Welcome to Macro Flowers Saturday on this beautiful weekend!
Many thanks to all of you for your beautiful contributions to this meme. Here is mine for today:
Orchids come to us from the Netherlands.
This gorgeous white orchid variety is the Phalaenopsis. I just bought two of these amazing flowers today, a white and a pink one. Looking for care, I visited the Orchid info side, when I found this lovely description about how the Dutch botanist Dr. C.L. Blume found this flower:
The genus Phalaenopsis was described in 1825 by Dutch botanist Dr. C.L. Blume, who was employed at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Buitenzorg (now called Bogor) on the island of Java. The story goes that on one of his expeditions he saw a group of butterflies that were virtually motionless around a tree. These turned out to be orchids and he later called them Phalaenopsis amabilis. Amabilis means charming. The genus name Phalaenopsis means 'like a butterfly or moth' and is derived from the Greek words 'Phalaina' (moth) and 'opsis' (similar to).
This plant originally came from Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Australia.
In the wild Phalaenopsis grows in trees, without taking any nutrition from its host. It can also be found growing in very well aerated soil such as humus and on rocks and rock clefts, generally near streams and rivers.
I need all the help to keep these beauties alive in our climate.For now my main concern is to keep the room temperature as low as I can in the 36C (96.8F) summer heat we are having right now.
Any advice is welcome concerning care, please leave me some tips from your experiences.
Sorry for the late posting and late commenting, I'm moving very slowly in this heat.
Join Macro Flowers Saturday, a photo meme for macro photos and close-ups of flowers, garden flowers, wildflowers, blossoms, flowers with insects and butterflies (no insects without flowers), flowers with raindrops and whatever beautiful plants, plant seeds or berries you have, in close-up.
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Great weekend to you all!
20 comments:
Oh Maia that Orchid has a fantastic stem full of blooms. Its a lovely colour aswell and they are such good value for money. Now you asked about their care and am used to advising daily on orchid care especially phalenopsis.
For starters that temperature is much too warm for the blooms to last long on the flower - I don't like anything over 25 - sometimes I have to keep a fan on the ones I tend if the temperature gets too high.
If the temp won't go lower then you might need to keep plenty of humidity around the plant - like a little saucer filled with gravel and some water in the base so that the water evaporates around the plant - keep the saucer filled with water but not so that the roots are sitting in water.
You can also mist the aerial roots but making sure that no moisture gets into the centre of that rosette. You can even mist the underside of the leaves - if you mist on the top of them then there's a chance that strong sunlight can burn the surface - the little bit of water acts like a magnifying glass.
Give a good drink of water once a week and keep away from south and west facing window sills at this time of year.
Now I hope that will get you through the flowering stage - I think I need to write a blog post on the care of them myself! on how to get them back into flower again.
Have a lovely weekend :) Rosie
I love orchids. I have five phalanopsis. My husband gave me one for my birthday last year that came with a good case of scale. It travelled to all of the orchids. It kills the blooms. If you are not familiar with them they are white bugs that are an oval shape. Like to get into the blooms and leaves. Yours are so gorgeous. I would hate for you to be unaware.
Gorgeous images of this lovely orchid!
Thank you Rosie, I will follow all your advices. I hope the weather guys are right and we'll get the promised rainstorms and lower temperature starting from tomorrow.
That post with how to get them back into flower again would be really useful.
Thank you so much Valerie, I didn't know about the bugs.
I left my computer immediately and checked; I can't see any white bugs, but I'll check again tomorrow at daylight.
Many thanks again girls!
Well, you must be doing something right. These orchids are beautiful. And it seems you have received some very sound advice. Good luck.
Maia ref those mealy bugs Valerie spoke of - sometimes they do arrive in from Holland on the orchid - I know as I buy them in large quantities every week from Holland and sometimes on rare occasions I have to reject a few.
Most likely yours won't have any - sometimes they crawl under the lip of the clear orchid pot. Its easy to tell if you have them as you can see the little fluffy bits they cover themselves with in the joints on the orchid stem or hidden under the leaves. They look like small white woodlice - they remind me of trilobite fossils from my geology days.
Feed your orchids while in bloom with special fertilizer specially formulated for them being in bloom.
I will write a post on the care of phalenopsis on my leavesnbloom soon - I'm sure it would be extremely popular with the search engines aswell.
That weather you're having is extreme and I hope it cools down soon - no doubt there will be a few thunder storms first. We are having terrible weather most of July - monsoon weather but yesterday and today were lovely - low 20's each day.
Take Care
Rosie :)
Thank again Rosie, I'll look for fertilizer on Monday and check the bugs in the morning, I hope there are none.
I don't know how monsoon feels, probably not pleasant either. I prefer storm instead of this heat. I can't think straight because of this heat.
Looking forward to read that post soon.
It's very pretty! I was given an orchid as a present two years ago, but I had no idea how to care for it and it died. It was sad to lose such beautiful plant. I hope other bloggers will give you advise and tips, and your beautiful orchid will bring you joy for many years.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Lovely orchids! And I also enjoyed having a glimpses of beautiful backgrounds. Such lovely hills in the background!
I love your treatment of the orchids...
Such lovely photos. I envy your macro lens.
Do spray the plant leaves frequently with a mister. Don't water bark medium too frequently. Bright light but little if any direct sun. Sounds like your first commenter is the expert.
those are some orchids...such splendour. I'm struggling in this heat too...
The orchids are gorgeous and you have captured their beauty in macro. I have learned so much about orchids by reading your post and the comments.
I love your new header! It's stunning, and your macro shots of these orchids are fabulous.
The orchid so delicate and just beautiful. The color rich and vibrant. A beautiful contrast.
Thanks for featuring my dad's favourite orchid. It seems to grow easier than the days when he got the tiny plant from the jungle.
My post will be up tomorrow.
coming back to you after reading your comment at Gardening in a Sandbox ,
In the old days, my mum and dad used to spray a very mild soap water, and a child's soft tooth brush to brush away the aphids.
I think a mild vinegar spread might work. Spray it and then use cotton buds to remove them.
Thank you Ann for your advice.
I don't have bugs on the orchids and I hope it will never happen, but it is good to be prepared.
Thanks you all for the kind words!
What lovely, delicate orchids! Your shots are always so gorgeous!
Showy but so delicate!
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