"Day Off". Orchid Blogging.

Repotted one of the Paphiopedilum plants. It turned out to be two plants in one pot. I was disappointed, because instead of one robust plant, it was 2 smaller plants. Even so, I guess it means a additional acquisition. They were not identical - one has more mottled leaf appearance. They are now in the same potting mix as my other orchids. As terrestrial orchids, they'll need watering a bit more often, but I like this mix. I sprayed the leaves with neem after potting, to give them a little protection. It also give the leaves a healthy-looking satin glow.

My photos were blurry, so here are some 19th century lithographs instead.

English: Lawrence's Paphiopedilum var. viride(1896)Source Lindenia Iconographie des Orchidées via wikimedia commons. It looks like these were originally classified as Cypripedium, but the appearance is clearly like the modern Paphiopedilum Maudii hybrid.

I'm surprised at how much these look like the modern hybrids.

Paphiopedilum superbiens, originally labeled as Cypripedium. Same source of illustration.

Update:
This is how the repotted Paphiopedilum plants look now. I wanted a record here for future reference.

Orchid Lithographs

These old lithographs are genuine treasures. They were published at a time when growing orchids was a hobby for the wealthy, who could grow them in their own greenhouses. The key as to which orchid is what, is here in Wikipedia.

Epiphyte house at Knypersley-Bateman



The above lithograph is by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel , a German biologist, this photo 1860 from wikipedia.
Haeckel and his assistant von Miclucho-Maclay Canary Islands, 1866. From Wikipedia, "an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including phylum, phylogeny, ecology and the kingdom Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularized Charles Darwin's work in Germany and developed the controversial recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny") claiming that an individual organism's biological development, or ontogeny, parallels and summarizes its species' entire evolutionary development, or phylogeny." Which is still taught today. Also typical for learned men of his time, he had generic ideas that we now rightfully consider racist. I like to think that, if he lived today, he would have seen those ideas as profoundly flawed, while expanding on his evolutionary studies.

I especially like the illustrations that show the entire plant, roots, stems, leaves, and flowers, such as this Laelia speciosa by Bateman, in 1840. This drawing is one of my favorites, showing the roots attached to a branch, and the elegant form of the plant and its flower.

Oncidium micropogon, from Curtis's Botanical magazine, 1887. A typical drawing for the series. These drawings could be used to identify the plants, even today, as well as a photo. Somewhere, I read that the flowers resemble local bees, and that on seeing them tremble in the wind, a bee becomes agitated and attacks the 'foreign invaders'. This attack leads to transfer of pollen, ensuring the next generation. I don't know if this scenario is accurate, but I do see the resemblence.

My collection contains one plant similar to this variety, but the 'bee mimicry' is less obvious.

Oncidium longicornu, also from Curtis's Botanical magazine, 1842Any variety that I grow will doubtless be a hybrid, and also doubtless much easier to grow, compared to these freshly collected species plants. Even so, it's possible that my plants could be descended from these.

Dendrobium nobile, from John Lindley's Sertum orchidaceum (1838-1841). Also from wikipedia, "It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it has the name shí hú (Chinese: 石斛) or shí hú lán (Chinese: 石斛兰)."
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Orchid Blogging

On Friday I received the new Blc. "Ports of Paradise" Emerald Isle, mentioned in previous blog entry. Beautiful plant, nice condition. Learning from prior failure-to-repot, I turned it out of the pot on Sat. am and repotted it in a glazed orchid-type pot with plentiful holes in the sides for air exchange. The majority of the roots looked great. All of the leaves were nice. The original medium was not rotted or soggy. Nice plant! Pic is an old lithograph, I believe that was from 1840s.

I learned from gardenweb and internet sources, that waterspots can be cleaned off from orchid leaves using lemon juice. I just used lemon juice directly from a lemon-juice squeeze bottle, and wiped the leaves with paper towel. The leaves look clean, but not the super shiny leaves that result from leaf polishes. Nice info to know!

I also looked for information on growing Dendrobium nobile, since I have 2 specimens. It seems they should do well here, just need to know when to water, when to feed, when to leave outside, and where to put them. It appears that the most important aspect is lots of sun. Today was high 60s outside, and overcast, so I set the dendrobiums outside for a while. Only about 3 hours, I didn't want them to sunburn. From my reading, looks like they need generous water and feeding until August, then change to low nitrogen feeding and cut back watering. Keep outside until nights drop into the 40s. Then keep dry until they show signs of growth again. Something like that. And as much sun as they can get, especially during Summer growth. Even direct sunlight, as long as they are watered frequently and not allowed to get sunburn. Scheme is from Yamamoto Dendrobiums, click for more readable scheme and better explanation.

19th century print of a Dendrobium nobile. This is a cool arrangement - instead of a round plastc pot (plastic wasn't invented for, say, another hundred years), it's sort of a box or bonzai pot, with a tree-branch-like structure and moss, and the dendrobium growing as if in nature. I like the smaller number of flowers - some modern plants seem too lavish. I spent a fair amount of internet time determining that my plants were this species.

My Buddy Charlie

Charlie is a difficult photo subject. He is so excitable, it takes many photos to get one decent shot. He loves to shake hands. Pink Cherry blooming in background.

Kitchen garden. What's ready? What's getting started?

Radishes are ready in the barrel containers. Perfect timing! When they are gone, it will be time to plant the peppers. Greens as well - taking both to work tomorrow for lunch salad.

I couldn't be happier with how the barrels turned out this year. After 9 years of trying, I finally know how to grow radishes here! It's about time, they are supposed to be the easiest vegetable to grow!

The mesclun and scallions in the barrels are also growing like gangbusters. Also, spinach and lettuce. This is great!

Tomato plants had their first outdoor excursion today. The already seem a little more stocky. Probably my imagination. Getting off to a fast start this year.

Peppers among the tomatoes. Growing nicely, but stems are a bit lanky and weak. I hope they improve with more time outside. Probably started too early, then with dreary days, not enough light in the South windowsills.

Most of the seedlings. Will set outside again tomorrow, if the temp is mild. Not in full sun, since I'll be at work.

What else -
First potato barrel with potato plants sticking their noses through the medium.
Scallions, lots of them from starts off from the Egyptian Walking onion. Growing them in the barrels was perfect! I debated keeping them, now glad I did.
Apples blooming - including Golden delicious, which is in its first year of significant blooming. Cool!

Chives too - this is the 5th or 6th batch of garlic chives. Great chopped and scrambled with eggs, too?

In the front yard, those Yellow Potato Onions that I planted in, what, December? are growing nicely to. I didn't kill them after all. Peas are groing, but most didn't germinate.