E.F.G. Orchids Haul

I don't live close to any orchid nurseries, despite living in Florida. I do live close to a garden center that gets it's plants from nurseries that carry unique things. Every so often they get in plants from E.F.G. Orchids in Deland. I love seeing those blue tags at a store down the street.

Once or twice a year I'll make the trip out to Deland when I feel like really spending some money. E.F.G. Orchids is fantastic. As in, always has good choices, always has decent prices, always friendly and helpful staff great. It's probably great that I don't live closer or my wallet would not look so great.

Keeping with my species Phal binge, with one or two deviations...in this box is:

• Phalaenopsis schilleriana....in spike
• Phalaenopsis stuartiana (yellow form)...in spike, (Phalaenopsis stuartiana var. nobilis)
• Phalaenopsis bellina...with a keiki. I'm hoping this one blooms a little different than the one I already have, F5 from Ooi Leng Sun.
• Phalaenopsis "Golden Coffee"
• Angraecum sesquipedale...needed one of these, why don't I already have this?
• Ansellia gigantea var nilotica
• Fdk. After Dark 'SVO Black Pearl'

Phalaenopsis schilleriana

Phalaenopsis stuartiana (yellow strain) 

Phalaenopsis bellina

Looking at it from the back, there's a keiki.

Let's talk for a minute about Phal, Sogo Yenlin "Golden Coffee(?)" Coffees(?) Coffey(?) Striped Coffee(?) I asked about these as they had a variety of labels and sizes. I've seen them labeled all those ways elsewhere. They all bloom the same. Apparently they are all the same.  The most info I could get about them is these were from I-Hsin labs to a distributor in Apopka, to E.F.G. Apparently a lot of people have been finding them at their local Lowe's too. I bought this one because the variegation is the strongest I've seen on these. The numbers on the tag is the same as my Coffee as well. No amount of Googling has turned up a definitive answer for the right name for these guys.

Striped Coffee and Golden Coffee

Fdk. After Dark 'Black Pearl' has one of the blackest flowers I've seen. There is no such thing as a black flower in nature, but brown, red, or purple so saturated it looks black. The darker color also has to do with cultural conditions, or so I've read. Warmer temps will bloom a lighter burgundy. Nothing else with "black" flowers grows well here, (or not for me anyway) so I had to try it. I'm hoping our nights are cool enough now for it to flower dark enough to look black. Like real dark black, blacker than space.

Angreacum sesquipidale. I was just watching an orchid haul video the night before I went to E.F.G. where a woman had found one in those Better-Gro bagged orchids and I got jealous. I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something by letting me find one the next day. Have I been good?

So, I originally recorded a video haul, because I love watching other people's hauls and unboxings on YouTube. Plus it really shows you the quality of plants you can expect. I can't hold the camera steady and am coughing because I'm getting over a cold still, so it turned out crappy. Maybe next time.

Make Orchid Growing Great Again

2016 Was a pretty good year for my orchids. I know this because many bloomed, many need to be divided or go into larger pots. However, I didn't do much to deserve the growth or flowers I got. I maybe fertilized them twice the whole year. I turned the hose on them when it hadn't rained for a few weeks. They got too much sun when some trees came down in the back yard. One Vanda (I forgot I had,) I left hanging on a fence in full sun and basically never watered or fertilized it. It's leaves are a bit sunbleached, but it's roots look fabulous and it's still putting out a new leaf.

I've been doing a million other things and was much more focused on my bromeliads and Nepenthes. All it took was one new Phalaenopsis and we're back in the game. I know, a Phalaenopsis?! The grocery store orchid for the masses? Gets marked down to $1 when it drops it's flowers? Get's thrown in the trash when it's done blooming? How plebian, Ick.

Yeah, but it's Phalaenopsis gigantea. I haven't been this excited about a purchase in a long time. Do yourself a favor and look this one up if you haven't seen one before. I was at my local garden center buying some soil amendments and did my usual browse through the plant section when there she was:

Large seedling?

I'm really, really invested in this Phalaenopsis gigantea in particular. I need it to be a monster one day, so whatever happens I cannot kill it. I even bought some larger clear pots to repot this guy out of moss. It's a slow grower, but has definitely grown between the times these pictures were taken.

That set off a slight binge in buying some species and higher end hybrid Phalaenopsis. I don't regret it. My cheap hybrid mini-Phals bloom every winter. My Phal 'Purple Martin', (a violacea hybrid) blooms on and off, all summer, every summer, since I bought it.

New Phal species from a variety of sources

That's a spike. And yeah that's dust/dirt/debris on slightly dehydrated leaves.

Spikes in various stages of growth

So here's to Phalaenopsis. The generic, cheap first orchid many of us killed. For me, the majority of my 2016 orchid purchases. The orchids that are the nicest to me despite me neglecting them for nearly a year, so it appears I do owe them.

Thanks to that Phal. gigantea in particular for renewing my interest in orchids. Does a new purchase ever do that for you all as well?

Some More Booming Orchids

Lets start with the mini Phalaenopsis.

Dtps. Sogo Vivien variegated. The plastic pot broke, probably due to the heat and sun of growing it outdoors, so it needs repotting so bad it isn't funny.

