Self Supporting Orchids

These Vanda orchids have been on the ground for many years. They seem to be dying in our dry season and rejuvenate again when the rains come. After 2 months of rains, they produce again some inspiring lovely flowers that stay there for 2-4 weeks. They are like ephemerals.

This one is not Vanda but Phalaenopsis schilleriana, native to the Philippines. 

Floral Friday Fotos

Orchid Intermission

At the height of my relationship with orchids, i deposit all of them in my sister's front yard in town.   Her old boarding house has a wide front yard that she likes because of her dogs. The dogs can play unrestricted on that front lawn, with nothing on it but grasses. When the orchids came the area was devoted for the orchids and the dogs were left inside the house, put on leash when they went out walking. I always have 1 or 2 orchids from my travels to the regions.  They are expensive then because i always wanted to have the prettiest. Hybrids are of course more expensive, with more showy blooms.

I was fascinated with Vanda then, most specially the terete types. They are easier to grow, can be left open to direct sun without scorching. They are all mounted on Gliricidia sepium trunks for easier handling and aesthetic concerns. My sister learns fast, she was able to grow them well and they easily bloomed to the neighbors' and passers' by delight. Nobody passed by the street without slowing down to watch the orchid blooms. Even the roots look so beautiful.

Eventually the driftwoods decayed, the orchids got old, and health dwindled without enough sustenance. My enthusiasm also decreased for maybe it is already fully assuaged. Then my sister got so much responsibilities in school. Eventually, they got sick, i was also sick for sometime and they eventually succumbed to bad health. Only very few of them remained, which were just left on their own untended. The left-overs were brought home and my sister built her own house near our old one. I forgot all about them when last week this one bloom caught my attentionb. I think it is very beautiful. I didn't remember that there is this color before!

Not all the buds opened yet, but it represented a lovely breed. It evoked some past memories of our old relationship and it didn't stop to evoke new delight. 

The close-up of the individual flower is beautiful, don't you believe me?

This one is called tiger orchid because of the design on its leaves. Actually, it is Phalaenopsis schilleriana, native to the Philippines. It is mounted on a lanzones tree, only watered when remembered and left on its own. Sometimes the leaves were all eaten by a flat short caterpillar, which i remove when i see them. There are only 2 plants left here. The cold and long nights last Dec-Feb induced them to flower. Sometimes the flower buds are also eaten by some unknown larvae. I am glad these 2 inflorescences at least continue blooming. They are also lovely and look so special.

Floral Friday Fotos

Today's Flowers

Orchids for the Dry Season

Even if our dry season kills some plants, stunted others, and stressed the rest, others are forced to show their beauty. Or maybe these are distress signals to hopefully save the species before they die, that is to flower and hope to have seeds. 

This Vanda might not be too beautiful in terms of color and shape! On second thoughts you will not disregard it, nor forget it, because of its heavenly scent which is just light and sweet that prevails the whole day. However, it faints at night and resume again the following morning. It is really heavenly, trust me! 

This other Vanda is not scented, but it has an attractive color which will catch your attention. It just produced a short flowering spike because it was affected by the high temperature and waterless conditions. Our water in the property is also a problem, so it just thrive on its own, and will recover growth again this coming rainy season. I hope it will still be able to survive the torture!

Another Vanda with more pale purple color, but the checkered designs are more prominent. 

This is an endemic species, Cymbidium finlaysonianum. It suffered extreme deaths of the plants in the clump two years ago, leaving only four plants to start growth and development again. Even the lanzones tree it is attached on died that year. This spike reaches to more or less 1 meter in length flowering at  nodal intervals. 

This is a flower taken at the same month last year from the same clump of this orchid. I put this as i might not be able to go home when the present flower buds open.  Notice the long internodes between the individual flowers. The hybrids already have shorter internodes. 

Above is a long spike of the same orchid plant almost reaching the ground. Turnera ulmifolia served as its barrier so it wont touch soil.

This is the fruit or pod of the above orchid, Cymbdidium finlaysonianum. Sometimes it gives 2 to 3 pods per spike, but we don't use the pods for propagation. It is much easier and cheaper to be using the plantlets. Seed propagation is only used by big nurseries if they are intending to produce a lot of seedlings for commerce, and is utilized mostly for unique and difficult to asexually propagate hybrid species. It takes years to produce flowering orchid plants from seeds, and lots of resources also to do so.