Orchid royalty

[OrchidAddict]

Hahahaha Al!!! You are amazing. Except we all know the vandas would simply beam down from the sky in a blaze of lightning and wind, laying their seeds inside the pseudobulbs of all other helpless, unsuspecting orchids until tiny Vandas burst forth, killing the host plant.

I just went all Aliens. Sh*t just got real.

Invasions of the "pod"dy snatchers?

[OrchidAddict]

i've always thought cattleya/potinara types looked like daffodils too. i like daffodils and all, but i can only handle so much floofy. and so much pink/lavender. paph sanderianum is stunning in pictures. that is a very regal looking flower and is certainly lord of the paphs. i tend to not do well with paphs though, or that would already be in my window. whenever i buy paphs they just sit there and never grow. for like 4 years. ones i buy in bud never open all the way either... but their leaves are quite nice for orchids. i don't think they were getting enough light, but i was placing them on the recommendation of a person who was good with them. she had a ton under grow lights. maybe now that i have a bunch of oncidiums in the window i can set a paph behind them in the shade? hmmm....

Yeah. I get quickly overwhelmed by the "floof" factor as well. My first catt is in bud right now, so I'm wondering if I'll actually like them better once I have one blooming in my home. We'll see. But my reaction to catts in general is, "Meh."

Sorry you have such bad luck with paphs. Mine actually get more light than the experts recommend, but they love it. They're very close to a window that I have tropical plants growing in, so the tropicals help diffuse the light to keep the paphs from having sun beating on them relentlessly, but they definitely do get some direct sun in the afternoon as it passes by that window. It's only for about half an hour or 45 minutes, but that little "boost" really seems to work well for them. I get foliage growing like gangbusters, and my Heron's Faire was just about to bloom for me a couple of weeks ago, but then we went on vacation and my hubby turned off the AC and the buds blasted. I nearly cried.

But anyway, if your paphs are under-performing, you could always move them closer to the window. What's the worst that could happen? A little leaf sunburn? They can recover from that. If you'd like to put them behind your oncids, try to position them so that they get some dappled sunlight. Mine are never in total shade all the time. I also fertilize mine regularly with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. I was told by a really good grower that they need lots of nitrogen to make all the foliage they need to support blooms. I do notice that if I forget the fert for a while, the growth slows significantly. So the high-nitrogen fert is a must for them, I'd say.

Anyway, I wish you lots of luck with the paphs. Don't give up! Who knows...maybe someday we'll be comparing pics of our Sanderianums!

[Magnus A]

If Lady Gaga is a Vanda, then Catts are the Celine Dion of flowers: mass-produced, soothingly fluffy, and totally mainstream.

Now I must protest!
Lady Gaga, a Vanda???? Vandas are way to plain and not enough extravagant!


And you all have missed the true King and Queens of the orchids!
Both on complex flowers, fragrance, performance and diplay! Yes on everything

The ones that win the battle on walkover just by showing up is the species of Stanhopea! The true King and Queens of orchids.

/M

[sand_tiger86]

Ewww Stanhopeas...Kill it with fire!!!!!

Not here for flowers that last a day and half and look like dangling pieces of flesh.

[leafmite]

I love this thread!
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[maria1971]

I love a classic white cattleya, but don't necessarily like hybrids or super floof. I don't like the sherbert multi-colored ones either. My collection tends to sway towards species for the aforementioned reasons.

Better than Cattleyas, species Laelias!! Laeila anceps, Laelia purpurata. Beautiful and classic.

I'm also a fan of schomburgkias/myrmecophilas. They are exotic looking without having to try to be.

My newest obession, of course, are Grammatophyllum, Ansellia and Cyrtopodium. They are gorgeous, and so, "I"M HERE."

Species orchids are sufficiently exotic for me--it's a rare hybrid that catches my attention.

As for vandas--they remind me of the word "happy."

[OrchidAddict]

Now I must protest!
Lady Gaga, a Vanda???? Vandas are way to plain and not enough extravagant!

/M

Hee hee! I actually agree with you on that one...I just used the vanda as a reference for Lady Gaga because Kelly holds them both in such high esteem. I personally think Lady Gaga is a dendrobium spectabile!

[Kassie]

Now I must protest!
Lady Gaga, a Vanda???? Vandas are way to plain and not enough extravagant!

/M

I agree, Magnus. Nothing about vandas says "Lady Gaga" to me.

I see her more as a bulbo--flamboyant lines, bizarre shapes, occasionally emitting the unexpected odor of unrefridgerated flank steak. . .

[Dazed]

Just my uneducated opinion here but as far as I see it, royalty would be something of rare blood lines and uncommon. Catts though I love em, vanda and the other commonly found ones would be more of the everyday peasants while the harder to find species would be more up there, snooty and such. Just saying.

[sand_tiger86]

Lady Gaga is clearly any orchid on any given day, the way she changes her style. Classy some days, bizarre others.

Madonna is a Century plant.