Dendrobium nobile hybrids, continued

I think this is the limit for my hyrid Dendrobium nobile collection. They require enough window space, I need to limit them. The current conundrum is: To promote growth of new canes (pseudobulbs) that will produce next year's flowers, they should be in full sun. To lengthen the life of the current flowers, they should be out of the sun, and kept cool. So which is it, warm in the sun, or cool in the shade?

I figure, they are all about the flowers. Even if not 100% optimal for next year's flowers, I'm keeping them in a bright space but not direct sun, until the flowers are done. Then they'll gradually go into full sun. I think they'll have enough cane growth for at least a few flowers, and mine don't need to look like the lush, massive bouquets on the Yamamoto dendrobium site. Just be bright and cheerful in the gloomy late winter / early spring here in the US Pacific Northwest.

Tentatively identified as Fancy Angel "Lycee" although I can't say for certain. Two unbloomed canes are already mature and plump, so it probably won't suffer from lack of full sun while blooming. I like the appearance of the pseudobulbs, they look exotic and Dr. Seussian. That's one reason that I like to show the entire plant, it adds to the exptic appearance.

Blossom closeup. I hate to say it, but I'm less crazy about these blossoms than some of the others. Even so, with the smaller number of flowers, it's possible to concentrate on the Cattleya-like shape of the flower.

Tentatively identified as Love Memory "Fizz". Coloration is bolder and the lip marking is more prominant. I like this one a lot. It has 2 new canes that are not nearly as plump as the mature canes. It will be interesting if they plump up like the original canes. I hope so.

I'm 99% sure this is Oriental Smile "Fantasy" from Yamamoto. Nothing else looks similar. I picked it up at Trader Joe's 2 weeks ago. Potted into the standard bark/perlite/peat mix, same as the others, in the slotted container for aeration. Yamamoto states this is a later bloomer than most.

View of entire plant, Dendrobium Oriental Smile "Fantasy". Nice glowing warm coloration. It has that strange ultra-thin lower part of the cane, widening into a fatter cane above, typical for Dendrobium nobile.

New aquisition, Dendrobium Yellow Song "Canary". Mail order from Hauserman. I didn't expect for it to be in bloom. The flowers are a bit crushed, otherwise they are bright and sunny. Being without defining lip markings, I think that the flowers may benefit from thinning to set them off. We'll see if it blooms next year.

The original pot was only about 2 inches across. I didn't want to overpot, since Dendrobium nobile is known to require limitation of root space, but the original pot was so small . I went up about 2 inches in diameter. The original medium was coconut husk, so tight that I couldn't get it out without damaging the roots, so I left most of the old medium in place.