08/22/2010 - Greenhouse Update - Bloom pictures from the past three months

Epicattleya Siam Jade 'Avo'




Eplc. Mae Bly 'Ching Hua Splash'



Cymbidium NOID



Den. NOID (White with green piping)



Blc. Dewey Forest 'Kudos'


Blc. Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua'


Blc. Samba Gift 'Hawaii'



Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin' (They are all over my greenhouse)



Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani' (8 inflorescences)


Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani' (8 inflorescences)


Den. Palolo Sunshine x Den. gouldii




Brassanthe Island Stars (another color variation, with some flower mutations)

Orchid garden is expanding. New shadehouse construction in progress.

It was becoming clear that the larger orchids (cymnidium, grammatophyllum, etc) are clamoring for more space, and more sunlight than the greenhouse would allow.
So after a few months of saving up, the "Orchid Budget" had enough funds to purchase a new shadehouse that will better accommodate these outdoors orchids.

It is a 20ft x 10ft Carport kit, made of 1 3/4 inch powder coated steel tube, and a thick canvas top.
This should allow plenty of space, air flow, and plenty of light while protecting the plants from direct afternoon sun.

I placed it south of the greenhouse, along a north-to-south axis.

I am still reviewing the plant locations and will continue to fine tune the setup as I go along. As you can see on some of the pictures, I have installed additional green shade fabric on certain sides for additional protection from direct afternoon sunlight.

Early stages of construction.


Additional shade fabric installed.


Plants brought outside for acclimation.


Trying out different plant arrangements.


More plants.


I am also going to place an outdoors table and chairs inside the shadehouse so we have a little outdoor reading/sitting area away from the house.

I will post more updates as they become available.



This does present a new problem for me (and my budget).
Moving all these bulky plants out of the greenhouse created a lot of available space inside the greenhouse. So again I am starting to hear these voices in my head "Buy more orchids!".

One of my articles will be published in Orkideer !

I recently received confirmation from the editor of Orkideer, the Swedish orchid magazine, that my article on mounting orchids will be included in their April 2010 publication.

This is very exciting news for me since this is the first time a major publication has adopted one of my articles.

If you are an Orkideer subscriber, or if you are a hobbyist in that area, please check it out.

New Blooms

The weather is starting to warm up again, and some of the flowers are starting to open.

3 variations of Bc. Island Stars (?)

These were originally purchased as part of a single community pot (compot) of B. Little Stars x Bc. Maikai 'Hawaii'.
The registered cross name is Brassanthe Island Stars

Peach


Yellow/Green


Purple


Group photo


I cannot confirm if these are all in fact, Brassanthe Island Stars. But they were all labeled accordingly when I originally purchased them.


Other photos

Unidentified Oncidium



Growing Areas

12/26/2009 - Blooms update

Dendrobium NOID mounted on driftwood.

12/26/2009 Blooms update

Lc Puppy Love 'True Beauty' - All flowers open.

Current Blooms

Lc Puppy Love 'True Beauty'

Current Bloomers

Dendrobium NOID, mounted on driftwood.



Cattleya maxima

Current Bloomers

Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani'



Epicattleya Siam Jade 'AVO'


Diacattleya Chantily Lace 'Twinkle'

C. Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin'

Recent Flower Photos

Hawkinsara Sogo Doll 'Jennifer'



Phaleonopsis (hybrid, unidentified)



Encyclia prismatocarpa


Blc. Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua'

04/14/2009 - Blc. Sanyang Ruby 'Sin May'

This plant is a recent purchase. It was already in bud when I got it so I can't take credit for the flowers.
We will see next year how the plant performs at bloom time.

04/09/2009 - New flowers update

Cattleya maxima

I bought this about two years ago as NBS (Near blooming size) which means that it is anywhere between 1 to 3 years from blooming.

Some online vendors claim that their plants are NBS but could actually fall into these other size categories:
ksNBS = kinda-sorta near blooming size.
dpNBS = definitely probably near blooming size.

And then there is the dreaded nNBS = Nowhere near blooming size.

I'm glad the plant I got was closer to actual blooming size.









Unidentified cymbidium
Something happened to this plant and only produced four oversized flowers.
Cymbidiums normally produce long inflorescences with smaller flowers.




Assorted epidendrums

01/20/2009 Its a new year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

I know its several days late but I have been quite busy with chores (gardening and otherwise).
It is starting to warm up again and I have retired the electric heaters. They are back in storage until they are called up to service again next winter.

It is getting quite windy and several of my bubble wrap sheets around the greenhouse are getting ripped out.

Overall, the greenhouse and the inhabitants handled this winter quite well. There are a few orchids that are in bud and I hope to see more around spring-autumn.

12/24/2008 - Winter Chills Approaching

Winter is starting to show its bite.
The temperatures are starting to dip into the low 30s (F)so the greenhouse needed two electric heaters just to keep warm.

None of the orchids are showing any signs of complaining though. I guess they know that any temperature inside the greenhouse will be a lot better than outside.
A couple of mornings already, we woke up to see everything coated in a light layer of frost. Most of the trees in the backyard are starting to go into dormancy.

10/07/2008 - Some orchids in bloom

Just some orchids that are in bloom in the greenhouse.

A NOID Dendrobium mounted on driftwood.






Another NOID Dendrobium mounted on driftwood.



Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin'