Paphiopedilum Song of Love (liemianum x lowii), first bloom seedling

Last year I brought a number of seedlings of various Paphiopedilum crosses.  They are growing well but none had shown so far any inclination to bloom.  This is the first one to bloom.  Given the fact that there are several rothschildianum crosses among the seedlings, I may have to wait a few more years to see more flowers.

Encyclia alata, a plant I brought at a local Mall in the late 1990's.

I brought this plant in a local Mall in the late nineties.  It was in a block of tree fern and had an inflorescence with about twelve flowers.  It thrived under my care and produced large pseudobulbs with in turn produced enormous inflorescences.  Sadly the fern mount decayed, the orchid lost its roots and that was the end of it.  But I learned my lesson, the second plant of Encyclia alata I brought is still alive after ten years in my garden and blooming better than ever.  I will write about that one and how I potted it after the bitter experience of losing this one on a future blog post.

Ionopsis utricularioides, I tied a fallen plant to a guava tree twig to see what happens

Here you can see a new growth starting from the base of the orchid, just above the roots

Last year I noticed that a Ionopsis plant was growing on a branch of a Camasey tree near my house.  I was delighted as it was in the perfect location for me to easily document the life cycle of this species.  Unfortunately, the branch was accidentally broken when a tall truck parked under the tree.  I was dissapointed, but I decided to tie the plant to a guava tree twig to see if it would survive.  

I tied the plant to a twig in the same place where plants in the wild grow, that is under the top leaves of the branch so that a layer of leaves protects the plant from exposure to full sun.  I tied the plant using wire.  I put the plant in the same orientation that I have seen plants in the wild.

For the last six months the plant the plant has been producing only roots, some of which have wandered into the guava tree branch.  For the moment the bulk of the roots are in the original, dead, Camasey branch.  I expect that when the new growth matures it will produce a flush of roots that will colonize the guava branch more fully.

The plant surprised me by producing a small inflorescence, very tiny for plants growing in a living host in the wild.  Because I want to see if the plant will get larger as more of its roots are in the guava branch, I will prevent the plant from developing seed pods.

My expectations is that this plant will grow larger next year and bloom much more prolifically.  One of the things that intrigue me is that many of these plants don't live long in the wild.  I will keep this one under observation to see how it grows, blooms and how long it will last.

Dendrobium Gatton Sunray, registered in 1919 and still among the best

This orchid has been with me for many years.  It is a cross of Dendrobium pulchellum and Den. Illustre which itself is a cross of Den. pulchellum and Den. chrysotoxum.  This plant can grow into a huge specimen.  My plant remains relatively small mainly because the local weather is slightly too wet for its needs and it ocassionally loses canes to rot even though it is planted in a basket.

The baby angelfish, are growing well, they eat like there is no tomorrow

One of the traits that distinguish Pterophyllum scalare is its very round body profile.
This fish shows a slightly compressed body, its siblings are all rounder.

Notice the full belly in these two fish

The baby angelfish arrived here the first of June.  At first they were very timid.  They are still a bit more shy than most angelfish, but live food sure brings them out of their hiding places.  Most of the time they hold their fins straight up, in a vertical position that I find very pleasing.  I feed them three times a day, but I am sure they would eat all day long if I gave them live food.  If you see them eating live food you would think they are greedy and gluttonous.  But they fact is that they can be picky on what they eat and will reject certain foods particularly pellets and flakes unless you know when to offer them.

Sobralia callosa L.O. Williams 1946

This is the first blooming in my garden of this orchid.  The color is impressively bright and eyecatching.  This orchid bloomed at the same time as Dendrobium crumenatum, I wonder if they are using the same environmental cues.  A few days ago there was a tremendous thunderstorm of such violence that the local temperature went down a few degrees in a short time, surely prompted the Dendrobium to bloom, perhaps the Sobralia too.  I will be watching to see if this happens again.