Iwanagaara Appleblossom "fantasy"

I'm a bit pleased with myself for blooming this again.

Iwanagaara Appleblossom "Fantastic"

Wow - I'm impressed! Iwanagaara Appleblossom "Fantastic" didn't drop its buds, it bloomed! Nice flowers! No fragrance, but I have a cold and can't smell anything.
It's more pale than the internet photo. Maybe it will darken, and develop fragrance, in a few days. From what I've read, the first day doesn't always have the fullest color and fragrance.



This cold is miserable. Friday I felt crummy, Saturday I ignored it and did yard work, but not that much and it wore me out. Sunday I slept all day, and still felt crummy. Today I woke up feeling crummy. Maybe not as bad as yesterday. Will the blooming flower heal me?

It rained a little last night. Not a lot. The rain barrel filled up completely! That spout does drain half of the roof, so no surprise. But I was surprised, anyway.

Now I have an easy rainwater source for the orchids, and a quick water source for containers and seedlings. Cool! Now we're talking about getting a second one for increased storage capacity!

Thinning peaches and apples really gave them a boost! It's easy to compare fruit, tiny, on branches where I missed thinning, to fruit 4 times larger already, on the branches that I thinned. Apples not as dramatic as peaches.

Cattleyas and Dendrobium

Two new additions. I keep saying I don't have room for more. That is correct. Still, during a hard week, it gives me something to look forward to.

I'm very impressed with Hausermann Orchids. This is my 3rd order from them - or is it the 4th? Each time, the plants were in great shape, carefully wrapped, nice root systems. This time, one was in bud, so if it doesn's suffer too much from shipping, and my treatment, I'll see flowers. That's very, very cool! I'm just very impressed.

Here's the plant in bud, Iwanagara Appleblossom "Fantastic". This is also called Iwanagaara, and in some cases Apple Blossom is split into 2 words. Plus, with renaming, it may not even be Iwanagaara - I'll add more later. Regardless, it's said to be a versatile and fairly easy, compact, attractive, and fragrant.

I repotted, as I have been doing when adding any orchids. Doing so gives me a chance to inspect the roots, trim off dead roots, convert to the same medium as the others, and transfer them into the pots with side openings. I almost didnt repot the Iwanagaara, due to the buds - but then decided to do so. Then sprayed with neem oil, as a 'tonic'.

Iwanagaara Appleblossom "Fantastic". Picture from Hausermann orchids. I chose this variety because of the stated bloom time, and it was described as compact.

I decided to add a traditional Cattleya, so here it is. This is Cattleya Hawaiian Wedding "Virgin". Photo from Hausermann Orchids.

Here's the plant. As with the Iwanagaara, I repotted it. Also an impressive plant, with a stalk indicating prior bloom. That means, to me, a chance that it could bloom next cycle. I can't ask for more.

Can't forget, this Dendrobium nobile NOID is starting to bloom. Not the massive plant-hiding mass of flowers, but I think I like it better like this. It's the first Dendrobium that I've had bloom under my care, so that's cool.