Orchids

It would quite frustrating when you find the orchids you have don't flower.
Don't you think so?
I have almost a dozen of orchids and not all of them bloom
And so - I opt for the ones that are easy bloomers -even then, they are quite a challenge.

You - regardless what - these orchids still need good fertilising regime:
Weekly, weakly...
And a good fertiliser too - too much and the roots get burned and the leaves prematurely fall..
Too little and inconsistent - well, nothing is going to happen.
So- there you have it - the Curse of the unbloomed orchids.

It took awhile for me to identity the pattern.
I'm still learning and so far I realised that the best fertiliser is still the organic ones: Sheep manure and bat (guano)
I do once awhile use foliar fertiliser but somehow its not happening as I expected.

The other thing is the temperature drop - that makes the orchids bloom.
Sometimes in the tropical - everything is constant so there is no big hike in the temperature difference.
Unless its a rainy season - few days of rain and one sunny day burst them into blooms.

But when they do bloom - its worth all the wait and the efforts.
Do tell me your orchid secrets - would love to hear from you.
Till then - enjoy my garden flowers.

Oncidium Orchids

This would be the first bloom for the year.
This had gone missing for awhile - I guess this orchid had been focusing on its growth and new productions of many psedobulbs. And the trouble is - it never flowered.

There had been a drop of temperature recently when it had been raining for few nights.
Earlier seemed be like weeks of a long dry spell with hot non-air movement nights.
But the saddest part is - only this orchid bloomed (What about the rest??)

Well, to be content with simplicity - something bloomed than nothing.
Still - I enjoy the elegance of the cascading effect of this ladies dressed in yellow.
These blooms lasted for 1-2 weeks and the whole floor is littered with fallen withered flowers - marking the end of the bloom season.

I had started the fertiliser regime now.
Sudden zeal of wanting to see more blooms and with the whole collections of fertilisers been kept of ages.
I rather finish them used here now.

Would appreciate if anyone can suggest to me any easy - secret recipe for orchids to bloom.
They seemed to be so stubborn.
I have to say that they are not the sterile type as I had seen them bloomed years ago.
Now - its all the waiting.

Till then - enjoy my white Oncidium Orchid.
Hope it gives you a new perspective of how I see plants.

Oncidiums and Art

One of the things about Oncidiums is that I never seemed to get enough of them.
The pictures do not do justice in real life.
(but of course, to another its just yellow flower with a dash of orange painted on it)

Its difficult to describe and like most gardeners.
I wish this one continuously flower giving me fresh blooms everyday..
(yeah.. I know - its just too much)
(Ok..while I'm at it....)

I found that not two flowers are the same.
Indulge me with this.
Can you know the difference of these 3 flowers?
(Ok.. I agree - this is too much..)

To add more colour in my garden.
The common Oncidium seemed to lavishly bloom without stopping.
That gives me a feel that this is going to be a permanent bloomer.
(Hope I didn't speak too soon)

The White Oncidium (pic. below)
I had manage to pull it out from the hidden corner - where it was intially found with the Bleeding Heart (earlier post) I was indeed surprised to see that there are a lot more flowers in the bloom compared to previous ones. (past blooms)

The earlier one was still in bloom with two small spikes.
While I was at it - trying to water some of the orchids I had accidently snap the main branch...
(Ohhh!!! NO!!! I wish I can rewind the time!!!)
(Well - accident happens)

This is the broken spike from the second flower spike.
(Ouch!!! Again...)

And so..
I had immortalise it in my living...
I let the pictures do the talking...
Let me know what do you see...
(Hehehehehehehheeeeeee....)

And yes...
The last two drawing were done by me.
(medium: pencil & pen)

Seasonal Blooms (Bush Clock Vine / Bromeliad / Golden Shower Orchid /Powder Puff Plant / Yellow Walking Iris / Blackberry Lily)

These orchids are the giant version of the normal Oncidium ones.
It was passed to me by my friend (pity his parent plant died)
I had doubts about this one as it is quite sensitive but somehow it had pulled through and gave me this enormous giant flowers!

