Lillian has a nice general collection but the core of it is a number of very nice Cattleya hybrids. This small division of Cattlianthe Sir Jeremiah Colman is in bloom now.
The maintenance of the collection this summer has been dividing and reducing pot size. This will make watering easier and the plants will be healthier.
The new growth is bigger than the previous growth, a sure sign that the plant is happy.
I got a phone call this morning offering me a couple of free orchids. Colmanara Wildcats amoung others.
I haven't seen the plants but the phrase "needs repotting" was used and that means a very tight rootball with little chance of saving a lot of the roots.
I will do what I can for them, using my fingers as much as possible. Then it will be a minimum of a year, more likely two before they bloom again.
We are located an easy drive away from the coast and the Napa river gives us a direct connection to the bay. Just about any of the sub-family Pleurothallidinae grow well along the coast, but they are a challenge here.
Restrepia sanguinea grows in Ecuador and Venezuela. It is cold to cool growing.
Two winters ago I lost a lot of roots from other plants in the collection due to over watering but the Pleuros did well. Last year I cut back on the watering and lost many Pleuros. The remaining plants took all summer to recover. If I am going to continue to grow them I need a better plan for this winter.
I am taking all of them to Sonama for the winter where they can be in the "wet zone" there and my greenhouse can be dryer over the winter. Then in spring I will decide what to do with them. My inclination right now is to sell any that are in good enough condition and just give or throw away the rest.
I have cataloged this backbulb even though I don't know what it is. This is unusual for me since I often will not catalog backbulbs, particularly unknown backbulbs.
This is an exception because of two factors. First, While I don't know the cross, I do know the grower. I see him at Orchid Society meetings or I could go to his greenhouse when the orchid blooms.
The second is that this is a very substantial backbulb division with four healthy pseudobulbs and root fragments. Even though backbulb propagation is never a sure thing, this plant is quite likely to grow a lead and bloom in the first or second year.
An important orchid tool is a pencil sharpener. In most things we use a ballpoint pen when we write something we want to last for awhile. In the world of orchids, we use a pencil.
The tag on this plant had been done in ink and it had faded so much that there were no identifiable words or even letters on it.
It is risky (and probably wrong) to try to identify a Cattleya hybrid in bloom. There are so many that are almost the same. An exception is two plants in the same collection. People seldom buy identical looking plants and this collection is old enough to have made divisions.
Last May I divided this mount and remounted both pieces. I was happy to see that one of the pieces is blooming.
When I got it down to look more closely the happiness turned to concern. The plant was loose on the mount and the plant was drying out. This was desperation blooming, not happy blooming.
This was originally a rescue plant from Big Box that has not responded well. It was potted when I got it and has not responded well to being mounted. Later today I will locate the other piece and see how it is doing.
This piece of the plant will go to Sonoma. I have moved most of the rescues and backbulbs there. It is dryer than Napa and the moisture is more controlled.
I went crazy at POE a couple of years ago and bought several Maxillaria plants. It used up all my orchid money in the first 15 minutes of the show.
One of them was labeled "Maxillaria species, Panama". It was huge and inexpensive. I couldn't resist.
I have not identified this plant yet. The best answer is that it is one of the Maxillaria grandiflora complex from the Andes and not from Panama at all. It may be a natural hybrid.
The plant is in bloom now. The plant picture is of 5 pieces of the original plant growing together in a basket. I intend to put each in its own pot next year if I can identify it better.
Does this look familiar?
In 2005 I got six of these plants from a decorator. They were still in bloom but past their prime. White Fairy is a good general collection plant but not one I really wanted.
I took the leads, as three-growth divisions and made single backbulb cuttings of the rest of all the plants. I forget how many there were but it was a bench full. I put them in different mediums and microclimates and watched. Many died, but many survived and I learned a lot.
I have continued to divide them. This was division was made last February and the picture was taken right after that.
Lc Molly Tyler is a cross made by Oliver Lines and registered to the collection's owner, F. E. Dixon in 1930. It is beautiful, if a bit small by today's standards.
This is part of Lillian's collection. I am sure that this plant came from Sea God Nursery but can't trace it further back. Howerver, Sea God Nursery had been in business long enough that it could easily been acquired from Lines Orchids directly. It is fun to think about an orchid's history even if it is not well documented.
Lillian has two of these plants. The one in bloom is in a teak basket with no medium at all. We treat it like a mount with watering every day in summer and every other day now.
A well grown and balanced plant growing like this can be left undivided for a long time and can be the basis of a great specimen. This plant is growing only on one side so next spring we will need to do something. It will take some thought after it has started a new growth cycle.
Another recent addition to my collection is this anceps hybrid. It has 5 pseudobulbs and is in spike.
Laelia Canariensis is a primary hybrid Laelia anceps x Laelia harpophylla. And of course, the RHS has renamed Laelia harpophylla to Cattleya harpophylla because all the South American Laelias are now considered to be Cattleyas.
Of all the results of the naming wars this change actually makes sense since it is impossible to tell the difference without counting pollinia.
I was in the greenhouse and noticed the Epigeneium nakaharaei in bloom. It is one of my smaller plants and is in a group of other plants that are bigger.
The genus Epigeneium (Epig) contains 35 species in Southeast Asia and the Philippines. They do well mounted and given warm, humid and shady conditions.
Epigeneium nakaharaei grows in Taiwan in the central mountain range. It is cool to warm growing, fragrant and blooms in the fall and winter. It needs bright light.
The mount is about 4 inches long and the flower is about an inch. I got it from the SFOS raffle table about a year ago. I got a great plant that I would never have bought because I didn't know what it was. That is one of that best things about raffle tables. They help me discover new plants for my collection.
When I saw this in bloom I fell in love with it. And I am always up for getting another Laelia anceps, especially one as beatiful as this one.
This plant is sold widely as a Laelia anceps variety and it is better know that way. Howerver, it is Schombolaelia (Schomburkia lyonsii x Laelia anceps). I knew this before I took it home, but I wanted it anyway.
Laelia anceps grows well and blooms well. It grows in Mexico and Honduras. It is warm to hot growing and needs a dry winter rest and bright light. If it is dry it can winter outside if there is no hard freeze.
I found this plant at the SCOS plant sale table. Species:check, don't have:check, not too expensive:check, dividable:check.
Brassavola (B) contains 18 species which grow in all the tropical lowlands of the New World. They are fragrant, mostly at night with a citrus fragrance.
Brassavola perrinii grows in Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil above 6000 feet. It is fragrant, cool to warm growing and blooms in spring and summer.
I will mount the two pieces on cork in the next couple of days.
