Lady's Slipper Orchid

Paphiopedilum Orchid

Paphiopedilum villosum 'V1-1’ x Hitachi Venus

(paf-ee-oh-PED-ih-lum)

Synonyms: Lady's Slipper Orchid, Venus Slipper Orchids

  

Happy and proud to display this Lady Slipper flower from the greenhouse at work. It has another bud coming along. It has been agonizing to watch this flower open. It was so slow. Finally last week when I returned to work it was open. Paphiopedilum orchids are a lot easier to grow than they look like. The Orchid Room at work has really come alive with about 12 orchids blooming and another dozen spiking. The climate control system is still a bit of a mystery but seems to be working out.

Happy New Year to all. 2013 is going to be a botanical adventure around here and I hope you will join me on the trip. This next picture is a spray from the Phalaenopsis orchids. They seem to be kind of plain to me but have been nice to have around. This one is on the main display table and has been blooming for weeks.

 

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis ‘Sogo Yukidian’

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Slipper Orchid

Paphiopedilum Orchid

Paph. Yerba Buena x Gege Hughes

(paf-ee-oh-PED-ih-lum)

Well this orchid seemed to stump the internet. There were several flowers listed that looked like them but not really. The intense yellow was missing on most of the other pictures I looked at. This one looked a little like a face to me.

Paphiopedilum orchids are one of the most classy and elegant of the family. They come in a nice variety of colors and are considered easy to cultivate at home, if you can find them!

Since it is Sunday again here is our bonus snapshot. A great spray of Cymbidium flowers. It wouldn’t be my first choice for flower color but this one was making it work. Cymbidiums make a great house plant and can tolerate quite cool temperatures. The flowers can last up to ten weeks.

Asian Corsage Orchid

Cymbidium Featherhill Fanfare ‘Desert Sands’

(sim-BID-ee-um)

Paphiopedilum Orchid

Paphiopedilum Orchid

Paphiopedilum venustum var. album

(paf-ee-oh-PED-ih-lum) (ven-NUSS-tum)

The name of this Orchid is sure a mouthful. It was wonderfully exotic in appearance and lucky a picture of its tag was shot for later reference. The color scheme was different but certainly eye catching. This species is native to India and the Himalayan mountains. It is easy to cultivate at home but expensive to procure. The heavily mottled foliage is an added bonus.

Lady's Slipper Orchid

Lady's Slipper Orchid

Paphiopedilum haynaldianum

(paf-ee-oh-PED-ih-lum)

For the last several months this site has been relying on outtakes and archive materials as it has every winter of its existence. The folder I have been using is called “To Be Used 2011” and it has gotten so I don’t even want to look in there again. So a new folder has been started with 2012 replacing the 2011. Today’s Orchids were photographed in California and were growing outside in kind of a lean-to greenhouse. It was a nice collection of unusual species. All of these photos were shot with the Nikon D700 and 60mm nikkor-micro lens.

Since it is Sunday again here is a bonus snap of an unknown Orchid. The color scheme and design of this flower gave it an almost scary look. 

Tropical Lady's Slipper Orchid

Tropical Lady's Slipper

Paphiopedilum delenatii

(paf-ee-oh-PED-ih-lum)

This Orchid is from the Patrick Blanc's Vertical Gardens Exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens. The show was just okay for me. In my opinion there weren’t enough flowers and not as many as previous years. Comparing it to other year’s shows found a bigger assortment of flowers (different types) but a smaller quantity. The vertical nature of the displays wasn’t the most attractive and many of the Orchids were not signed or identified.

Overall the show was not as impressive as I thought it would be and that maybe because after winter I may have been trying to hold it impossible standards. I know a lot of work goes into a show like this and they did the best that they could. I usually attend the show twice every year but with gas prices they way they are I probably won’t go back.

This was the first Daffodil I have seen blooming this year. It was tucked into a crack in the ground by a large south facing stonewall. It was a quick illustration on the importance of microclimate in the garden.

Lady's Slipper Orchids

Paphiopedilum Orchid
Paphiopedilum leeanum
(paf-ee-oh-PED-ih-lum)
Synonyms: Lady's Slipper Orchid, Venus Slipper Orchids

This winter is getting a little long as far as having enough flower pictures to keep this blog going. Deep in the archives I found this shot of Paphiopedilum Orchids that was taken in Hawaii. These Orchids look exotic but they are actually easy to grow. This particular species is a hybrid of P. insigne and P. spicerianum and was first registered in Britain in 1884. It used to be very popular but is a little rare now. These were growing outside on the Big Island of Hawaii.

I got my first email of the season asking we come by and try and straighten out someone’s garden. The snow caused a lot of damage to shrubs but seems to have kept the perennials and smaller plants nice and toasty over the winter. I can finally see the grass of my front lawn but forget the back yard as there is still a lot of snow back there. I think I read we got over 84 inches, which is a new record for Connecticut.