Watercolor III

I felt really stressed these past couple of days because it's three weeks until AP exams and one week until the May SAT, and I needed to de-stress myself.  My solution...watercolor my orchids.  So here's Friday night's work:

It's a masdevallia charisma.  I personally do not grow it in my collection. I feel masdevallia's are a pain to grow because they like humid and cool conditions.  Unless I have a terrarium, I stray away from masdevallias.  But, masdevallia charisma is my favorite of the masdevallias. 

Hanging Gardens' masdevallia charisma

Junior Prom 2013

Yay! Junior Prom is this Saturday!!!
My school's Junior/Senior prom will be held at California's Academy of Sciences in SAN FRAN!!!!
SO EXCITED!

According to tradition, the girl gives the guy a boutonniere and the guy gives the girl a corsage.  Most corsages are made of either roses and ORCHIDS.... So this is where I come in...

I had several orchids blooming, so I decided to make orchid corsage for just two bucks.  It was a steal.  I had to have some way to compete with Safeway and Fremont Flowers...Also, I didn't have much color to choose from. 

So here are my finished pieces.
This is my favorite.  I used a japanese maple leaf and an ivy leaf. 

Cymbidium with maple leaf

Cymbidium with leaves and a random pink flower

Cymbidium with ivy leaf and random leaf

Phalaenopsis with Ivy leaf

Spring Fever

 
Spring time comes with a new cycle of growth.  Either be it orchids or just things that you see around every day life.  My hobbies is not exclusively growing orchids.  Before orchids, there came fruiting trees and pretty flowers.  You know, the regular stuff that you find at your local Home Depot garden section.

So, as a tangent to my plant loving obsession I've included some things growing in my backyard and neighborhood.

Here are some pictures of what I deduce as sakura blossoms in my neighborhood.  They are so pretty especially when there is a slight breeze. The trees shower you with these light pink petals covering the streets with a blanket of pink petals. 

Here are some things that are growing in our backyard.  We moved into our house about a year ago and we haven't had any time to actually do some landscaping.  I'm planning some major renovations during the summer once hectic junior year subsides. My dad grows blueberries.  We grow "misty", "o'neal", "patriot", and "pink lemonade".  All of them are growing huge and fruitful. 

My little columbine.  This is one of my favorite flowers.  We have 2 pomegranate trees a "wonderful" and a "pink satin".  We also have a persimmon tree "hachiya" variety.  And a Osmanthus bush that my dad recently attained a couple of weeks ago.   I tried to grow bleeding hearts and a peony bush last year, but that failed with the clay soil in my backyard.  So I tried them again in better soil and they are growing lovely green leaves.  Hopefully I can get some blooms this year.

SPRING BREAK 2013!!!

HALLELUJAH!!! Tis spring break!
Still AP testing season and the May SAT are approaching quickly.  To add onto the pile of workload, my AP teachers are deciding to give me cumulative tests right after break.  Oh joy...
On the bright side, I've got some bloomers in my collection.

Pleione Formosana

My first Pleione.  I got this little orchid from the POE from "Hanging Gardens".  It's a Pleione formosana and I think this has become my new favorite orchid.  It came with three plump green bulbs that had little shoots already popping from the sides.  I was forewarned not to water it too much while it is establishing it's new roots in case of root rot.  Now, it's has long white roots, new growth coming from the sides, and two flowers in bloom.

Pleione Formosana

Next on the list is my tolumnia pretty n pink.

This little guy is such a faithful bloomer.  I bought this orchid two years ago during spring break.  It bloomed again last year during spring break.  And now, in the year of 2013, it has bloomed during spring break.  I wish the rest of my orchids worked like this little guy.  I lost a lot of the blooms to bud blast.  I don't know if it is from too much sun or from the changing weather.





Tolumnia Culture Tips:
Water: I have it in a small one inch diameter clay pot.  I keep forgetting to water it throughout the week.  So I give it a good one hour soak each week.  It seems to like that a lot.
Fertilizer:  This is also one of the orchids that I have been able to bloom without fertilizer.  But rule of thumb 20-20-20 urea free fertilizer weekly, weakly.
Light: A bright area.  An east window is ideal. The leaves should not be grassy green but almost a reddish green.  That's how much sun this guy gets.
Temperature: Warm.  Whatever temperature you feel comfortable in, they also feel comfortable.
Humidity: 60-70% (I don't know how accurate my $1.50 hydrometer is but that's what it says)
Flowering: Blooms once with each new fan.  Usually, once a year for me.

My first dendrobium orchid.  It decided to bloom during the winter, but I was so disappointed with the number of blooms I got.  Is this is the price for not fertilizing?  Anyways, It's been blooming for about two months and it's still going strong.  I'll see next year if I get lucky enough to get more blooms.

