Cyms and Twinkles

I am very pleased at the growth going on in the greenhouse right now.  I have new growths coming in on most of my Bulbos, which have been a struggle for me, and spikes everywhere.  The whole place should be a blast of color come Spring time.

I have a couple of bloomers right now, and some others not far behind.  First up, the Oncidium Twinkles.  I have a 'White Shower' and a 'Pink Profusion' currently blooming:

Here is the 'White Shower'

And here is the 'Pink Profusion'

Then, I have a Cymbidium division that I received from a member of the Orchidgeeks forum that I belong to.  This one is called Cym. Caitlin 'Pink Delight'

I have another mini Cymbidium that is currently throwing out 8 spikes, and I can't wait until they are all bloomed out!  Its a Magic Flora 'Red Falls', and I got that one from another Orchidgeek buddy that had fallen out of like with it.

You know, I don't think I've said much about Orchidgeeks.com.  I found it by trying to find information on reblooming a Cymbidium that my nephew, Baron Jr., gave me for Mother's Day a few years ago.  I looked on a few other orchid forums, but this one was much easier to navigate, and the people there seemed so friendly.  I got a lot of great advice, brought my plant and my mom's back from the brink of death, and developed a new hobby / addiction.

The forum is like a meeting place for orchid growers.  There are many experienced growers that post pictures of the plants they have in bloom, and then there are those of us new to the hobby that come there to seek advice or growing tips.

Well, while you are searching for the information you need, you see all of these gorgeous flowers and you have to have one!  So, you go online and find a vendor that sells the one you want, then while you are there, you see all these other beauties and next thing you know, your shopping cart has 3, 4, 5 orchids in it.  ( You gotta make the shipping cost worth it, right? :-D

I've made a lot of friends there.  Some I've met in person, some I keep in touch with via email, and some I just chat with in the private message section of the forum, but all are amazing people.  Maybe people that grow flowers just naturally have a great attitude.  I'm still working on mine...LOL!

I've found that I can't wait to check out what's going on in the forum every morning, and after coffee, its the first thing I do - grab the iPhone and log on.  It never fails to satisfy.

OK, I have to get back to work, but I'm sure I will have more to post soon.  Until then...Happy Growing!

Now that Thanksgiving is over...

I was able to get back into the greenhouse and take care of some serious business.  There was a show in S.B. by the Orchid Society of S.B. that my OS as invited to do a display table for.  I sent up a few plants for the display, since this is kind of a down time for most orchids and they needed a boost.

I was told there wouldn't be any judging, but when Rich from my OS brought my plants back, my Prosthechea Green Hornet 'ISO' had a 3rd place ribbon on it!!  Woo hoo!!  This is my first ribbon ever, and I hope the first of many more to come.  I think I"m getting a little bit good at this orchid growing stuff, and a lot of my babies are rewarding me for taking such good care of them.

Since my last orchid post, I've had a couple more bloomers:

This is Bulbophyllum longissimum.  The bloom were 9.5 inches long!  Here's a shot of the top:

I had another one that had started a spike, but then the whole spike, along with a new growth, turned brown and dried up on me.  Hmmm, the plant is in a tray that sits in water, so it didn't dry up...gonna have to watch that one.

This is the second bloom on my Phalaenopsis bellina.  I love this one, because it smells so good!

This one had a much better form than the first one, so I hope subsequent blooms will get even better.  I repotted this one, as I noticed quite a few dried up roots that needed to be trimmed off, and a couple of slugs have been lurking in a couple of my pots.

Here is Mama's little winner with its ribbon:

This Cymbidium belonged to my mom.  She got it from George Hatfield when my husband and I took her with us to check out his greenhouses.  Its called Hungarian Rapsody #2

Brassavola nodosa, called the Lady of the Night because its scent come out when the sun goes down.  Something munched on half of the bloom, but there are two more coming, so hopefully they will be intact.

The whole plant on its mount

and finally, Ascocentrum pumilum.  I got this one almost exactly a year ago, and its a cutie.  A micro-mini, it takes up very little space in the greenhouse.  I think I'm going to have to look for a few more of this genus.

So, that's it for now.  I have a lot of spikes coming in - the Twinkle 'Pink Profusion' is starting to open now, so I should have some new pictures to post in a couple of weeks.

Until then....Happy Growing!!

Seriously lagging...

I'm still getting used to posting on my blog, so I hope you all will bear with me.

Thanksgiving was, in my opinion, a HUGE success! The food was great, my husband's family was amazing, everyone was happy, and my house was full.

I met two of my husband's cousins, Rod and Randy, and their respective spouses, Heather and Cindy, for the first time.  Randy and Cindy were passing through on a road trip to check out some bands they liked, but stopped in to have Thanksgiving with us.  Randy helped my husband fix my apple peeler, slicer, corer just in time for me to be able to make my Upside Down and Caramel Apple pies.  I'll tell ya, if they hadn't been there, I'd STILL be peeling apples!  LOL!

Cindy was really nice.  She's really tall, just like Randy, and just seemed like a happy person - lots of good energy coming off of her.

Rod is super smart and really nice.  On Friday, he asked if there was a Best Buy close by, and had my father-in-law take him.  I thought he was just taking advantage of some Black Friday deals, but no....he came back with a bag full of universal remotes for each family member!  (I guess he wasn't impressed with the 4 remotes we used to run our TV and components, LOL!)  He spent a couple of hours programming it for our stuff and VOILA, we only need 1 remote now to run our TV, Blu-Ray, Amplifier and Direct TV DVR.  He said he's had this remote for 5 years and loves it - I can see why.  Its pretty awesome.

Heather.  This woman is a firecracker!  She's gotta be 5'0" or less, but cracks a whip like a pro!.  IN fact, she has whip-cracking app on her iPhone that she used on a regular basis to get Clan Campbell motivated and moving.  It was hilarious!  She's got a huge personality packed into that little body, and I have to say I really liked her a lot.

Randy and Cindy left Friday night, but the rest left on Saturday.  We had a gigantic group breakfast in Simi Valley, and my husband and I invited my in-law's best friends to join us as a surprise.  Check out this group shot:

So, with everyone gone, there was a lot of clean-up to do, but not this weekend.  I"m telling you, I was TIRED!  I'd been cooking since Monday, and I was not going to clean the house, too.  My honey was very understanding, and didn't say a word as I feel asleep on the couch for half the afternoon.  Sunday I had to work, so I spent a couple of hours each night during the following week trying to get the house back in order.  Thanksgiving down, Christmas to go!!