Richard Wallace Canna LIly

Richard Wallace Canna

Canna x generalis 'Richard Wallace'

(KAN-uh) (jen-er-RAY-liss)

Recently I found a “roll” of black and white shots from last year. Shooting the picture in monochrome is usually always better than a software conversion of a color shot to me. Black and white photos of flowers can be interesting even though you lose one of the greatest properties of flowers, color.

Over the last several years we have pretty much stopped growing Cannas. That broke my heart since I truly love the vibe they bring to the garden. A big, bold plant that is still relatively well behaved. Now that a lot of cultivars are almost self deadheading it really is a good maintenance free plant. They are available in a wide range of colors and cultivars. The flower color for ‘Richard Wallace’ is not that appealing. Kind of a dusty yellow/orange. It is still a strong growing cultivar with good foliage.

Phalaenopsis Orchid
Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Spray of Moth Orchids, recently seen. I miss my days in the Orchid House. The 70/70 conditions (70 deg. F and 70% humidity) are not replicated anywhere else in my life. Also the smell of the orchid bark and the joy of coaching a spray of flowers out of an uncooperative, finicky orchid species. If you want to know more about Phalaenopsis click the tag they have been shown here many times. A lot of people find them to be pedestrian but I think they are beautiful and reliable.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

 

 Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Synonym: Moth Orchid

This blog defaults to Orchids so here are some black and whites I took earlier this year.

Phalaenopsis is easy to grow and get to bloom at home (click the label for more info on that). All the black and white photos on this blog are shot in monochrome and are not conversions.

Right now I am enjoying the mild weather and getting a lot of end of the season jobs done.

Moth Orchid

Moth Orchid

Phalaenopsis Fuller's Sunset 'Maui'

Wordless Wednesday

Amber Rain Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis ‘Amber Rain’

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Wordless Wednesday

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)

Spotted Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Wordless Wednesday

Red Ginger

Red Ginger

Alpinia purpurata

(al-PIN-ee-uh) (pur-pur-AH-tuh)

Synonyms: Opuhi Uteute, Gengibre Rojo, Tahitian Ginger, Ostrich Plume

While wistfully rummaging around in my archive of Hawaii photos this picture from the Hawaii TropicalBotanical Garden on the Big Island. The garden was one of my favorite botanical places I have visited on earth, so far. The Island of Hawaiʻi was amazing to in general. It is the largest island in the United States and almost the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Eight days was not nearly enough time to fully investigate its beauty but what we did see was impressive. We especially enjoyed the city of Hilo. It is quite funky in places (in a good way) and gave bit of a feeling of a tropical Greenwich Village without the vague hint of sophistication that neighborhood in Manhattan seems to retain amongst even the worst chaos.

This flower is identified correctly I think and was quite beautiful. Blooming under a shady and humid canopy of Palms and other large trees it did stand out. I don’t know much about Gingers but they seem to come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I am also sure I would find them of use if gardening in a tropical area. They have struggled in the greenhouse.

Since it is Sunday again here is a bonus snapshot also from the Hawaii “roll”. The HTBG had an amazing display of Orchids growing outside and most were in full bloom.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

There hasn’t been an Orchid posted here in quite awhile. This white beauty was in the big display at a local wholesale nursery. Even though I find the prices high it is nice to know you can always go there and get a couple of fresh, blooming Orchids. The selection is good and they rotate out the ones that are past their peak. I once went behind the large greenhouses and found maybe 50 or 60 Orchids in the dumpster. It took all my will not to pull them out and try and save them.

The Orchid collection at work, which had been slowly dwindling had a bit of a resurgence after all the propagating we did last fall. We got a decent crop of flowers and some new plants and they are outside for the summer.

We are starting a fairly large installation at another house today. It is a big vegetable garden with raised beds. Of course the beds all have mitered joints. It took some time to locate non-pressure treated timbers for the construction but we were able to get a mix of White Pine and Hemlock for the job.

Spotted Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis hybrid

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Synonym: Moth Orchid

If you are going to grow spotted flowers you might as well get one like this. It was truly an eye-catcher when this one showed upon the for sale rack at the local nursery. It was a little too expensive for me so it went to another happy home. Phalaenopsis are among the most popular Orchids and in my opinion one of the easiest to grow at home. While the new hybrids seem more adapted to home cultivation and produce more and showier flowers the basic species is easy to have and get to flower. The trick is to try and reproduce some of the same conditions that the plants like in the wild.

Since it is getting towards the end of the year I have been cleaning up my office and doing some backing up. One of the extra hard drives in my older computer (yes, I use two) seems to have frozen up. Lucky almost everything on it was backed up so it is a minor irritation instead of a calamity.

Harlequin Orchid

Harlequin Orchid

xDoritaenopsis Chian Xen Mammon

(doh-ry-ten-OP-sis)

Imagine my surprise when this Orchid burst into bloom at work this week. The camera has not been accompanying to work lately but I was glad to have it to on Tuesday to shoot this beauty. This Orchid looks like a Phalaenopsis type to me, and some research indicating the taxonomy of these types are in a state of flux. They do go under the name Phalaenopsis but there are some subtle differences in the Doritaenopsis (Dtps.) types that are not really apparent without close inspection. The culturual conditions required are similar.

Whatever the name is/was I was basking in the glory of having two of these plants blooming after going through the Orchid collection this fall for clean up and propagation. Two other Orchids were blooming and will be posted here next week.

It was nice to kind of throw off the snowy weather and plant bulbs for most of the week. We had several stunning fall days during the week. There were 1,000 tulips and 500 daffs planted and quite a few minor types like crocus and alliums. The area was very rocky and the occasional big rock removal would yield a nice large hole for a good pocket of bulbs. Sometimes there was only enough room to tuck a couple of bulbs in. This should give a nice appearance in the spring with a hopefully natural look to the whole planting. Planting a lot of bulbs always causes a bit of anxiety and anticipation during the winter. Usually everything comes out beautifully especially after learning to evaluate the planting site’s winter drainage.

