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which_chickI've got some orchids. More orchids than you probably think, if you've been keeping track, and more KINDS of orchids than just phalaenopsis. Phals are fine and there's nothing wrong with having them but I am not ever... satisfied. I'm probably one of those Schulyer sisters, a fucking difficult and perpetually angry one, if there is one of those.
Obviously there are now more orchids. You knew this was happening. But there are also ones I've had for more than a full year.
This does mean that I have now promised you pictures and therefore I effing have to post pictures. Which I am going to do. I am. Lookit me go.
Orchid #1 is Gateway, a phal.
Acquisition (eagle-eyed viewers will note that this is Pre-Plant-Room Renovation):
Now:
Gateway flowers on the regular. Here's one of his offerings:
I don't have pictures of Cabot, but he looks almost exactly like Gateway only he's growing in a Cabot yogurt container. Same flowers, just not very interesting. I may rehome him once he's blooming in the spring.
Next we have Roots. Roots is another phalaenopsis orchid. I got him (All my houseplants are boys, my truck is a boy, my car is a boy. Deal with it.) in a sad state of affairs.
I rehabbed Roots, who looks a lot better these days. Here's him today:
And he flowered for me this past spring, which was nice. This is his flower effort:
And then there's Blue, who was dyed blue when I got him. Not his fault, but also made him look weird as well as sad. I cropped to include the stupid dyed-blue faded flowers so that you can see the blue.
Blue looks a lot better today, though he still has his dumb-ass tag and some weirdly dark and small leaves remaining from his *ahem* blue period.
Blue hasn't flowered yet, but leaves are what provide energy for flowers, so I remain hopeful. Also he's on the same table as the other phals, three of which have flowered, so probably the growing conditions are OK. Blue will probably be white when he flowers, that's typically the base color orchid that gets dyed blue.
I have some more phals, but they are rehab projects of few leaves who aren't going to bloom any time soon. These are also rehabs from my friend Laur's house. Her people buy grocery store orchids (and not the super pretty ones, either) and give them to her. They fail to thrive at her house, so I get free phals. I'd like this more if they bought prettier, more interesting phals, but the world does not run itself to please me.
New rehab orchid Naked:
Naked is only about a month into the rehabbing process. He came with two very wilted leaves and a shittastic potting medium. I was like, nah. So I pulled him out of the shittastic medium and stuck him on my plant tweezers (he gets dunked in water every couple of days, don't worry) to see what would happen. He was pretty close to dead, and I wasn't looking to acquire another grocery store phal, but y'know, if you don't care if they die, you can totally experiment. So I did. The shitter leaf died, but then... a new leaf came forth. Once there is a decent new leaf, I'll pot him up and plunk him with the other phals in my colony of grocery store phals.
Slightly older rehab orchid Deli, growing in a home-made orchid pot that used to be a deli container:
Deli had two wilty leaves when he came but perked up fairly well and is growing a new leaf. Definitely on the road to recovery, there, Deli. I hope you're not white, mostly white, yellowish-white, or something along those lines.
So that's the phalaenopsis orchids, absolutely none of which were purchased by me. I spent no money on GETTING these orchids though I have spent some money on their potting and upkeep.
Then there are non-phal orchids.
I have some dendrobium orchids which have stupid names because they are unnamed crosses and I'm not gonna type out some lengthy blah-blah-madame-blah x whatsis-doodad-blah-blah because that sucks.
Dendrobium the first when I got him was smol, too smol for flowering:
I bought him that small because he was fucking cheap. When you're not sure you can keep the damn things alive, it's best to buy cheap ones.
Happily, Dendrobium the first did not die and grew bigger. And flowered:
Dendrobium the second (which you knew was coming because there was a Dendrobium the first and honestly that doesn't happen until you have either more than one or delusions of grandeur and I admit that it's a toss-up on that which one might be the case here for me, but I have two, so maybe it's not delusions of grandeur, at least not this time.) was also smol:
Dendrobium the second was also hardier than expected, did not die, and got bigger. He is also likely going to flower in due time, as we can see from the stalk, there, that has buds on it. I assure you there will be pictures in due time.
I have a tolumnia Golden Sunset Brownie. This is a smallish orchid, like, way smaller than the phals.
He was also smol when I got him but he got bigger and flowered. Here's a pic of the flowering.
And I have a Space Mine Red Rendezvous (wilsonara intergeneric) which hasn't flowered but is pretty fancily large and growing well?
A bit after I got him:
Here recently:
I am now tired of playing with the picture site. I've done enough today to feel more comfortable with uploading, editing, and generating images. And the rest of the orchids don't look like much.
I haven't gotten to the cattleya and cattleya cross group, but there are about seven of them and they're all green and do not look like things yet. If they ever get interesting, I will show them to you.
Obviously there are now more orchids. You knew this was happening. But there are also ones I've had for more than a full year.