These are the white Oncidium.
The normal ones are in yellow.
They too had started blooming during these rainy season.








These Blackberry lily had made a come back after a very long silence.
Its blooming together with my Yellow Walking Iris.









This had been passed to me by my friend and it is blooming so beautifully.




 

 I had kept it in shade earlier but it never bloomed.
And it took awhile to get adjusted after few months before all these blooming.
I just love the flower bud - it reminds me of some berries.
These Powderpuff suppose to attract the nectar loving birds - but I have yet to see them drinking from these.







Finally Bush Clock Vine (below)
Its not actually a vine more like a bush.
It had finally started to give lots of blooms.
Earlier just like the Powderpuff plant - it was kept in shade and it rarely flowered.
Now it is just give so much grace with the blue blooms.

Oncidium Blooms

The waiting had been finally paid with these many blooms which currently I'm now enjoying. The saddest part about it is that is it considered very common. Something to consider unfair when the many months of waiting had finally produced some many flowers and yet they are termed common.

Truly that is not going bother me when I know how difficult was this particular orchid. They just fail to show any progress in their blooms. And if ever there was - it would be those tiny little branch with 3-4 flowers lasting less than few days.

Common is actually a cruel word.

Normally I would suggest few tips here concerning most of my garden plants.
After thought: I really wonder now what exactly to say or to start with.

Basically I wouldn't recommend orchids for garden beginner's.
 For truly if a gardener would love to have an orchid and would want to start with trying with one - I would recommend to start with an oncidium orchid.
Most orchids (sad but true) die once they are spend their blooms - those which are strongly spiked with heavy chemicals to induce them to bloom (to death)
Those that barely make it goes into a dormant (until death) stage.

To be prejudice about it - the orchids sold in most places are not meant for the plant to be alive rather to exhaust them to their fullest blooming potential as they are arrive the market place for all to admire.

This is so true like those lime trees that floods the market during the Chinese New Year season. I can rest assured to you that those lime trees make not make it for the next season in your garden as how you first bought it.

Anyway, coming back to orchids.
(These are my tips - so: It works for me and I dare say that it might not work for you)
Do more research before purchasing a very expensive orchid.

1) Check the medium used for the orchid plant you had bought.
In most cases you would find wood-chips used in the pots.
(Sometimes you might even fine sphagnum moss - remove them too)

I would suggest remove all of them and use charcoal and coconut shell
(you can collect them in most sundry shops where they use fresh coconut for grating)
Hammer and break into small pieces and place them inside a clay-pot (together with the plant)

2) Set it in permanent place and don't move it around.
Orchid do tend to go dormant once they are set in a new environment.
You may have to be patient on that for the new growth to appear.
Oncidium orchids loves bright shaded area. Too shaded - they plant will grow very well but lacking flowers. Too hot - it might bloom but at the expenses of burnt leaves.
So a good balance of bright & shade may require for it to bloom.

3) Careful on the watering regime.
You can wash it down but make sure nothing gets collected in the pot or container as it can cause root or bulb rot. Once a rot takes place - it is difficult for the plant to recover.
Fungus or disease may attack the plant leading it to its death.

4) Fertilising.
I rarely prefer to use fertiliser for these orchids as they can tend to get burnt and die. There are of course safer ones. The best I would recommend is spraying rice washed water weekly on them.

NOTE:
Some other orchid species require sphagnum moss - like the Phals. Orchids.
Please don't use this reference for Phals. Orchids as this is strictly only for Oncidiums.

This Giant size Oncidium had finally bloomed for the 1st time in my garden. My friend had passed me this plant (sadly his parent plant died due to bulb rot) I was very cautious about this one as in most cases the plant bulb do tend to rot once it had passed its maturity stage.
Not removing the rot immediately can infect other healthy bulbs.

So far this plant had truly grown big and spanned out many bulbs.

These have been placed earlier on the sunny side but they didn't seemed to do well and now they are relocated to this spot. Hoping that it will too give glorious blooms like the first pictures.

Few other orchid species which are yet to give out their first bloom in my garden.