Flowers 2017

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Very intersting and useful info. Ive been thinking about buying an orchid lately but don’t want the lame Walmart ones. Sooooo many to choose from, no Idea where to start! Also looking at purchasing nepenthes or monkey cups, do you have experience with those or other carnivorous plants?

If you get near Charlotte, NC, in the south suburbs, near the 6 Flags theme park, are friends of mine, Carolina Orchids, Tom & Shan Nasser. He's getting up there age wise, I owe them a visit, as it has been 5 years. but their orchid collection has always been a wildly varied selection of mostly species. One of the few places east of California where you can find more than one or two Lycaste orchid species and hybrids for sale. http://www.carolinaorchids.com/ tell them I sent you, won't get you anything off the price, but will get a long tale or two, most likely embarrassing to me, but funny.

 

[JoeR]

If you get near Charlotte, NC, in the south suburbs, near the 6 Flags theme park, are friends of mine, Carolina Orchids, Tom & Shan Nasser. He's getting up there age wise, I owe them a visit, as it has been 5 years. but their orchid collection has always been a wildly varied selection of mostly species. One of the few places east of California where you can find more than one or two Lycaste orchid species and hybrids for sale. http://www.carolinaorchids.com/ tell them I sent you, won't get you anything off the price, but will get a long tale or two, most likely embarrassing to me, but funny.

I live about an hour and a half from Charlotte but I had no Idea they were there. Do they do strictly orchids or other plants? I’m definitely going to stop by regardless probably on my time off work in December. Maybe after the silhoutte show?

 

[my nellie]

Wild cyclamen.
The flowers of potted plant are considerably smaller than their natural size.

 

[pweifan]

For a vendor in the USA, I recommend J & L Orchids, they currently do not have Masd. erinacea listed, but they have had it in the past. You can trust them for mail order, I have bought from them occasionally http://www.jlorchids.com/

The only source I checked that had Masd erinacea listed was Colombian Orchid Imports. They have a commercial growing range in Colombia. They bring in 3 or 4 shipments a year from Colombia. The way it works, you send in your order, when they have sufficient orders to make the import permits, inspection, expediting service and such cost effective, they bring a shipment into the USA. your order then gets shipped from their USA based greenhouse. They currently do have Masdevallia erinacea on their list. Contact them to see if you can get some.
http://www.colombianorchidimports.com/ I have not ordered from them, but they have a good reputation.

Another importer I would check out would be Ecuagenera. They attend several shows every year in the USA. place your order via email, then either pick the order up at an orchid show they are attending or they will mail your order to you from the show venue.

http://www.ecuagenera.com/ORCHID-SPECIES

Basically, this is all I have at the moment for sources. By the way, Masdevallia erinacea is not common in the USA because it is not easy to grow. This is not a beginners plant, in fact I can not tell you how to grow it, as I killed mine a number of years ago. But if you have grown other Masdevallias, and have had good results I think it could work for you.

Second suggestion. In the USA, it is easier to get imported plants to establish if you import them in spring, rather than autumn. I would contact the vendors, reserve your plant but ask them to hold it until the spring shipment. You will have a better chance of the plant surviving.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, Leo! This is great information and helps set some expectations for me as well. I should probably start with easier orchids. I''ll take a look at what's already in the states first. In fact, we have an orchid show at our botanical garden starting in February. I should probably start there before trying ship in this bitter cold weather we're having. My problem is that this time of year I get stir crazy for plants and want to start a bunch of new indoor projects. My planted aquarium gets a lot more love in the winter as well Thanks again.

 

[my nellie]

... ...I should probably start with easier orchids... ...

May I suggest Brassolaelia "Yellow Bird"
Easily growing, reliable bloomer, nice colors and shape of flower, scented too!
https://orchidmanuk.blogspot.gr/2015/08/brassocattleya-yellow-bird.html

Here is mine

 

[pweifan]

I like that one! I'll add it to my list thank you for the suggestion.

 

[JoeR]

May I suggest Brassolaelia "Yellow Bird"
Easily growing, reliable bloomer, nice colors and shape of flower, scented too!
https://orchidmanuk.blogspot.gr/2015/08/brassocattleya-yellow-bird.html

Here is mine
View attachment 166982

How long do the blooms last? I’d hate to grow something for it to only flower for a few days every year...