Repotting Neofinetia Falcata

Taking a break from AP stats homework (I officially hate doing hypothesis testing and confidence intervals).
Anyways, this weekend I finally decided to repot my neos in the traditional Japanese mound style.  It took me several tries and lots of sphagnum moss, but I personally think that they turned out well.

a good tutorial could found on youtube. I'll post the link: Neofinetia Falcata Repotting

Neofinetia Falcata Amami- Furan

The Neo Amami- Furan had tons of good roots and tons of rotted roots.  There's new leaves growing, but no new fans.  Hopefully I can get some blooms later in the spring or early summer.

Now the sad news...

Neofinetia Falcata Shutennou

This little guy suffered a lot during the winter.  The instructions online said that neos like a cool, dry winter rest.  Well, the cool, dry winter rest cost me two fans and several good roots.  Note for next year: water when the sphag moss dries out. 

At least now it has recovered and is giving me two new fans and two new roots.

 Sooooo excited!!!!!

Maxillaria Tenuifolia

Finally it has bloomed! The infamous, the easy- to- grow, the finicky bloomer....maxillaria tenfuifolia.
I've had this plant for almost a year now, and it has finally decided to bloom.
It smells heavenly of coconut/ cream/ chocolate ---> it just smells so sweet.
The color is burgundy and the flowers 4 1/2 cm across. I've got three of these sweeties in bloom, and I've got plenty more emerging from the sheathes of the pseudobulbs. 

My cultural tips:
Watering: Keep the medium well watered and don't let the pseudobulbs get shriveled.  I was having a problem with shriveled bulbs with my once a week watering in a fine bark mix, so I changed it to hydroponics.
Light: Bright light.  The leaves should be a grassy green to light green.  A east window is ideal.  It could also be grown with cattleyas.  It is also okay if the leaves get burned a little bit.
Feeding: Honestly, I haven't fed my orchids for about a year now.  All of them are blooming healthily and happily.  But rule of thumb: weekly, weakly.
Flowering: Warmth + high light = good blooms.  I've learned that the hard way.  You could also throw in a temperature difference into the equation, but I didn't find that as important as warmth and high light.
Temp:  They like warm temperatures to bloom.  I've grown them in temperatures ranging from 50's to 60's, they grow new pseudobulbs and such... just no flowers.

* hope this helps to whoever is having trouble getting this species to bloom.

Pacific Orchid Expo 2013

What....

an....

amazing....

show....

 It was an orchid mecca. No, that doesn't even do the show justice. It was ORCHID HEAVEN.  I had an amazing experience from getting new orchids to even winning an orchid prize. Yes, you heard me. I WON FIRST PLACE IN THE SEVENTEEN AND UNDER CATEGORY!!!!! 

Dendrobium Amethystoglossum

The award is given to orchid growers who are seventeen and under.  This was my first and last year for this award, and I was so happy when they gave it to me.  It is called "The Imperiale Youth Prize" and it consists of a certificate, a handmade dracula pin and pendant, a handmade glass plate of a vanda of the POE 2013, and a large ribbon. 

I had so much trouble with this orchid.  The flowers of the Dendrobium Amethystoglossum only last about a week, so I had to time the blooming perfectly.  As a matter of fact, the orchid began to bloom just three days before I was supposed to enter it, and four days before it was supposed to be judged.  The ordeal of getting an orchid ready for a show is something that is both stressful and rewarding.  I am so thankful of my parents for driving me to and from San Francisco, a 45 min drive, for three days.   They even let me go to San Francisco on a school night to drop off an orchid.  I really need to give my parents the "Parents of the Year" award.

To add onto the experience:  I volunteered at the Plant Hotel during the show, and burned through my entire Chinese New Year money on 8 new orchids.  The orchids unfortunately are not in bloom, so I'm not going to bother paste pictures of them until they are in bloom. 

List of Orchids: 

1. Slc. Dream Weaver

2. Pot. Rubescence x Slc. Scarlet Jewel

3. Pot. Hisako Akatsuka x Slc Jungle Jewel

4. Dendrobium aggregatum 

5. Cymbidium Sinense

6. Cymbidium Hybrid 

7. Pleione Formosana

8. Cattleya Forbesii...........................................I was really into the small orchids because I didn't have enough space for any large/tall orchids that I couldn't grow outside. 

Enough talking, here's some pics from the show: 

Outside Entrance of the Show

San Francisco Orchid Society Display....there was also a car which we couldn't fit into the picture

Lycaste in one of the exhibits

One of the Exhibits

Masdevallia

Masdevallia

Pleione

Masdevallia

Cattleya

Orchids that were being Sold:

One of my favorite booths....so many beautiful cattleyas

Cattleya

Cattleya

Paph

Cymbidium Hybrid I bought

Cattleya

Cattleya

Miltoniopsis Hybrid

$40 Dendrobium Hybrid from a Taiwanese vendor....it's as small as the nail on my thumb