Bulbophyllum sumatranum Garay, Hamer & Siegrist 1996, now larger than ever

This orchid has totally overflowed the wire basket in which it is growing.  Now many growths are growing on the sides of the baskets or between or over, older growths.  An attempt to start pieces growing in a basket with coconuts chunks was a complete disaster, the plant never bloomed and one really, really wet season, it completely rotted away.  Yes, as unbelievable as it sound it did rot, something that is almost unheard in my collection in which all my Bulbophyllum seem to  tolerate without complaint even the wettest of weathers,  I plant to start transplanting pieces of this orchid to a log of teak wood to see how it will fare growing on this type of mount.  Hopefully it will be more floriferous there.  This clone is prone to bloom unpredictably and erratically, generally between March and May.

Renanthera Akihito (Renanthera Red Feathers x Renanthera storiei)

This orchid was shown in the 2016 Puerto Rico orchid society show in the Jardin Botanico de Rio Piedras.

Paphiopedilum Prince Edward of York

This orchid was exhibited at the 2016 Puerto Rico Orchid Society show.  It is a large plant with elegant flowers.  I have always admired it.  I brought one seedling of this cross, but somehow it lost its tag.  Now it is with the others lost tag Paphiopedilum in my collection.  Hopefully it will bloom someday.

Yamadara Queen Adelia

Seen at the Mayaguez Orchid Festival on May 2015.

Renanthera monachica Ames 1915, slow growing but rewarding

This small Renanthera is a very slow grower under my conditions.  Thankfully it will bloom at a size that is positively microscopic when compared with its relatives such as Ren. coccinea and Ren storiei.  The bright colored flowers are a veritable plague magnet, I had to spray mine regularly with a mild insecticidal dilution just to be able to enjoy a full inflorescence.  Even the something bit off the dorsal petal of the first flower to open.

The flowers open slowly over the course of weeks.  The first flower opened on February 8 and it took until the 19 for the inflorescence to open its 10 th flower.  The inflorescence still has a bit to go until all the flowers are open.  I recommend this plant for people with limited space and endless patience.

Rosella de cabeza pálida, Platycercus adscitus, en cautiverio y en estado salvaje

Fue un privilegio ver esta ave tan hermosa en estado salvaje.  Las vi en New South Wales en un parque en un área urbana.  Era como de ensueño ver un ave de colores tan llamativos y peculiares caminado por el césped de un parque como un pinzón cualquiera, cuando uno se tiende a imaginar aves exóticas en remotas e impenetrables junglas.

Lepanthes rupestris, Stimson 1970, "in situ" growing on very slippery boulders by a mountain stream

These tiny orchids grow on boulders on the side of mountain streams in the high reaches of Sierra de Luquillo.  The plants are small and easily missed.  The flowers are so small most people are oblivious to their presence.  The boulders where these orchids grow are hideously slippery, moving among them demands supreme care and a constante state of alertness.  Any slip can result in a painful fall at best and broken bones at worst.  Given that these orchids are inconspicuous and in a habitat inimical to human presence, the result is that they are fairly common even in places that humans frequent.  

Taking good macro photos of them is not easy since there is no flat surface anywhere to put a tripod.  Also you have to be careful to keep a good balance among the boulders at the same time that you are taking the photos, something that is not easy if you are handling a 100 mm lens, trying to figure out what is the best exposure and hanging for dear life from the rocks themselves to avoid falling.

On top of all that you need to be alert for flash floods caused by rain far away upstream.  These have killed many a distracted bather in these mountain streams.  Happily the day I visited this particular stream, the place was not as soping wet as usual and I could move among the boulders with relative safety.

Stanhopea panamensis N.H. Williams & Whitten 1988,

I got this Stanhopea orchid many years ago as a two bulb division, it was a gift from a friend.  I planted it in a basket filled with small pieces of coconut husk.  I watered and fertilized it weekly.  Under the climatic conditions in Aguadilla the plant grew slowly.   Originally this plant was in a garden of my mother’s house, which is in Aguadilla, in the northern coast of Puerto Rico and about a mile from the Atlantic Ocean.  This part of Puerto Rico is characterized by often windy conditions as well as warm to hot weather.  In these environmental conditions the plant didn’t do too well, probably because I was watering it less than it needs in this warm climate.

