Neofinetia 'White Tara' x 'Crystal Palace': 2012's Flowers

Staring to grow out some buds 8/31/12

Looks like this will be a new growth after all. Only took it 5 years!I know Neofinetia are slow growers, but in all seriousness this one is the slowest of them all.

Bud progress below, 9/10/12:

Looks like I lost the 5th bud, only 4 this year.

Pictures on 9/14/12:

Flower close up

Today:

From the front

From the side

Neofinetia falcata 'White Tara' x 'Crystal Palace'

This is my other "most reliable bloomer" orchid, (along with Dtps. Kenneth Schubert.) Neofinetia falcata 'White Tara' x 'Crystal Palace' is an older Cal Orchids cross of Neofinetia falcata cultivars. I had emailed them years ago about purchasing another Neo that wasn't listed on their page but I knew they stocked and had mentioned I had this orchid. I remember some of the email they sent back, (quite quickly I might add, nice customer service!) Someone had said that it was not their best and that it was very slow growing, asking if I wanted an updated list of "better," cultivars they were now making too. I'll agree, it is very slow growing for a Neofinetia. In fact the reason I ended up with this orchid was because my aunt had long since gotten bored with it's slow growth rate and gave it to me, knowing how much I love Neofinetias. Every year since I've had this orchid, (maybe 5 years now?) it has bloomed, but never gotten any larger overall, or grown any new fans of growth and multiplied. I kind of liked that it stayed small, but there's something almost spooky about a plant that never gets any larger but keeps showing all other signs of being happy.

Here are some pictures of last year's blooms. It has a very light pink tinge to the spur and smells great, especially in the evening.

Neofinetia falcata 'White Tara' x 'Crystal Palace.' This is as large as the plant has ever been for me for the about 5 years since I've had it.

Close-up of a flower

From the side

I just like how this picture came out

There has been some developments as of recent. It appears to be not only getting ready to bloom again, (it's always been an August bloomer for me,) but possibly putting out a new fan of growth. I say possibly because although it makes sense, (growth coming out of the base,) sometimes orchids do strange things. When Neos start to grow either a new growth or flowers, a leaf like structure grows first that's hard to tell whether it will indeed become a leaf, or if it is the structures these grow around the base of a flower stalk. Picture below of what I'm talking about. I promise it'll make more sense when you see it.

New growth at the base of the plant

New growth between the leaves, this one should for sure be a flower spike eventually.

In the pictures from this year, you can see what I mean about all new growth looking like leaves. If you enlarge the last picture I lightly circled the new growth in red, so it's easier to pick out if you aren't used to looking for such things. To the left of the circle is the last two years old spikes. They've long since dried out and been cut, but you can see that the growth ends up looking like tiny leaves protecting the base of the flower spikes.

I was beginning to think I was having a terrible year for orchids, none of my spring bloomers had even bothered to try. I was happy to see the Dtps. blooming, but if that's the only one out of 30 something, I'm clearly having a bad year. Maybe the summer bloomers will turn things around here, we'll have to wait and see.

Neofinetia falcata 'Kuroshinju'

I'm so excited about this orchid! There's no flower pictures so don't bother scrolling down looking for them if that's what you're here for. I just got this little one in the mail today. Neofinetia falcata is my favorite orchid. I already have a few different forms/cultivars. I plan on collecting a lot more. Neofinetia falcata was the 1st orchid I ever purchased (and unfortunately my cat ate.) N. falcata 'White Tara' x 'Crystal Palace' was the first orchid I ever got to bloom. They do really well here, the weather and seasonal changes are similar to that of Japan (and a few other Asian countries), where these guys come from. I can easily provide them with cooler winters and hotter humid summers. Every year the mature ones either bloom or start growing a new "fan" of growth.

Neofinetia falcata 'Kuroshinju'

So back to 'Kuroshinju.' I have wanted this orchid for years, ever since I knew it existed. Neofinetia falcata culivars can really only be bought in the US from a limited amount of vendors, only 2 places carry a consistent amount of variety. (I think those 2 importers are where all the other vendors that occasionally carry them get them from in the first place.) They also aren't cheap which is why I'm extra thrilled about this one. When I came home and saw it I nearly had a "Kristen Bell Sloth Meltdown" . It's a good thing I'm just not an emotional person otherwise I'm sure I would've had a similar reaction.

'Kuroshinju' is an ultra miniature Neofinetia form, each "fan," is only going to get 1'' or 2.54 cm large.  Although Neos are considered monopodial, they do have this sympodial growth habit of making more growths and grow from all the points at the top of each fan. The name 'Kuroshinju' I've seen spelled a variety of ways, but translates in English to "Black Pearl."

I apologize to all my non US readers, I know there's a lot of you. I used a US dime for size reference as I couldn't find my measuring tape or any object like a bottle cap that's more universal. So you've also got my thumbnail for size reference.

So tiny!

I ordered this one from a vendor I'd never bought from before as a 2-3 growth plant for $30. That's more money than I think I've ever spent on an orchid in my life. That's also a more than fair price for it compared to the competition. If you enlarge the above picture you can see it's starting it's 4th fan of growth, an unexpectedly nice surprise when I looked it over. It's in great condition too. If I can afford to order more Neofinetia cultivars I'll be ordering from Satomi at Seed Engei again. There's a lot more of them I need, so it's only a matter of time really!