This does mean that I have now promised you pictures and therefore I effing have to post pictures. Which I am going to do. I am. Lookit me go.
Orchid #1 is Gateway, a phal.
Acquisition (eagle-eyed viewers will note that this is Pre-Plant-Room Renovation):
Now:
Gateway flowers on the regular. Here's one of his offerings:
I don't have pictures of Cabot, but he looks almost exactly like Gateway only he's growing in a Cabot yogurt container. Same flowers, just not very interesting. I may rehome him once he's blooming in the spring.
Next we have Roots. Roots is another phalaenopsis orchid. I got him (All my houseplants are boys, my truck is a boy, my car is a boy. Deal with it.) in a sad state of affairs.
I rehabbed Roots, who looks a lot better these days. Here's him today:
And he flowered for me this past spring, which was nice. This is his flower effort:
And then there's Blue, who was dyed blue when I got him. Not his fault, but also made him look weird as well as sad. I cropped to include the stupid dyed-blue faded flowers so that you can see the blue.
Blue looks a lot better today, though he still has his dumb-ass tag and some weirdly dark and small leaves remaining from his *ahem* blue period.
Blue hasn't flowered yet, but leaves are what provide energy for flowers, so I remain hopeful. Also he's on the same table as the other phals, three of which have flowered, so probably the growing conditions are OK. Blue will probably be white when he flowers, that's typically the base color orchid that gets dyed blue.
I have some more phals, but they are rehab projects of few leaves who aren't going to bloom any time soon. These are also rehabs from my friend Laur's house. Her people buy grocery store orchids (and not the super pretty ones, either) and give them to her. They fail to thrive at her house, so I get free phals. I'd like this more if they bought prettier, more interesting phals, but the world does not run itself to please me.
New rehab orchid Naked:
Naked is only about a month into the rehabbing process. He came with two very wilted leaves and a shittastic potting medium. I was like, nah. So I pulled him out of the shittastic medium and stuck him on my plant tweezers (he gets dunked in water every couple of days, don't worry) to see what would happen. He was pretty close to dead, and I wasn't looking to acquire another grocery store phal, but y'know, if you don't care if they die, you can totally experiment. So I did. The shitter leaf died, but then... a new leaf came forth. Once there is a decent new leaf, I'll pot him up and plunk him with the other phals in my colony of grocery store phals.
Slightly older rehab orchid Deli, growing in a home-made orchid pot that used to be a deli container:
Deli had two wilty leaves when he came but perked up fairly well and is growing a new leaf. Definitely on the road to recovery, there, Deli. I hope you're not white, mostly white, yellowish-white, or something along those lines.
So that's the phalaenopsis orchids, absolutely none of which were purchased by me. I spent no money on GETTING these orchids though I have spent some money on their potting and upkeep.
Then there are non-phal orchids.
I have some dendrobium orchids which have stupid names because they are unnamed crosses and I'm not gonna type out some lengthy blah-blah-madame-blah x whatsis-doodad-blah-blah because that sucks.
Dendrobium the first when I got him was smol, too smol for flowering:
I bought him that small because he was fucking cheap. When you're not sure you can keep the damn things alive, it's best to buy cheap ones.
Happily, Dendrobium the first did not die and grew bigger. And flowered:
Dendrobium the second (which you knew was coming because there was a Dendrobium the first and honestly that doesn't happen until you have either more than one or delusions of grandeur and I admit that it's a toss-up on that which one might be the case here for me, but I have two, so maybe it's not delusions of grandeur, at least not this time.) was also smol:
Dendrobium the second was also hardier than expected, did not die, and got bigger. He is also likely going to flower in due time, as we can see from the stalk, there, that has buds on it. I assure you there will be pictures in due time.
I have a tolumnia Golden Sunset Brownie. This is a smallish orchid, like, way smaller than the phals.
He was also smol when I got him but he got bigger and flowered. Here's a pic of the flowering.
And I have a Space Mine Red Rendezvous (wilsonara intergeneric) which hasn't flowered but is pretty fancily large and growing well?
A bit after I got him:
Here recently:
I am now tired of playing with the picture site. I've done enough today to feel more comfortable with uploading, editing, and generating images. And the rest of the orchids don't look like much.
I haven't gotten to the cattleya and cattleya cross group, but there are about seven of them and they're all green and do not look like things yet. If they ever get interesting, I will show them to you.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-22 03:14 am (UTC)I keep wanting to get a few orchids - every once in a while, the grocery store has a couple not-the-norm ones (though sometimes it's just all dyed blue and purple ones...) I had a couple about a decade ago, but they eventually kicked it.
The flowers on the tolumnia one are really cool!
no subject
Date: 2025-10-22 07:02 pm (UTC)My mother also loves orchids so I bought her a lot throughout the years. Many are still alive and flower regularly.