Dendrobium farmeri, my favorite color form

The lilac color of the borders of the petals and sepals of this Dendrobium farmeri make the flower look pink when looked from a distance.  The flower also has a touch of color in the tip of the lip, which in this particular flower is curved back.  Sadly the top sepal edges curl back instead of being flat, as it is in some other color forms.

Dendrobium Country Girl 'Warabeuta'

Una de los Dendrobium híbridos que compre el año pasado.  Esta planta volvió a florecer pero con pocas flores.  No me sorprende ya que no la fertilice en ningún momento.

Paphiopedilum purpuratum [Lindley] Stein 1894

Paphiopedilum orchids are not a common sight in orchid collections in Puerto Rico.  Paphiopedilum species are even rarer.  I was fortunate enough to see this Paphiopedilum purpuratum at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium Roy Tokunaga 'Edwin Pecas'

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Brassolaeliocattleya Lyn Evans

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Brassolaeliocattleya Zul Waimao Fantasy

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium Frosty Dawn

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Rhyncholaeliocattleya Duh's Papaya

Photographed at the Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Brassolaeliocattleya Chia Lin 'New City'

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium (Betty Goto x Blue Wonder)

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Epilaeliocattleya Volcano Trick 'Fireball'

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce Orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Coelogyne lycastoides F.Muell. & Kraenzl. 1895

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium (Samarai x Blue Sparkle) a delightful purple orchid

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce Orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.  I am always on the lookout for these type of big purple antilope Dendrobium.  Unfortunately I have not been able to find one, they seem to sell out as soon as they are put on sale.

Dendrobium Wonder Nishii (atroviolaceum x alexandrae)

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce Orchid show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium farmeri, a white flower with a touch of color in the floral parts.

This particular clone of Dendrobium farmeri is mostly white with some color in the sepals and petals.  Unfortunately the plant is a weaker grower than my other Dendrobium farmeri.  Its pseudobulbs are smaller than regular farmeri and its inflorescences have fewer flowers.  I give it the same care I give all my other farmeri plants.

Cymbidium Dorothy Stockstill "Forgotten Fruit", 2014 blooming

Every year, my plant of Cymbidium Dorothy Stockstill starts producing several inflorescences at the same time.  Unfortunately it aborts many of them.  Usually one or at most two develop successfully every year.  This year it produced only a single, quite short, inflorescence.  The few inflorescences that do not abort, are produced during the coldest time of the year in my locality.  In my locality the coldest time of the year is when almost every night, for several weeks, the temperatures go into the low sixties. 

Wilmotteara Hamlyn's Glory

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium Wave King 'Akebono' a nobile hybrid that bloomed in the hot coastal lowlands of Puerto Rico

In the past I would never buy nobile hybrids due to the fact that they would not bloom in the hot coastal lowlands of Puerto Rico.  Yes they would grow,  and you would get beautiful large plants, but flowers would be few and far between if you got any at all.  But last year, as I was passing a large selection of orchids in a local hardware store I could not help but be seduced by the gorgeous color combination of this nobile hybrid Dendrobium.   I brought the plant home, enjoyed its flowers and when they faded moved it to my shade house.  I put the plant in a place where it would get very bright light but no direct sunlight.  It stayed there the whole year.  It grew well with the same care I give my other orchids.  The only difference was that at the end of December I stopped watering and fertilizing this plant.  To my delight, in January it started producing inflorescences and it has had flowers for weeks now.  Since the inflorescences are not perfectly coordinated, I expect that the plant will be in bloom for most of February and perhaps the first two weeks in March.  I brought a few nobile hybrids last year and this one is by far the best bloomer.  The other plants have produced only one of two inflorescences per plant.

Dendrobium Love Knot (Wonder Nishi x spectabile)

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce Orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.  The genes from the Wonder Nishi parent tried mightly to tame the unruly twisty curlyness of the spectabile parent.  There were not quite successful at the task, but the flower is nevertheless nice.  Given that the essence of the attraction of spectabile is precisely the otherwordly form of its flowers, trying to get a flatter, more conventional form might seem beside the point.

Dendrobium Peng Seng (tobaense x cruentum)

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Bulbophyllum Wilmar Galaxy Star

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Coelogyne pulverula Teijsm. & Binn. 1862

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.  This is the first time I have seen this species exhibited at an orchid show locally.  It is very nice, I hope it becomes widely available.

Bulbophyllum Manchind (mandibulare x echinolabium)

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium Roongkamol Vejvarut

Photographed in the 2014 Ponce orchid society show, Ponce, puerto Rico.  I loved the color and size of the flowers.

Encyclia cordigera var alba

Photographed at the 2014 Ponce Orchid society show in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium Microchip

Photographed at the Ponce Orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Dendrobium friedericksianum Rchb.f 1887, a lovely specimen plant in a show in Puerto Rico

This beautiful specimen plant was seen in the 2014 Ponce Orchid society show, Ponce, Puerto Rico.  I had a hybrid of this species  it grew well producing fat and healthy canes.  But every year it would produce only three to four flowers near the tip of the largest cane.  Disappointed with the plant poor performance I assumed it needed a cooler, more temperate climate.  I gave it away to a person that lived in a part of the island where temperatures were more moderate than in the hot coastal lowlands.  Even in the cooler part of the island, the plant didn’t bloom any better.    But as this specimen plant shows,  friedericksianum plants that can both grow and bloom very well in Puerto Rico.  This is the first plant of this species that I have ever seen in a local show.  This is variety suavissimum.