My orchids ...

It's been a good winter for my orchids. I have been elated more than once to see blossoms on plants that either blasted their buds, or simply didn't produce any blooms, last year.

The sweet, sweet Phragmipedium ended up putting out two more blossoms following the one it was sporting when I purchased it last fall. All told, it was in bloom for at least 3 months after I brought it home.



I have 2 plants from the Cattleya Alliance and they both produced blooms this year. It takes forever for the buds to develop, grow, and mature. I mean forever. Really. I think it was 3 months--at least--from the time I first noticed a sheath developing on one, to when a blossom finally opened. The purple colored one has no id: I don't know what hybrid it is. It does not produce a sheath, the buds extend directly. It produced one, very pretty flower. The nice thing about these blooms is they also last a very long time. This one flower lasted almost 2 months:



The yellow/orange one produced 4 blossoms this year and I'm really chuffed about that because it did not produce any blossoms last year. These buds spent at least a month within a sheath (an envelope that looks at first like a new leaf forming, but sunlight shining through it reveals buds within; eventually the buds burst forth from the sheath.) and another month or two developing before opening up. This Cattleya just opened it's flowers last week; I expect to enjoy them through the whole month of March, no doubt.



In between the time the purple Cattleya and the orange Cattleya blossomed, my Dendrochilum Cobbianum blossomed. It was very exciting to witness the development of the inflorescences, each one eventually home to a multitude of minute blossoms. It has the scent of mowed hay! Ever so elegant:



I am ever so grateful for all this beauty.

Last Saturday I went down to Nashua, NH for the NH Orchid Society's annual orchid show. It was splendid! Oh my word, the profusion of flowers! I had little choice but to limit my purchases because of my current limited space to accommodate more plants. (But if things go as planned, I'll have more room in the not too distant future. :) ) I bought one species Phalaenopsis (Phalaenopsis Violacea) and a Cattleya Aurantiaca. Can't wait to see them in bloom.

Here are a few pictures from the orchid show:



There's also some very nice video footage of the show here (I did not take the video):