New NOID Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium Orchids

While I was out of town my girl came home with 6 new chids'. These came from our 3 for $20 lady. Apparently my girl has a new friend because the lady threw in an extra orchid and a full spray can of leaf shine. The first white phal has 12 blooms on 1 spike 7 blooms on the other and has another spike growing with 2 blooms to open and still growing. Then the light yellow phal still has blooms to open. A pink phalaenopsis that blew over this week and broke a few flowers off. So this scared up flower is all that is left of the open flowers, but still has 4 blooms to go. Then a very light lavender /white Dendrobium. These little flower phals I am really digging. The are so petite . This is my 3rd small flower phal. And finally a green with purple lip dendrobium. The free 1 my girl gave to her mom to take care of. This is her 4th orchid.

Mounting an Orchid to a Palm Tree Slab

My 2 favorite things coming together palm trees and orchids. At the beach a few weeks ago I found a palm tree decaying away. I seemed to be decaying from the inside out. I thought this might be a pretty sweet mount for an orchid. So I grabbed a few pieces and brought them home. The first thing I did was soak them in clean water for 2 days trying to remove any bugs and help remove any salt left from the ocean. I allowed them to dry in the sun for almost a week before I tried to mount any orchids to it So they seem to be very fiberous and have a very nice curve to them so the orchid should be happy. I mounted 2 small Dendobiums to 2 pieces and the other receive a large Cattleyas Haleahi Serenity. I added a little spaghnum moss in between the roots and slab to help hold some moisture in for the roots. I drilled a coulpe little holes with a drill bit so the wire ties would fit through and C. Haleahi Serenity I also used the mesh it came in to help hold the moss in place for now. I do not know how long these slabs are going to hold up but for now the look sweet mounted on the wall on the porch. Here are a few pictures I have taken of them.

3 Orchid for $20

I just can not pass the people on the side of the road without stopping anymore. Today down in Jensen Beach on US1 a lady in a ryder truck was on the side of the road selling orchids 3 for $20.00. I try not to buy orchids in bloom but these were a great deal. She had Phalaenopsis and Dendrobium orchids none of them had id tags though. So if anyone can id these please let me know. The ones I bought have a lot of blooms still to open. I bought 2 Phalaenopsis they are the 1's closest to you in the photo one has a smaller flower and kinda of flops right at you. The other phal is the red flower with2 blooms open. The the last is the Dendrobium to the left of the phals. It has the large pink and white flowers. This plant collecting has become an addition.

The Third Annual Florida Tech Botanical Fest Plant and Garden Sale

Saturday I went with my buddy Aaron from A Yard in Fort Pierce Blog and we made the hour voyage north to melbourne to attend the 3rd annual FIT Botanical Fest. This was a fantastic trip. The vendors had some unbelievable deals and some of the palm dealers had palm trees I had never even seen before. There is nothing better than a rare palm sale. So I did pick up a couple palms and orchids from the sale. The first palm is a rare Lantania lontaroides or Red Latan Palm , this guy as a young palm has very distinctive red stalk and red veins running in the leaves. The next palm is a Chambeyronia macrocarpa , or red leaf palm, flame thrower watermelon form and this palms new leaf is red when it first appears. It is given the term watermelon form because of the crown having a red tint to it. I already have 1 of these but it is the blonde flame thrower and this has a yellow tint to the crown. So these were the only palms I purchased. And I bought 3 Dendrobium orchids not in bloom but 1 has a new spike growing so that 1 should bloom pretty soon The first is named Palolo Sunshine X Mary Stripes and cost $9 . The second is named Burana Jade and cost $5 , and the third is a Jacquelyn Thomas and cost $3 , what good deals I got on these.