still no sign of opening or even changing color. This thing is going to be epic. All doubts about not being able to raise Amaryllids, completely dispelled. The weather forecast is so warm that I’ve moved the Lycoris, Colocasia, and Persea outside, and moved the Hippeastrum downstairs, hopefully it will decide that it is tall enough and bloom. I’ll probably have to move it to an even larger pot before the season is even through. Signs of bud growth on the Dendrobium anosmum. Moved the Dendrobium lindleyi upstairs, started watering again. Hopefully this will be a flowery spring.