 

[my nellie]

How long do the blooms last? I’d hate to grow something for it to only flower for a few days every year...

If I remember correctly they last more than 10 days. But they also bloom more than once per year.

 

[defra]

We also got a couple orchids in tge window sill they grow new flowers every time when the flowers have fallen in about two weeks the new ones open up

 

[JoeR]

We also got a couple orchids in tge window sill they grow new flowers every time when the flowers have fallen in about two weeks the new ones open up

View attachment 167133 View attachment 167134 View attachment 167135 View attachment 167136 View attachment 167140

I’ve never heard of growing them together like that, that’s very nice! I wonder if you can mix and match several different types for a continually blooming planting. Assuming their needs are the same, that is.

 

[defra]

This is how we potted them:
Bought the container €12,50
Bought 5 orchids on sale for €2,50 each
At the bottom of the pot 1/3 baked clay balls (called hydrobals)
Thin layer of orchid soil (some kind of bark) put the plants out of the pots into the container fill it up with orchid soil
The orchid soil comes in a bag ready to use

How we care for them:
We spray the roots growing out of the soil on a daily base(with water and liquid nutrients added just alittle)
Also we pour water into the soil every 4-7 days
(our idea is to keep some water in the botom of the pot wich will evaporate by the heat of either sun or the heating radiator below the soil creating a little humidity around the plants)

We had a few for over two years but disposed of them because they grew to big and kept falling over

Ive been at someones place for my work the guy grew orchids for over 20 years and i told him how we cared for ours and he told me we were doing it all wrong lol

We dont realy know the life span of these things and how many times they are able to bloom they seem to grow forever here lol

Edit
I forgot to mention we only prune off branches that are done blooming when they brown up
Most of the time below that point they are already extending with a new branch forming flower buds

 

[Carol 83]

My little Meyer lemon, happy to be inside safe from the squirrels.

 

[JoeR]

This is how we potted them:
Bought the container €12,50
Bought 5 orchids on sale for €2,50 each
At the bottom of the pot 1/3 baked clay balls (called hydrobals)
Thin layer of orchid soil (some kind of bark) put the plants out of the pots into the container fill it up with orchid soil
The orchid soil comes in a bag ready to use

How we care for them:
We spray the roots growing out of the soil on a daily base(with water and liquid nutrients added just alittle)
Also we pour water into the soil every 4-7 days
(our idea is to keep some water in the botom of the pot wich will evaporate by the heat of either sun or the heating radiator below the soil creating a little humidity around the plants)

We had a few for over two years but disposed of them because they grew to big and kept falling over

Ive been at someones place for my work the guy grew orchids for over 20 years and i told him how we cared for ours and he told me we were doing it all wrong lol

We dont realy know the life span of these things and how many times they are able to bloom they seem to grow forever here lol

Edit
I forgot to mention we only prune off branches that are done blooming when they brown up
Most of the time below that point they are already extending with a new branch forming flower buds

Snobby of him to say you’re doing it wrong even if it’s working for you. Sounds familiar to Bonsai huh?

How long has this planting been going, two years?

 

[defra]

Snobby of him to say you’re doing it wrong even if it’s working for you. Sounds familiar to Bonsai huh?

How long has this planting been going, two years?

This one all together about 3 months but the preveous two years yes
And yeah sounds like bonsai lol

 

[drew33998]

Back to terrestrial plants. How about a cassia bonsai? Anyone have any suggestions for keeping it from just throwing long shoots all year without backbudding? Id like to see a nice silhouette of these flowers.

 

[drew33998]

David Austin rose "munstead wood". Wonderful smell. Not a strong grower for me though.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@defra - as another old timer orchid grower, I'd have to say you're doing it all wrong, but obviously it is working well for you, so don't change anything you are doing. LOL, the plants don't read the books, so they don't know that they aren't supposed to grow that way.

I would have kept them in their own pots, and nestled the pots together in the big tray. Then you could lift out each and water it separately.

 

[bonsaidave]

I have some confused azalea cuttings flowering in December.

 

[defra]

Il post a pic later but my big forsythia in the ground does think its spring too got like 20 flowers opened up o.0

 

[Deano]

Barbados cherry (Malpighia emarginata)