Dtps. Sogo Vieker 'Taida Little Monkey', flowers got a bit bunched up and wacky. Unfortunately had to move it in from outdoors when the temps started to get too low at night, after it had already started blooming so now it looks a mess.

Dtps. Sogo Yenlin 'Coffee' variegated. As you can see, moving the plant after it already started blooming kind of messed up the flowers and shapeliness of the spike this year too. (P.S. I also still have a few of these left for sale.)

NoID mini Phal. Same problem, oh well.

On to the Cattleyas!

Cattleya lawrenceana 'El Hatillo' x 'Manantial' decided to push out some more flowers. Also that's definitely not an old store display rack I use to grow some of my orchids on.

Cattleya Caribbean x lawrenceana. I've been patiently waiting on this one to bloom since I bought it in 2014. It's an H&R cross according to an older sales list. This also may be the 1st photo on the internet of the bloom as I can't find a single other.

Cattleya nobilior var. amaliae 'Miss Blue' x 'Select'

Last but certainly not least, Dendrobium.

Dendobium moniliforme 'Himeginsetsu'. This one's been blooming since fall, same as last year, what a great mini.

Lots more in spike, including my one of my favorite Cattleya species, so it should be a good year for orchid blooms!

Phalaenopsis Blooming This Year

Just a few pictures, as all my spring blooming Phalaenopsis are flowering at the same time again this year.

Phalaenopsis stuartiana

Variegated Phalaenopsis NoID 

Medium Phalaenopsis NoID

Pink flowering mini Phal NoID

Phalaenopsis Spiketacular: The Finale

Now that all the Phals have opened their blooms, the deck's looking pretty nice out there!

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with mottled leaves

From the side

NOID "Medium" Phal, white flowers

NOID Variegated Mini Phalaenopsis

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with solid purple blooms

Phalaenopsis stuartiana

Phalaenopsis Spiketacular Update

If you remember this post from last year: Phalaenopsis Spiketacular , the blooms have finally begun! No bud blast from the move.

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with mottled leaves:

NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with solid purple blooms:

 

NOID Variegated Mini Phalaenopsis:

NOID "Medium" Phal, white flowers:

Not pictured: 

Phalaenopsis stuartina x sib. The spike is far behind all these mini phals. Hybrids are typically stronger and faster growers, this being my only species, that could explain it's lagging behind. 

Dtps. Kenneth Schubert, finally dropped it's last bud.

I'll put up some more pictures once everything has opened!

Phalaenopsis Spiketacular

I don't know what's going on this year. None of my spring blooming orchids, and next to none of my summer blooming orchids flowered this year, but fall seems to be a whole different situation. All, let me repeat that, ALL of my Phalaenopsis are in spike or still blooming. I've never had this happen before.

So here's what I have to look forward to as we head into the cold weather:

1.) NOID medium Phalaenopsis. I call this one medium because it's not a mini Phal, but it's nowhere near large enough to be normal sized either. I've got two spikes on this one. This Phal blooms just like those huge white NOIDs you see at grocery stores and Home Depots, except on a much smaller scale. I've had this one for maybe 3 years and it hasn't ever bloomed here before.

The whole plant

Spike #1

Spike #2 and a keiki it made last year

2.) NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with mottled leaves. See older pictures of it and last years blooms here: NOID Mini Phalaenopsis, I wouldn't have bothered putting up last years pictures if I had thought it would re-bloom this year. As far as Phalaenopsis orchids go, I have mostly every other year bloomers, and never again bloomers, so this is new. Maybe I finally figured out how to keep Phalaenopsis consistently happy here.

Plant from the top

Still a small spike, but I can see it peeking

3.) Phalaenopsis stuartiana x sib. My only species Phal. :(

The whole plant

Close-up of the gorgeous leaf pattern

A tiny start of a spike.

4.) NOID Variegated Mini Phalaenopsis. This one's still got the spike from when I bought it, but I guess it decided to make a new spike anyway. I'm still not thrilled about these flowers, but thrilled that it's flowering, if that makes sense. You can see pictures from when I first got it in the beginning of August here: Finally Found a Variegated Phalaenopsis

On the right is the new leaf it's grown since I've had it.

Sorry, wouldn't focus so the pic is a little blurry, but is that a variegated spike?

5.) NOID Mini Phalaenopsis with solid purple blooms. I was just about to try and give this one away. I've got quite a few minis and I'd like to make room for species instead. It's a better gift in bloom anyway, so I still might if someone wants it. In fact, now that I think about it, this is another Phal I got years ago that hasn't bloomed in my care until now.

Sorry for the focus issues, my camera wasn't having it today

6.) Dtps. Kenneth Schubert is still flowering. One or two at a time, but we've been going since summer. Pictures from the start of this years flowering (July) here: Dtps. Kenneth Schubert

Spike's getting pretty long there...

Super difficult to try and get pictures of the bloom against a solid background with such a long spike.

So that's the entirety of my Phalaenopsis collection. If you like Phals, the next few months of this blog might be entertaining for you. If you hate them, you might want to not come back until the spring. However, I do have a couple other types of orchids getting prepared to bloom that I should be able to scatter in and keep orchid lovers entertained at least, (and the Nepenthes fans, I've always got pitchers going on.)