I’ve never really had luck with orchids, but I think things are changing. I have mine sitting on the edge of the bathtub, which has a huge south-facing window on the other side. I got the first two orchids this past summer, and the last one in October, and the sun from the window never got to the orchids. Now that it’s winter, they get a brief dose of full sun every day. They all seem to be thriving, and one has just revealed its buds.

Epi Mabel Kanda 'Miyao' x Epi randianum (rear), Dend 'Thanas Blue' (in bloom), Bc Little Mermaid 'Janet' (front, with buds)

I bought the Dendrobium ‘Thanas Blue’ in bloom at Publix, of all places. They had been carrying orchids in the produce section off and on all summer and fall, and I finally couldn’t resist those beautiful purple flowers. It’s been in bloom over a month now, and only 3 of the blossoms have faded.

The Epidendrum hybrid and the Brassocattleya were bought at the local Lowes. They were good old “bag orchids” — just potted and in a stapled-closed, clear poly bag. The top label for the Bc Little Mermaid ‘Janet’ had a picture of more usual delicate Brassavola-type flowers, but after finding a picture on Flickr, I discovered it is much more like the standard corsage orchid. Which suites me must fine, actually. It was marked as a “fragrant variety,” so I hope it has that lovely Brassavola fragrance. 

The Epidendrum is described by some as an Epidendrum x Encyclia intergeneric called Epicyclia. At any rate, the tag called it Epi Mabel Kanda ‘Miyao’ x Epidendrum randianum (syn. Encyclia randii). The picture on the bag showed the classic Mabel Kanda green tepals and pink lip, but another photo on Flickr revealed an interesting pink and white striped lip. When I bought this plant, its newest growth was a spindly pseudobulb, but since then put on this new, plump pseudobulb that is getting ready to bloom.

I’m really happy that these three seem to be doing so well, and I’m going to try and see just how many orchids I can fit on the edge of the tub. Honey bought a shelf at Lowes to put up for the orchids to get them off the side of the tub, and maybe that’s a good idea. I’m sure they’ll do well on a shelf on the wall, too. Look for pictures of the Little Mermaid soon!

An article at Nature.com tells us about the recent gathering of botanists to celebrate the Linnean system of classification. Interesting historical information and challenges that the Linnean system faces in the future. Cool links to sources of more info are there, too.