Non-amaryllis, non-orchid

I have a couple other houseplants besides the amaryllis and orchids that are blooming.  This first one is fun.



This is Pinguicula moranensis, a tropical butterwort.  It's a carnivorous plant!

In addition to looking cool, this plant helps with the fungus gnats that take up residence in some of my houseplants every year.  The leaves and stems are sticky and trap the gnats beautifully - you can see some in the picture.

The flowers were the main reason I got this plant.  They look almost like violet flowers, so pretty! I've had the plant almost two months, but it was semi-dormant when I got it and this is the first flower it's produced for me.  I noticed today that there are two more flowers forming. Yay!



The next plant is an anthurium, and is the second of two plants that I bought myself for Valentine's Day this year.  The only part of Valentine's Day I like is the day-after 50% off sales!  The yellow orchid I posted yesterday was $4, and this big anthurium in an 8" pot was only $3.



Last picture for today is this.  I planted this turmeric rhizome last April, and it did exactly nothing, nothing, and more nothing for 13 months.  No shoots, no roots, nothing.  I kept peeking at it, and the rhizome wasn't shriveled or rotted, so I left it alone.  When it started to get cold in the fall, I brought the pot inside and put it on the heat mat with my orchids, and it continued to do nothing.

But this month, a shoot appeared!  And now there are leaves! So exciting!



And oops, I guess this isn't a completely amaryllis-free post.  That plant in the purple pot to the left of the turmeric is an offset bulb from my Purple Rain amaryllis that broke off during shipping.  I am very pleased that it has rooted and sprouted leaves.

Fifth Amaryllis, Revisited

So that amaryllis that was Not-Benfica from a week or so ago?  The one that was mislabeled and definitely did NOT have the gorgeous big deep-red blooms I was expecting?

I think it's kind of growing on me.



Once I got over the disappointment of it not being Benfica, I decided that it's actually quite pretty.  It has six flowers open now and possibly two more coming in the middle, though the buds are small and may not develop fully.



The six flowers are arranged in a perfect wheel-spoke array.



Overall, very nice.

OK, so that amaryllis was mislabeled...

My fifth amaryllis opened today.  This is the amaryllis I got when I ordered Benfica.  This is NOT REMOTELY the same as Benfica.  Benfica is large and dark red and beautiful, and looks like this.

Not like this.



I'm not a fan of the spidery-look amaryllis to begin with, and the color on this one is sort of insipid and washed out.



Meh.  I've sent an email to the place I bought it from to see what they can do.

Pink cactus

I have another cactus blooming right now, but I can't take credit for these flowers.  I saw it in the store the other day and it was an impulse purchase.  I am weak around plants, what can I say.



Aren't the flowers pretty, though?  Mammillaria backebergiana.

Aerangis fastuosa

The Aerangis fastuosa orchid has been fully open for a couple days now, and it's beautiful.  This species is native to Madagascar, but mine was propagated in the US.  I got it as a young plant, and this is its first bloom.



This is the fourth Aerangis species I have bloomed, and like Aerangis mystacidii and Aerangis punctata, is a highly fragrant orchid, especially in the evening (my Aerangis citrata hasn't seemed to have much of a scent).  This one (fastuosa) has heavier scent than the others; less floral and more musky, in a really good way.



The flower is about an inch across, and the nectary (spur) is three inches long.  Not bad for a plant with a leaf spread of only three and a half inches!



Such a pretty plant.

Pleurothallis dressleri

This is my tiniest orchid.  It's native to Panama and is so so so tiny.

I've only had it for a month and a half and it hasn't bloomed for me yet, but has put out two new leaves.  That's a good sign, I think! It requires high humidity so I have it in the 12x12x18 terrarium, and it seems happy.



You know, it really doesn't matter if it never blooms.  I love it for the leaves.

And the tininess.

Fourth amaryllis, and a fuchsia

Here we are with the fourth amaryllis to open, called 'Christmas Gift'. This is a new bulb for me this year, and was the humongous one (close to 6-inch diameter!)



It's supposed to be pure white with a greenish throat, and I'm not sure what's up with the pink streaks.  It could be as simple as the temperature/light conditions in my house, or as complicated as the genetic makeup of this particular bulb not fully suppressing the pigments in the flowers.  It'll be interesting to see if the pink streaks are consistently shown in all the flowers over multiple blooming cycles.

In addition to the amaryllis show that's happening now with three plants in bloom, I also have an overwintering fuchsia that decided to bloom!  This is "Stand Up Shirley".  It's a compact variety and has an upright growth habit rather than trailing.



I wasn't expecting it to bloom inside, so this is a nice surprise!

Oops.

