The Variegated Thumb

I have 5 orchids in bloom at home right now, which is wonderful. Two of them are new orchids that I purchased while they were in bud. While they aren’t “earned” blooms, I am glad to see them.

Dendrobium 'Little Green Apples'

I have more Dendrobiums than any other orchid genus. I would like to concentrate on species, but I did buy this hybrid ‘Little Green Apples’ which is a huge plant – easily my biggest orchid plant right now.  I saw a picture of the plant next to a yard stick for comparison, but somehow it seemed even bigger once it arrived in the mail.

Dendrobium 'Little Green Apples'

This hybrid is made from D. Green Elf x. D. convolutum, and Green Elf is made from D. convolutum x D. alexandrae, which means that the plant is 3/4 convolutum and 1/4 alexandrae, if that makes sense.

Bpl. Golden Peacock 'Orange Beauty'

My other new orchid is just beautiful, in my opinion.  I really like the color of this one.  And the simple shape of the flowers.  And the speckling.  And the foliage – tall, thick stiff leaves.  Just a really cool orchid.  Not surprisingly*, this orchid is also a hybrid. This one is called Bpl. Golden Peacock ‘Orange Beauty.’ Why the excessively long name? I don’t know. I consulted my handy dandy orchid hybrid abbreviation directory to learn that Bpl. stands for Brassoepilaelia. The parentage is Bl. Richard Mueller x. Epi. vitellinum, and Bl. Richard Mueller is from Brassavola nodosa x. Laelia milleri.

Bpl. Golden Peacock 'Orange Beauty'

* I am noticing that the more familiar I become with orchids, I am starting to identify hybrids and species as having a distinctly different quality most of the time.  Not always, but a lot of the time.  It’s sort of like how someone that knows dogs pretty well can see a dog and know if it is a full breed or a mix, even if they haven’t seen that particular breed or mix before.

I got two miniature orchids in the mail yesterday.  First, I give you, Encyclia dickinsoniana.

Encyclia dickinsoniana. (Note: the spelling on the tag is wrong.)

Next, is Epidendrum longicaule, which is currently in bloom.

Epidendrum longicaule

Pretty nice, huh?

“Just how big are these miniatures?” you might ask.  Well, here’s a little size comparison.

Dendrobium 'Marie McFarlane' and Epidendrum longicaule (tiny)

Note: the larger Dendrobium orchid is really not a big plant.  That tiny thing sitting at the base is my Epidendrum longicaule.  Needless to say, Christie really likes my tiny blooming orchid.  After all, it’s tiny.

My parents visited San Francisco a couple of weeks ago.  While they were there they visited the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers and saw lots of really neat orchids.  They visited another place where you can see orchids, as well – Trader Joe’s grocery store!

Beallara Eurostar 'Green Valley'

They found this cool orchid and brought it home to me.  It is Beallara Eurostar ‘Green Valley.’  To be honest, I hadn’t heard of the Beallara genus before.  The flower looks kind of like a Brassia to me, with long spider-like petals.  This particular orchid has really neat colors in the flowers.

Beallara Eurostar 'Green Valley'

My mom named him Sylvester.

Lately I have just felt so sorry for those poor people who sell orchids on eBay that I have given them all of my plant allowance.

Bepi. Femme Fatale - Notice that there is a bud spike beginning to emerge from the center!

This Bepi. (Brassoepidendrum) is really cool in bloom, and pretty neat foliage when it’s not.  The blooms have cool speckling of purple overlaying white and greenish-yellow petals.  The plant is pretty small, but it must not get very large when mature, because it is already producing buds.  This is a blooming size plant!  I’ve got a pretty good collection of miniature orchids now, which is nice, since room in my greenhouse is limited.

Dendrobium atroviolaceum with several large buds, ready to open anyday.

Sometimes I am a little disappointed with plants that arrive on my doorstep, being a little smaller than they appeared in the pictures online or being a little worse-for-wear after shipping.  One case where this definitely was not true was with the Dendrobium atroviolaceum which came in this shipment.  The ebay seller used reverse psychology on me, posting pictures of the plant in bloom but stating that the plant was no longer in bloom.  The plant I received had a couple of half-spent flowers on it and, upon closer inspection, quite a few bud spikes starting.  The plant looks really healthy and I feel good about the chance of these buds opening for me!

Dendrobium victoria-reginae

I can’t say that this Dendrobium has been on my want list for a long time, but I can say that it has been at the top of my list from as soon as it was on the list.  I know: It looks really pathetic.  But take a look at this picture and tell me I’m a fool for buying it!  (I won’t say confess how much I paid.)

Hamelwellsara June 'Indigo Sue'

My Hamelwellsara (above) was also posted as a non-blooming plant, but came to be with flowers open and many more buds ready to follow!  The color of this bloom (below) is just amazing.  It is closely related to the Zygopetalum genus, as you might have guessed.

Hamelwellsara June 'Indigo Sue'

I also purchased two small Brassovola glauca ‘Woltmon’ orchids (below).  These have really neat creamy white blooms that appear just at the top  of the cluster of leaves – not on long spikes or racemes, like many other orchids.

Brassovola glauca 'Woltmon'

The species name ‘glauca’ refers to the powdery coating on the leaves which makes them appear bluish-gray (not so obvious in my picture above).  Another plant which has the name ‘glauca’ is the blue fescue grass (Festuca glauca).

Megaclinium saurocephalum

The next orchid (above) was sold as Megaclinium saurocephalum.  I have also seen this plant with the genus name Bulbophyllum and I haven’t yet determined which is considered the current valid name.  Either the Megaclinium genus was sunk into the huge Bulbophyllum genus, or divided out.  Either way, it’s a really cool plant.

Megaclinium saurocephalum bloom spike

Don’t you just love the weirdness of this bloom spike?

Megaclinium saurocephalum spike closeup

Hopefully I’ll have some bloom photos to share soon from my Dendrobium atroviolaceum and Bepi Femme Fatale!

Since our family cruise over Thanksgiving last year left from Galveston, Texas I figured it would be a good opportunity to visit a nursery or two that has some tropical plants.  I did a little scouting ahead of time and asked for some recommendations from people that live in the area.  I ended up stopping at the Houston nursery of “Zone 9 Tropicals”, which specializes in Gingers, Passionflowers and other flowering vines.

Christie really liked the historic neighborhood and will be happy to go back there again.  She wandered the streets while I wandered around looking at the plants.

My first bloom from Passiflora 'Lady Margaret'

I purchased 5 plants in all from Zone 9, including two Passiflora.  The first is Passiflora ‘Lady Margaret’.  This is one of the more popular red(ish) Passionflowers.  It is a hybrid of P. coccinea and P. incarnata.  That first parent is more of a solid red, while the hybrid ‘Lady Margaret’ is a wine red.  You can see the influence of P. incarnata in the wavy tendrils.  Passiflora incarnata has very long, wavy tendrils.

Passiflora 'Sunburst' leaves in the signature "batwing" shape.

The second is Passiflora ‘Sunburst’. This is a hybrid of P. gilbertiana and P. jorullensis.  The small flowers have incredible colors and apparently smell like turpentine.  The leaves of this plant are also very unique.  Since mine hasn’t bloomed yet, I am just enjoying the leaves.  I need to get this one put on a trellis.  For now, it is growing in the greenhouse, kind of laying up against the bark wall, but not really attaching to anything and not getting as much light as it would probably prefer.

Underside of Passiflora 'Sunburst' leaves.

Neither of these Passifloras are hardy in my zone 7a region, so I will need to overwinter them in the greenhouse.  I’m hoping I can get my ‘Sunburst’ to bloom this summer.