Grammatophyllum scriptum var. kiilani

I bought a Grammatophyllum scriptum var kiilani, a cute little miniature Grammatophyllum orchid, from someone on one of the forums I frequent. She sent it in spike, potted in semi-hydroponics. I had wanted to try and grow some orchids semi-hydroponically for a while, just to try it, but was never motivated enough to bother. So I just left this orchid potted as is, and went with it. It opened up two flowers from the spike it was sent with, so I won't claim any credit for these flowers.

The flowers have been open for 3 weeks now, and no signs of wear yet. It came with a few older looking pseudobulbs, but is happpily growing another, with another flower spike... I think I'll let the nice weather and the fact that a Grammatophyllum seems to be a perfect fit for the S/H (semi-hydroponic) growing style take credit for this. I have no idea what I'm doing, but it seems like my first try with S/H is going well so far. May switch some other orchids over here soon.

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!

1st Wistuba Shipment Sucess

I waited a bit to take any pictures or post anything about these. They spent almost 2 weeks in the mail, from Germany, to Maryland, to Florida, in JULY. Not ideal. I didn't plan it this way, but things got delayed and that's how it worked out. These are recently out of tissue culture too, so between the heat, and then adjusting them to life out of flask, I've heard too many horror stories of plants just melting within a day or two to have high hopes. It still may be too early to tell, so far so good.

I ordered these Nepenthes from Dr. Andreas Wistuba, of The Nepenthes Nursery, located in Germany. He's set up a US distributor to deal with all the importation and CITES paperwork so without that headache I decided to try an order. I had wanted to for a while, but was hesitant to try (and spend the money on tiny TC seedlings.) However, he's the only vendor with legal Nepenthes clipeata seedlings for sale. This being my favorite Nepenthes, every year that's gone by, the pain and anguish of not having one was slowly killing me.

I only ordered one N. albomarginata red, but two came wrapped up together. They came almost rootless, but I'm not complaining. I was happy they came with any roots at all.

Nepenthes albomarginata red #1

Nepenthes albomarginata red #2

What will one day be the pride and joy of my little collection over here; Nepenthes clipeata clone 3 and clone U. Clone 3's growth point was damaged during shipping, but it looks like it will grow out fine.

Nepenthes clipeata clone 3

Nepenthes clipeata clone U

I went with the recommendation to keep them bagged at 100% humidity and slowly acclimate them from there. It's going well. As of today the bags are open at the top, and I've only had some light die off at the tips of the pitchers. The leaves are starting to get more leathery and lose that weak looking lime green color they came with.

So the "test run/desperate for N. clipeata" order appears to be successful, and now that I know I can acclimate the plants fine... I can order more plants with a little higher confidence. I'm already regretting not getting clipeata clone 2, but I guess I'll have to wait and order it next time. Overall, I'm really happy with the whole experience. I was riddled with anxiety over it at times, but from now on I'll just order in fall or winter and save myself the worry if things get delayed.

Latest Nepenthes Pitchers

Just a few of the pitchers around here. I'm in the process of repotting everything into square pots to maximize space, so nothing spectacular here at the moment. Most are recovering from being repotted which means mostly sulking for the next few weeks and doing nothing, followed by growing slowly for another few weeks after that. Not that many plants particularly like being disturbed and repotted, but Nepenthes really dislike repotting.

Nepenthes veitchii (Pink) just opening

The same pitcher, finished and colored up.

Nepenthes ampullaria 'Lime Twist'

Another 'Lime Twist' pitcher

A small recovery trap, Nepenthes robcantleyi 'Queen of Hearts' x 'King of Spades' pitcher

Nepenthes rafflesiana Brunei Giant "BE 99"

Epidendrum Orchid Blooming

This lovely little Epidendrum a friend gave me bloomed last week. Anyone able to ID it?

Although the picture isn't quite as clear, the iPhone managed to capture the color a lot more appropriately than the camera did.

This one was fairly quick, as far as orchids go, from spike to bloom. I did spend a few days wondering just exactly how tall the spike was going to grow before it finally stopped.

More Bad News for Venus Flytraps

In terrible news for the day, the majority of a wild population of Venus Fly Traps were dug up and stolen in North Carolina, as well as some Sarracenia and Drosera. More than 1,000 Venus flytraps stolen from Wilmington's Alderman Park. Although the value was stated at $20,000, it really isn't about the financial value of the plants stolen. Genetic diversity and a healthy population size is what keeps plants like this from going extinct. The selfishness and nearsightedness of people who take plants from the wild is astounding. I'm a big fan of the phrase, "Take only pictures, leave only footprints."

I know it's not quite the same to buy a cheap tissue cultured plant from the local store as to have a seed grown plant. However, VFT seed is cheap and readily available too, it just takes some patience to have full grown flowering plants. My typical flytrap is from a place called Fly-Trap Farm. It was pointed out to me not that long ago that this business pays people with "collector's permits," to wild collect their VFTs,.(See Article: Rare Plants A Solid Niche Market.) I don't really care about collector's permits and whether these plants were legally obtained or not. I wouldn't have bought a flytrap from them if I knew it was wild collected at all. The ICUN Red List has Dionaea musculpula listed as "Vulnerable", let's not make such a beautiful and unique plant any worse off please. Buy seeds or buy a tissue cultured plant, make sure you're dealing with reputable and sustainable sources for your plants. I wouldn't be surprised if these stolen plants start popping up on ebay or other sites. Why would you need, and risk getting caught digging up protected plants at a park for that many VFT's if there wasn't some sort of profit involved.