So..... I accidentally bought some more amaryllis bulbs.  I didn't tell you because I was embarrassed.

This is Benfica (the middle one with the tall scape, will have velvety dark red flowers) and Gervase (in front, not growing yet, will have splashy streaky red, pink, and white flowers).

The pot in the back is an elephant ear, which doesn't count because it's an outdoor plant that I'm just giving a head start.  It will go outside in May.  You can also see Emma's begonia here, very leggy and making a mess on the table.  It's been blooming and dropping flowers every day all winter. I can't wait until that one goes back outside.



Two new amaryllis.  Not too bad, right?

Right, but then I got this in the mail yesterday.



There was an end-of-season sale.  Half price amaryllis.  Oops.

Blooming globe

My glass globe terrarium is blooming!



This is the Lepanthopsis astrophora orchid.  It's so beautiful.



Such a gorgeous deep magenta-fuchsia-rose color.  It glows when the light shines through it.



The beauty in small things makes me happy.

Teaser

This is another orchid, Aerangis fastuosa.  It has had this bud developing for close to a year, sooooo sloooooowly.  In the last month, it has finally picked up the pace and developed fully.

Almost open!

Amaryllis round three, and a cactus

My third amaryllis of the year opened on Saturday.  This is the 2014 Red Lion (which was not Minerva) that put up two scapes for me this year.  I took this picture in the morning, and by the evening, all four flowers on this first scape were open!  So fast!  The second scape isn't too far behind, and will probably open in the next week or so.



And just as a random aside, I noticed yesterday that the Aphrodite Dancing Queen amaryllis from my last post is putting up a third scape!

I really like amaryllis.  They are so easy and put on such a great show.

And finally for today, here is a cactus blooming.  I don't get to see this very often!  No idea what the species name on this is, but I'm moderately sure the genus is Mammillaria.  Whatever it is, it's a cute little guy.

Lepanthes bloom!

The Lepanthes telipogoniflora flower opened today!



This is one of the coolest plants ever.



Here's a shot with the ubiquitous dime as a scale reference.  I'm completely enchanted with this tiny orchid.

Planted terrarium!

I finally, finally got around to making the background for my terrarium this weekend. I forgot to take progress pictures, though, sorry.

I made the background using that expanding foam insulation that comes in a spray can, applied directly onto the back glass of the terrarium, around the piece of wood on the left and the piece of cork in the center.  The foam anchors them firmly in place, and gives a nice irregular bumpy surface.  The piece of wood on the right isn't attached to anything

Once the foam was cured (24 hours), I smeared on a layer of silicone caulk and pressed a thick layer of loose coco fiber over everything.  The coco fiber embeds in the caulk and gives a nice natural-ish look.

I let the silicone dry for 24 hours, then brushed off the excess coco fiber.  Ta Da!!!



I added all the plants back in tonight.  I really like the way this came out.



Here's the plant list:

Orchids:

• Lepanthes telipogoniflora
• Bulbophyllum moniliforme
• Pleurothallis lewisiae
• Pleurothallis dressleri
• Pleurothallis grobyi
• Pleurothallis niveoglobula
• Gastrochilus somai

Peperomia:

• Peperomia reptans
• Peperomia tovariana
• Peperomia caespitosa

Other:

• Crepidomanes (a fern)
• Selaginella sp. Panama (a lesser clubmoss)
• Schistochila (a liverwort)
• Riccardia (a liverwort)
• an unnamed tropical moss

Amaryllis update

I've been eagerly watching the rest of my amaryllis ever since the Minerva finished blooming a couple weeks ago.  Minerva ended up with four flowers on one scape (stalk).  It doesn't look like there will be a second scape, and it's started growing leaves now.  Still, it was a nice show and has a healthy bulb.

On to the bulbs in bud! This is a Red Lion that I got last year when I tried to buy a Minerva .  This one has TWO scapes this year!  I put my amaryllis outside during the summer, and this one evidently was very happy.  Usually it takes a couple years before I get double scapes after I get a new bulb.



The next four are new bulbs to me this year.  This is Christmas Gift, which will have large single white flowers.  This was the biggest amaryllis bulb I've ever gotten- it's fully 6 inches in diameter.  I'm hopeful that this may produce three scapes, but only one is showing at the moment.



This is Aphrodite, which will have ruffly double flowers, white with a medium pink wash on the ends of the petals.



This is Elvas, which will have very ruffly double flowers, white with dark pink centers.  After I took this picture, I noticed something suspicious on the side of the bulb and unpotted it to have a look.  I found a largish spot of rot extending a couple layers into the side of the bulb.  I had to do surgery to cut out the rot so it's looking a bit ragged now, and we'll see how that affects the flowering.  But I'd rather have a live bulb and no flowers this year, than a dead bulb and no flowers ever.



