Renanthera Orchid & Eria Orchid

One of the most hopeful factors you might have felt
is the idea that when you buy an orchid - you expect it to bloom again.
And that is the case of my orchids in my garden - the hope
however gets renewed when I see others successful made their orchids bloom.

Its a terrible vicious cycle actually.
Not able to see them bloom - the waiting is indeed exhausting.
The only option is to go heavy on the fertilising regime which of course carry a very high risk of burning and killing the plant in the process.
Already some plants are showing slight burn marks ever since I started on this heavy fertilising spree.
When I think I had over-exaggerate myself - I started the idea of very weakly on a daily basis and water heavy to wash away if indeed I had overwhelm them.
So far the orchids had not died yet (but they had not shown any blooming either)

Well, lets just see for this whole month if they show any improvement.
If not - I might as well just continue with the regime and finish off my existing fertiliser collection and buy a good one that show some promising results.

Coming the Orchids.
The first one is Renanthera Orchid of which I had purchased from Giant Supermarket years ago.
It show very promising healthy growth - I'm now seeking graciously for its bloom.

The other is Eria Orchid - never bloomed for many years and I really had given up on it.
I just took it as an Epiphyte plant - the creeping, crawling & cascading ones that grows on trees.
Somehow - it truly reward me with the 2nd bloom - I notice it only bloom during a long rainy season near year-end.

Orchids In My Garden

Orchid Species 1: 
Name: Acampe sp.

I believe this is a native grows wildly on treetops. A friend of mine was kind enough to spare me a his extra. (Seemed like he had been passing me most of his collection) 
This specimen is from Raub, Pahang (Malaysia)

The plant is of a vanda species with a clustered  inflorescence. 
It took some time for me to appreciate its blooms & took awhile for it to bloom too.
(eventhough my friend had passed to me with the flower buds - it took almost a month for it to bloom)
 It doesn't seemed to have a white or a rosy lip - can't really define the exact specimen.

This picture is taken after a month from the earlier picture.
Notice 2 more clusters coming out from the main branch. 

Orchid Species 2: 
Name: Renanthera

This too is passed by another friend (office mate)
It is growing steady for sometime now. Earlier I had not fastened the coconut husk around the root base. Together with this - I manage to fastened other orchids along the PVC pipe.

From the top:
Orchid Species 3: Aranda
Orchid Species 4: Vanda
Orchid Species 5: Dendobium

I suppose that people prefer to have their orchids with blooms and when the flowers are spend they are somehow discarded. It must be the fact that some nursery practice heavy feeding in forcing the bloom in expense of the plant.
I even had noticed that flower spikes appear from dormant bulbs of dendobium orchids.
(Something that I jealously hope that it would also happen to my plants in my garden)

As in most cases where the orchid plant goes through high stress and finally gives out it's ultimate final bloom and when its done - it dies exhausted.
(This explains very much when you find citrus plant with loads & loads of fruits on it but eventually the plant succumb to slow death - especially sold during Chinese New Year)

The problem is too much fertiliser kills the plant. And I prefer to have the plant for a long term than to have it flowered and dies on a short-term basis.

Orchid Species 4: Vanda
This one has the Salmon Red flowers - it had bloomed twice in my garden.

Orchid Species 5: Dendobium

This had been rescued, and so I'm not really sure of its colour and flower.
A friend mentioned that you can guess the colour of the flower by the roots.
If the roots are white - most likely it would be in a whiter shade and the deep strong coloured ones might have red or maroon roots.

I had also placed a hoya plant together with the orchids to give some variety and shapes.

Orchid Species 6: Cymbidium Bicolor

I'm guessing as I had seen the flower spike from what my friend had shown me from his parent plant. This is a little plant from that source.
I have also the Cymbidium finlaysonianum which I'm hoping that it would bloom one day.

Orchid Species 7: Dendrobium sp.

Orchid Species 8: Eria sp.
I have not seen its bloom yet - so really have no idea how its actually looks.
It could be Coelogyne spp. - looks like I have to wait & see.

Orchid Species 9: Ionopsis

I have read few websites concerning this species. Native around the Caribbean islands.
It a short lived plant but nature has it that it tend to form mass colonies, bloom & set seed prolifically then die.  (Life span of less than 5-6 years)
In an environment such as mine - I doubt this orchid would create a mass colonies, let alone to see the bloom is quite a feat. Hope it flowers well before it matures and dies.

Orchid Species 10: Oncidium sp.

This suppose to have a different inflorescence compared to the common one.
It has a smaller flowers and a larger cluster.
Can't wait to see its bloom.

Orchid Species 11: Unknown.

I hope someone can give me some information on this.

Orchid Species 12: Oncidium Golden Showers

I had mount it on a branch and it is growing strong.

Orchid Species 13: Mokara

It had doubled it size now but sadly infected with scale insect.
I have been utilising the pest control on this plant but not very effective.

This is my overall Vertical Garden on Orchids.
Just hoping one day that all the flowers here would bloom and make a nice colourful setting at this side of the garden.

Vertical Gardening Concept

 I think there is a lot of hype on the idea of vertical gardening. I believe a lot of it is in the experimental status and in many cases some are successful in creating the ideal medium in handling the plant material.


At best - its always good to choose plants that are epiphyte in nature (plants that grows on trees) I had discovered that Tradescantia can do very well as an epiphyte - specifically Green Wandering Jew (Tradescantia fluminensis) and Bolivian Jew or Turtle Vine (Callisia repens)


These had done so well for few months. (The plants are layered on a wire)
All they need is daily watering.

I had added Zebra Tradescantia together here and it is doing fine. 

(Also Purple Queen & Bolivian Jew - below)

The Purple Queen Flower.

These are famously known as Airplants.
(Spanish Moss and the other two Tillandsia which I really not sure what species are they)
One thing for sure - they had grown bigger compared to the size I had first purchased them.

These are my orchid collections.

All of them are fastenened on wood and some wrapped with coconut husk.

Most of them are doing fine and to a certain degree some are slow and dormant.

I really not sure what are their specific species names.

Somehow I'm still waiting for the majority of them to bloom to be sure what exactly are they.

Regardless - I enjoy looking at them in their well defined roots and leaves in their natural form fastened on wood and branches. And it really save a lot on the fact where I really don't have to worry about root rot or over-potting problems.

Finally - Im still blooming Ground Orchid at its very prime age. Two of its spiked had dried off. This is the last one. I'm still secretly hoping new spikes to spring forth. I guess it got lot to do with correct fertilising regiment which I'm very much neglecting.

Blooming since February.

Hope you enjoy viewing this Vertical Gardening Concept.