An Interesting Day Out in DeLand, FL

First, I really wish I brought my camera today, but I didn't so apologies for the iPhone pics.

Today I went with my mom to E.F.G. Orchids in DeLand, Florida, for "Orchtoberfest." Orchids for a mile and then German beer and bratwurst for lunch. Today was a good day.

Outside were some cute carnivorous plants, butterworts and Nepenthes.

A lizard trying to blend in and a donkey. I couldn't get a picture of the Emu, but they've got one of those too.

The front entrance to EFG

One of the vendors tents, can't remember the name but had some great hybrids

Another vendor had this orchid, appears to be Rssgls. Rawdon Jester 'Great Bee' from the tag/internet. A hybrid of Rossioglossum grande x williamsianum. I love it, a good hybrid should bring out a combo of the best of both species and this one nails it.

A Psychopsis hybrid my mom ended up buying

Paph. Pinocchio a cute sequential bloomer my mom picked up as well.

Inside E.F.G.'s greenhouse we saw this really cool idea...orchid mounted with a mousetrap!

A look down some of the isles

A huge wet wall down both sides. It is surprisingly chilly standing next to it.

Many of the orchids were mounted and looked super happy about it.

Some things in bloom

Nepenthes x 'Miranda'

Nepenthes x "Ventrata" wall down the left

Tons of cacti and succulents

I picked up a small Brassavola glauca from E.F.G. and a Cattleya intermedia fma. aquinii coerulea 'Hanada' AM/AOS x self from one of the other vendors. Pics some other time, nothing in bloom.

Then the day took an interesting twist. When someone says to you, "We have to stop at this one place on the way back!" I typically say sure, most usually glad I did. Somewhere right past the intersection of SR 40 and 17 is the wackiest place. Now this is the touristy Florida I remember, must have to get closer to Orlando/Disney World now a days to really get to see it anymore. Strange places made for tourists to shop are scattered all around Florida, but let me show you just how strange this one was.

Uh, I kind of really want this dinosaur in my yard. A little after this point, a small sign warns you to wear shoes due to the fire ants. I was in flip-flops, ants be damned, too many strange possibilities ahead to turn back now...

A pink rooster?

I also REALLY like these toucans. I know it's tacky, but I just can't help it. I love them and I want to hang one outside. There were thousands of these painted animals and pots, but the toucans are GREAT.

Also......gross...gator hands.

You see that toucan? Awesome, don't tell me it's not.

This place was also busy. It's saturday and a beautiful day so this place was packed with bikers.

Dinosaur or a knight anyone?

Is it a crayfish?

Suddenly, also patio furniture.

Need a flamingo or possibly Mary for your yard? FYI these are both about 6 feet tall.

Aw yeaaaa, more toucans.

There was also an iguana. Not for sale.

A skeleton dog?

Lets get real here. It wouldn't be a Florida roadside tourist shop without the following:

1.) Gator heads for sale

2.) Fruit for sale

Totally worth stopping and checking it out, just for the weird factor alone. Although I love orchid shopping, I do regret coming home toucan-less. 

Stapelia gigantea blooms!

A really, really, huge flower.

I'll admit I'd been semi-ignoring this plant (that's one of the best parts about growing succulents...low maintenance, you can do that.) Last week I was watering when I noticed the bud. It was so heavy it was tipping the whole plant over. Or maybe it just needed to be repotted a long time ago.

More pictures to come when it gets all gross and covered in flies!

Lithops News

All the lithops are growing, I think the move and sudden change in weather threw them off. On the plus side they are all at the same stage in growth now and should sync up with the seasons well.

A small Lithops collection

Lithops  lesliei doubling. No flower though, wrong time of the year for it anyway.

Lithops  lesliei

Faucaria felina, also apparently doubling one of it's heads.Reminds me of those stylized evil robot hands from the 1950's.

Faucaria felina

A Few Losses and a Few Gained

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone at least gets to enjoy some time off from work or school, whatever you celebrate or even if you don't celebrate anything. I noticed my view count jump up, so maybe if you are on the internet, hiding from your family, you might appreciate something new to read ;)

So, the move wasn't entirely without it's losses. Unfortunately it was the succulents that decided they weren't so thrilled with the Florida weather. To be fair it was the ones that had gone into their winter-almost-no-growth-at-all life cycle already before the move. I think the sudden influx of humidity and rain they got when I didn't take them inside right away is what did them in. Hey, I've been extraordinarily busy, ok? Things should settle down in the next month or so and I can be on top of everything again.

Lost:

• Frithia pulchra - Real upset about this one, it was one of my favorites.

• Aloinopsis luckhoffii - Meh, I liked it and plan on replacing it at some point, but it wasn't the nicest or most exciting as far as Aloinopsis/Titanopsis go.

Gained:

• Lithops NOID - Cute as hell, love the colors on these. I figured it would be worth a shot seeing as how I can do Lithops apparently. I think I understand when not to water and when to watch they don't overheat or burn. I may have to change the media and pots they're in with such different growing conditions but I have more research to do 1st.

• Aloinopsis schooneesii -Love, love, love it, so excited I found one. Have you seen the way some people have turned these into mini bonsai?!?! Just Google Images the plant name, you won't regret spending the 30 seconds. Now I just have to figure out how to make mine do that.

An excuse to buy a few more cheap little succulents is almost never bad, with the one exception of death. Seriously those two succulents melted in a matter of days. I haven't killed anything in a looooong time, so I guess I was due. I will try to replace that Frithia asap. It had the sweetest little purple flower that I will miss too much not to have around. I would like to have a better collection of weird succulents, but I'm just not so sure I want to deal with Conophytum or any other more difficult mesembs just yet. It's pretty darn humid here year round, not ideal for stuff that needs a dry winter or summer rest. Fingers crossed I can keep the rest of what I have by adjusting my conditions where I can. I'll have to scale back on my watering, and repot into a grittier mix.

Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa blooms and an almost reconsidering of growing all these plants.

Last of the succulent blooms for the season is Faucaria felina ssp. tuberculosa. A cheery yellow for the fall that matches the leaves on the trees outside. I'm not looking forward to the winter, but the yellow, orange, and red colors of nature during the fall season in New York have always been my favorite colors.

I've got a few orchids spiking, so I'm really looking forward to those. I'm not taking any pictures yet as I've had more bud blasts than blooms on them this year, so I'll wait until there are actual open flowers before I even start bothering to take pictures.

Every once in a while I think about growing fewer different types of plants and focusing my collection on things from one or two different plant families. This usually happens when I start to get busy and stressed out and wonder why I've extended myself so much as I'm dealing with dormancy preps, rearranging, moving things around and re-potting, on top of everything else going on with work, family, etc., you know....life things.

This year's little "Why am I doing this to myself, I've got too many plants," almost- meltdown was brought to you by a combination of being sick with the flu, filling out endless job applications, taking a sick cat to the vet, and still having to show up for work and real life while the temperatures plummet and the plants all need to go somewhere inside, but aren't ready.

Then when everything's pretty much done and settled in again I remember why I'm growing so many different things, (and am always glad I didn't get too impulsive and start giving things away.) Something is always doing something. As the cacti and succulents will be pretty much just sitting around the house doing nothing or growing slow, I'll have some orchid blooms, (nice because different species bloom at different times of the year,) and the Nepenthes will still be making pitchers and flowering as the North American carnivorous plants are dormant. Always something doing something. Which always gives me something to look forward to and occasionally let myself get distracted on the small and inconsequential, things that can just be for fun, (because at the end of the day, for me it doesn't really matter if a particular orchid blooms or not this year, but it's certainly awesome when it does.)