This is Apple Blossom, and though new this year, it sadly seems like it's not going to flower this time around.  It has six very healthy leaves, but no sign of a scape.  So I may be in suspense for another year as to whether this bulb-in-a-box is actually Apple Blossom, or something else (which is what happened last year).



These three are Red Lions.  Left to right, they are from 2011, 2014, and 2008.  The 2011 one was supposed to be Minerva, and 2014 was supposed to be Apple Blossom.  But that's OK, because Red Lion is pretty too.



The 2008 bulb was a Christmas present from my dad, and has bloomed faithfully every year.  I'm not sure if it going to bloom this year, since there's no sign of a scape yet, but I haven't given up hope. It seems like it usually blooms around March.

I didn't repot 2008 into fresh soil last year or the year before, so it may be that it didn't store up enough energy last summer to produce blooms.  Ah well.  I repotted all three of these into fresh soil after I took this picture.

And here's an overview of my plant window.  It gets pretty crowded during the winter, and especially so this winter.  In addition to the orchids that are there year-round, there are all the plants that go outside during the summer: the amaryllis (amaryllises? amarylli?), a ponytail palm (the big spiky one on the far left, which I've had since 1998 when it fit in a 1.5" pot), two jasmines, two fuchsias, a kaffir lime, a turmeric, and Emma's front-porch begonia (which didn't fit on the plant counter, but is on the dining table to the right of the picture and getting very leggy).

I really need to keep winter space availability in mind when I go plant-crazy in the summer.

Big giant update of tiny little orchids

Hello hello! It's time for another orchid update! My sister gave me a gift certificate from one of my favorite orchid vendors for Christmas, and I had such fun spending it!

Between the gift certificate and a bit of my own funds (to make the shipping charge per orchid work out better, you understand...) I ended up getting six new plants.  I received them two weeks ago.

First up is Pleurothallis niveoglobula, a South American species from Ecuador and Columbia.  This is a bit bigger plant than I was expecting.  The flowers aren't showy, but the overall plant is very pretty.  I like the heart-shaped leaves.



It has miniscule white flowers that are carried above the leaves.  They remain globe-shaped and never open fully.  This plant was in bloom when it arrived, and hasn't stopped in the two weeks that I've had it.



Next up is Gastrochilus somai.  This originates from Taiwan, and I was thrilled that it also arrived in bud, with two spikes.  The flowers opened on January 12, and are still going strong.



So pretty!  This species is also fragrant, with a very pleasing lemony-citrus sweet floral scent.



The rest don't have flowers yet, but are nice healthy plants and are all showing new growth since I've had them.

This one is Amesiella philippensis, originally from the island of Luzon, in the Philippines (bet you never could have guess that, right?).  It will have relatively large, fragrant, white flowers with yellow throats.



This is Masdevallia nicaraguae, native to Nicaragua (another obvious one!), and it will have triangular, tubular, white and pink fragrant flowers.



This is Cirrhopetalum curtisii (also known as Bulbophyllum pulchellum and Bulbophyllum corolliferum), native to southeast Asia. If I can get it to bloom, it will have daisy-esque umbels of pink flowers.



And last but not least, this one.  This is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  This is Bulbophyllum moniliforme, native to southeast Asia.



It looks like a string of peas; the "peas" are the pseudobulbs.  Apparently they each have a leaf when immature, but when each pseudobulb is done growing, the leaf falls off.  The triangular flowers will be bigger than the pseudobulbs, and striped with cream and burgundy.

I do so love small orchids.



The last orchid is Pleurothallis grobyi, native to Central and South America from Mexico to Brazil.  This particular one is a division of a plant from Mexico and will have sprays of tiny yellowish flowers.

This plant wasn't part of my Christmas order, I got it in early December with my second Lepanthes telipogoniflora.  It didn't do much for a several weeks, but right after we got back from Kansas I noticed that it had started two new leaves, the reddish ones visible toward the bottom.  New leaves are always good.



And to help me keep these beauties alive and happy, I got this today!  Emma and I went to Kennewick, Washington, for our annual ~~Girl's Weekend Out~~, and I saw this small terrarium on sale at PetSmart for 25% off.  I couldn't resist.



It's an ExoTerra 12x12x18 glass tank, and for now I just have a layer of Hydroton (expanded clay pellets) in there for drainage and humidity, and two pieces of wood.  The orchids will eventually be mounted to the wood and background, with moss and other cool plants added, but for now they're just in there hanging out and enjoying the humidity and brighter light.