The Lilac Dénouement

Lilacs can be slow to bring into bloom. Most of these were either from small, bare-root plants, or from tiny starts that probably originated from tissue culture or cuttings. These have been in the ground here at least 4 or 5 years. Earlier, I gave them a boost of fish emulsion, hoping that it would stimulate growth for next year. The older lilacs have bloomed for a few years, but this is the first time for several. Our intent, was a blooming hedge for some privacy. They are not yet to that stage.

Nice purple. Fragrant.

Nice white. We cheated - it was purchased last year at the Lilac gardens, and was already in bloom at the time.

I've been carefully pruning this lilac to reduce height. Lat year it was 3 feet taller, with the flowers out of reach. I'll take of a few of the taller stems this year as well. It might be a good time to do so now, with the flowers kept as bouquets.

This shrub was probably 15 feet tall, maybe more. It was more tree, than shrub.

When open, this will have white edges on magenta flowers.

Old fashioned lilac-colored lilacs.

This was the first. It's oversized for the location, so after blooming will be pruned back, and root pruned, in anticipation of transplanting.

Kitchen garden log. Tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and lemons.

Tomatoes and peppers. They are now spending their days outside in the sun, but brought inside at night. Still under 50 F at night, so too early to plant. Tomatoes require 50-degree F nights, and Peppers require 55-degree. Interesting to note, thermometer in barrel planter shows 60-degrees soil temp overnight. I might do an experiment with one of the peppers, planting it in the barrel and covering it at night. We'll see.

Potatoes are growing. The last ones to start were on the shadier side. The warm sun makes a difference.

The eggplants were the slowest to get started - still not ready for individual pots, but now both varieties have sprouted and some are on their second leaf (first true leaf). It's still early, so I think they should be fine.

Not sure what to do about this. Meyer lemon, basically neglected it all winter, in south window, dry. Most of the leaves fell off. Then it bloomed, and now has lemons. It's on the deck now, made it through a 31 degree night.

Oncidium plants from backbulbs

The 3 little plants in front of the larger one, are starts from backbulbs taken last summer. I used the "sphag & bag" technique, which involves no more than placing the severed backbulbs in a zip-lock bag containing moist (not soggy) sphagnum moss, and leaving it in a bright but not full-sun location. I had them on an East-facing windowsill.

As time passed, each sprouted new growth. Wide range of when this happened, from about a month to about 6 months. The fastest one came from 2 connected backbulbs, and was the youngest as well. I do admit to watering the psuedobulb itself with the "weakly weekly" diluted plant food that I feed the other orchids with, thinking that some of the minerals may be absorbed into the plant indirectly. This watering has occurred only since the pseudobulbs were removed from the sphanum ziplock bags. Each had almost no roots at the start.

Now they are all growing, and putting out roots as well as top growth. Fun project.

Close up of the parent plant. It did not bloom this year. What I thought was a flower spike, was a new pseudobulb. I may have given it too-good care. Certainly, the 2 most recent pseudobulbs are the largest, with the most leaves, compared to any prior ones. Maybe I should neglect it a bit more.

I enjoy watching the new roots sprout and work their way down into the bark mixture. Almost like they would in nature.





This appears to be an Oncidium, but who knows? From Wikimedia Commons here. Original from Source: Nordisk familjebok (1907), vol.7, Till art. Epifyter. So, it's about epiphytes. I like how it shows the plants in their original ecosystem.

"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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