I guess its always spring somewhere...

[JoeW]

WOW!

[Becky15349]

Cool pictures!! let's see, that catt the size of your hand looks amazing,and I agree with you, the ruffled lip is really pretty. Also, your cat is super cute! There was a cat thread on here once upon a time, you should share some more pics of her! I like your banana plant, the blooms on those are always really neat looking!!

[Nordic]

I am in love with the big one... Realy great haveing two hobbies (photography and chids) meet.



The buds are also opening a bit more on the other one (whatever it is, I decided to call it Tweety, my mom said I would never be able to be a farmer as I'd name all the animals, which is a weird trait for someone who is well past 30 to still have)

Look, its like a carnivorous, alien, two beaked, big headed Tweety bird... think its hungry?





Bit anxious to see what is in them...also there is a tiny little stem with like a miniature unopened bud on the stem between each of the sets of flowers... there are two heads of two...

[bench72]

Hi Nico, looks like the plants are really giving back for all the good care you've given them.

That "Fake Banana Tree" flowers look amazing.. like a different colour Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)... hmm... I just googled it and guess what! Your 'fake banana tree' is called Strelitzia nicolai!

That cattleya is really pretty... looks like it really is putting on a major show! Seeing as it's a hybrid of some sort and we'll never really know it's name, you can name it anything you like! Like Cattleya 'Sylvester' (just to keep Tweety company)

Talking of 'Tweety'... it looks like it could be Bifrenaria harrisoniae 'Tweety'.

Keep doing what you're doing... looks like the plants are loving it.. and so are we! Love these pics!

[ang709]

When I said it was Bifrenaria, I was hoping it was Bifrenaria harrisoniae. One of my favorites! They are so cute, and I love the hairy lip. I have one, but it's still too small to bloom. I can't wait to see your fully open pictures.

[Nordic]

Your identification may have saved the plant, yet at the same time places me in a moral dilema...

I read up on the name and it suggests these do realy not take well to repotting... as they grow on barren east facing cliff faces in Brasil with minimal detritus.... I.e. I suspect the root system is sensitive and slow growing like mosses and lichens.

I was worried about the dehydrated looking bulbs, but apparently this is just the type of neglect they need over winter.

The problem is the pot it is in now looks to be basically potting soil with bark in....
I read it wants a medium closer to paphs than cats... but I can't realy do anything to that it seems....

I'm thinkning... cut off the pot , shake or rinse off as much excess soil from the roots and replace the more airy mass back in the pot.

Option 2... make as many holes in the pot as I can and hope drainage and airation to the roots improve....

What do you guys think....

Its rainining today.. so I doubt we are going to see them open today... it is a little cold outside.. I might put them in the windowsill for the day.

[Nordic]

It seems they have plans of their own...


Loveley honneybee-yellow inner lip... if I were an insect I'd roll around in it all day....

[Nordic]

My normal strelizia is also in bloom.


Much smaller though.

[salvador1970]

I really like your strelizia. You have a huge plant with many growths! I have been trying to pollinate the flowers but was not successful till just recently. I was using polen from the same plant so I understood that it was too difficult. Last time I got polen from another plant so now the seed pod is forming on mine finally!

[Nordic]

That is just one of them, on the other side of the yard there is a line of them running for maybe 12 meters... they flowered and dried out allready... much hotter side of the house... They seem to like it in the shady humid places. There are all kinds of mosses growing there where the pic is taken in winter.

Where shal I start this morning...?
Yep the ansellia... remember how I told you it grew upright roots ( the one from the shop had theses growths cut out :/...

But, going through pics of my flowers I noticed I have a noid (what I thought was a cat) with almost citroen yellow flowers with very faint freckles... appart from ther yellow one haveing slightly smaller flowers (maybe 75% of the caprivi), it has nearly the exact same shape and ribs inside... then I noticed the roots....


I think the yellow one is a cross with the ansellia.
And I think I may have traced the nursery they both came from, quite a drive though.


The little yellow flower is over a month old allready.


Ooh yeah, I figured out how the white balance thing on my camera works (I wish Epson would return to the camera business) Turns out my laelia is pink... and is now dubbed Barbie.


Turns out the other one is pinkish too, but the ones comming out behind it seems more yellow

And finaly we are still waiting for the Tweety twins to come out.