Blue Mystique Orchid

Blue Mystique Orchid
Phalaenopsis 'Blue Mystique'
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Normally I don’t buy into a trend like this but we saw Blue Mystique for sale at three different places on Friday. Billed as the first blue Phalaenopsis orchid they are hard to ignore. The color stands out from far away and is also interesting close up. At first I thought they must be painted but a little research showed that the plant is “infused with a special medium” when growing to get the color (whatever that means). While all the buds on a blue spray will have the deep color subsequent blooms on the plant will be white or a light blue color. Here is a website about this orchid. It is from Homestead Gardens (all the orchids that I saw had a ‘Homestead Gardens’ tag on them).

Homestead Gardens.com

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Here is the Sunday bonus flower. One nursery had benches full of Hydrangea in full bloom. They were mostly ‘First White’ but there were also a couple of oddballs. This one, unfortunately, didn’t have a tag. It is probably one of the more unusual Hydrangeas I have seen but trying to look up what cultivar it is proved too difficult.

Two Phalaenopsis Orchids

Phalaenopsis 'Brother Pepride' x 'Brother Nobel Star'
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

These two Phalaenopsis are from Hawaii. The name tags were confusing since they seemed to have the complete parentage on the tag and had several names. The first one is a nice yellow, which isn’t the most popular Phalaenopsis color. The fact that it is spotted is a bonus as I really like spotted flowers.

The second Orchid is a little more typical of the species and also has a nice spotted appearance. I would have loved to visit Hawaii this winter but it wasn’t in the cards.


Our gardening season got shut down yesterday as we had a windy, rainy, cold, sleetly and snowy day. It is still snowing a little bit and there was enough overnight to cover the ground. I am sure it is just a minor set back but it is a little depressing.

Yellow Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid
Phalaenopsis cv.
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)


This is a picture from last year but I am posting it in anticipation of the NYBG’s annual Orchid show, which starts March 5th. In the past years it has been spectacular and hopefully it will continue the tradition this year. There is nothing like walking in the conservatory after a long winter and seeing and smelling thousands of flowers in bloom.

Today marks the start of the Connecticut Flower Show and I am gong to try and attend that also.

Phalaenopsis Orchids

Phalaenopsis Orchid
Phalaenopsis ‘Kone Fangtastic’
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Another couple of Orchids today. Both are Phalaenopsis types. There seems to be a lot of ‘Fangtastic’ hybrids but no information on this particular clone. I liked it because of the heavy spotting. That makes for a dramatic flower. Phalaenopsis are easy to grow and very popular. They desire warm temperatures and some humidity. The flowers are extremely long lasting (up to 6 months). Phalaenopsis can adapt easily to in home conditions. Full sun is something they don’t like and an eastern exposure seems to be best.

This second photo is of a nicely colored triple Phalaenopsis bloom. I didn’t get the name of this beauty.


We got another blanket of snow last night and today. Luckily not too deep and it really freshened up the look of the old snow that we have already. Yesterday Juno got loose and decided to run into the back yard. There is too much traffic to let the dogs run free here. So I had to truck through the snow to get her. In some spots there were drifts 3 to 4 feet deep. Juno is small for a Husky and even she was floundering a bit with the depth. I finally got her and when I got back to the house my boots were packed with snow. I felt like it had been a little arctic adventure.

Intergeneric Orchid Minho Princess

Doritaenopsis ‘Minho Princess’
Doritaenopsis
(doh-ry-ten-OP-sis)

Intergeneric cross of Doritis and Phalaenopsis Orchids
Dtps. Sun Prince X Phal. Ta Lin Freeds

Another Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid
Phalaenopsis sp.
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Another more common Phalaenopsis.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

Phalaenopsis Orchid
Phalaenopsis “Yellow Haze’
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)
Synonyms: ‘Amber Rain’, Moth Orchid

This Orchid stumped Google as a cultivar of Phalaenopsis, which doesn’t happen too often. With 50 species in this genus and the ability to hybridize easily that isn’t really surprising. It was blooming in the greenhouse at Planting Fields amongst their great Orchid collection.

Phalaenopsis Orchids are generally easy to grow. They like temperature that range from 85 degrees F to about 60 degrees F. They like frequent watering without being soggy. After the Spring starts they are heavy feeders and can be feed with a dilute mixture a once a week. Towards the end of Fall it is best to cut that down to once a month. Phals are considered low-light Orchids and don’t like a lot of strong sunlight (that can burn the foliage).

I am having problems logging into blogger to comment on other blogs, which is weird since it allows me post. I haven’t figured that one out yet.

Moth Orchid

Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis
(Green King x Haur Jin Diamond x Dol-Dil Goddess)
(fal-en-OP-sis)
Click Here for a Larger Version

Moth Orchid

Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

This Orchid is from the summer and the pictures have been sitting in the “To Be Used” folder on my hard drive. The Black and white is a monochrome shot from the D700. It just seems easier to me to have the camera do the conversion work then trying to change a color photo. My Nikon Coolpix 8400 has an electronic viewfinder and the view actually turns to b&w before you take the picture, which is helpful in composition. The D700 doesn’t do that and I wish it did.


Moth Orchids are easy to grow and come in a wide variety of colors and spots. I thought this one was nice since you don’t see to many with light spots.

Here is a link for the care of Phalaenopsis Orchids:
Plant-Care.com

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Phalaenopsis ‘Taida Smile’
Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Here is a ‘real’ beer from the motherland.

For more pictures of Ireland click here