When I moved to Arecibo, to a location about 1,000 feet above the sea, the plant started doing much better.  To me the main reason is that in this location it rains more than in Aguadilla, but maybe it helps that the new location is cooler.  During spring, summer and fall the media in which this orchid is growing stays moist just from the water it gets from rain. During some particularly rainy periods it remains wet for weeks or even months.   Sometimes it rains so much that the media becomes absolutely waterlogged. I these very rainy times, here and there, patches of white cottony fungus appear in the media.  However the plant doesn’t seem to be bothered by the fungus.  The fungus dies off when drier weather returns.  The climatic conditions in this part of Arecibo are more moderate than in Aguadilla and it hardly gets as hot.  Only for a few months in the summer the temperatures in my location in Arecibo become hot during the day.

In Arecibo, this orchid grew into a large and heavy plant, but it would not bloom.  The plant was moved to a sunnier spot than it had been growing and it eventually bloomed.   I thought I had found the perfect spot for this plant among my pendent Dendrobium, but this conclusion was produced by the fact that I moved the Stanhopea with them in the spring.  Because of the movement of the sun along the horizon during the seasons, the Dendrobium shadehouse is sheltered from exposure to full sunlight for most of the day during spring and summer.  But in fall and winter, the shadehouse receives full sunlight for many hours.  This is ideal for the pendent Dendrobium but the Stanhopea could not cope with so many hours of direct sun.  As a result of the increased exposure to sunlight the Stanhopea lost all its leaves,  happily the pseudobulbs were not harmed and the plant recovered quickly.   I had to experiment a bit to find the right place for this plant, one where it would bloom well but not get its leaves sunburned.   Presently my plant is in a place where it gets unfiltered sunlight until 10 am and dappled sunlight for the rest of the day.

In my garden this plant blooms in the summer, however it has also produced inflorescences at other times of the year, even in December, at the start of winter.  For some reason, every year it aborts one or two inflorescences when they are about half developed, it is not clear why that happens as it usually has other inflorescences at the same time that develop normally.    The inflorescences take six or seven weeks from the time I find them poking out of the media to the time the flowers open.   The inflorescences my plant produced carry from four to seven flowers.  The flowers last around three days.  The fragrance is reminiscent of chocolate.  My plant cannot be classified as a prolific bloomer.

The media in which this plant was originally planted decayed a long time ago.  The plant now has a root ball that grips the remains of the bark that I used the last time I refreshed the media.  Any kind of repotting is out of question as Tthe roots grow in all directions, sometimes even upwards, any attempt to remove it from the basket to change the media would result in severe root damage.  The plant produces new growths along the edges of older pseudobulbs, which are on top of the basket.   But in early in 2013, a new growth popped out from the side of the basket, about two inches under the top of the media.  This new growth has been developing normally, and even produced an inflorescence in spite of being smaller that the full grown bulbs on top of the basket.

This orchid is doesn’t need much attention with two exceptions.  One is that it resents underwatering, the other is that the basket where it is growing is a veritable weed magnet.  In the rainy season I have to weed the basket to prevent the weed growth from becoming too heavy.  Among the most persistent weeds are the ferns and begonias.

In Puerto Rico Stanhopeas have never been particularly common orchids in local collections.  Having said that I can attest that particularly knowledgeable growers have been growing them for many years.  I saw my first Stanhopea plant at an open house of the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Mayaguez about thirty four years ago.  The plant was the property of Dr. Rivero.

Laeliocattleya Marie's Song

I love this plant, it grows well with standard care and usually produces four flowers at a time.  It has survived both fungus and scale insects.  The flowers are richly colored and using sunlight for the photo made the colors come out even better.  

Tolumnia (Oncidium) variegata, birds weaving this orchid into their nest

Tolumnia variegata, one of our most common native orchids

A nest of an unidentified species of bird

The orchid was originally weaved into the fabric of the nest, you can see the dried  leaves trapped in the fibers.  A new fan of leaves grew free of the nest and its now producing another leaf fan on top of a stolon.

Many years ago, as I was hiking in a local forest, I found an area where the local birds would weave orchids into the fabric of their nests.  It was a charming sight but unfortunately at the time I didn't have a camera with me.  I returned to the forest last weekend and managed to find a nest with an orchid.  When I visited this area, a long time ago it was almost pristine.  Now although there were signs of human visitation, to my utter astonishment, there was no trash anywhere.  Apparently whoever has visited the spot has been respectful of the area.  Sadly, I found the orchid population in the area was just a fraction of the size it was when I first visited.