Gilded and Glowing

Though the earth was cold and wet, the sky was clear,
and the sun rose bright, placid, and beautiful.

- Charles Dickens

This wonderful orchid is from Tabbie’s collection.
Here it is catching some rays on Sunday afternoon.
Its scent is soft and sweet.

Yo

Yo, little fella!
No matter the world’s gone mad,
your groove’s shinin’ bright.

- Aggie Aglaia
_____________

Yellow orchids.
Tabbie’s got such great plants. This one is rupicolous, meaning it grows on rocks. It’s a miniature orchid called Laelia bradei from Minas Gerais, Brazil
where it thrives at elevations of 1200 – 1300 meters (3937 – 4265 feet)
in the nooks and crannies on exposed flat rocky ledges. The entire plant
sticking up out of the pot measures just under 3 inches (7.6 cm) tall
at the tip of the highest petal. Each flower is a mere 1 inch (2.5 cm) across.
Dainty fortitude.

Kyokko

Neofinetia falcata variety ‘Kyokko’ is in bloom.

Angraecum didieri

This little orchid is growing on a medium to large fist-sized rock. The 2 inch flower is almost as big as the plant from which it sprouts. You can see in the second photo the very long spur which this flower sports. Early in the evening the pale green and white star begins to smell like a spicy sweet melon. Later the fragrance becomes darker and more intense, exuding scents which are sometimes musky, sometimes laced with smoke, and sometimes exactly like black licorice or sweet anise candies. It’s intriguing and nice and very different indeed. This amazing little plantbeast hails from the island of Madagascar.

Midsummer Night Neos

Blooming Baby Kinginrasha

A small division of Neofinetia falcata variety ‘Kinginrasha’ has decided to bloom. The plant is mounted with moss on a piece of Mopani wood along with a clump of ‘Unkai’ (center) and a small division of ‘Rashaba Yamadori’ .

‘Kinginrasha’ is characterized by its rough leaf texture
and thickened flowers which cluster together, faces pointed to the heavens,
as their tails gracefully curl and intertwine. I find them to be very charming.

Dashed hopes and the beauty of it all

Neofinetia falcata variety ‘Hanakanzashi’ has bloomed.
I had high hopes that the flowers would have three spurs each,
but as you can see, they do not.

Satomi of Seed Engei states, “Hanakanzashi is the variety of Shutenno that sometimes has three spurs when it blooms. The percentage of plants which bloom with three spurs is still unsure, and many of them will flower differently each year. None are guaranteed to bloom with three spurs 100% of the time. That is their characteristic, and growing conditions have a lot of influence
on how they flower as well.”

Despite my disappointment, these flowers are simply wonderful! They are large for the species, show beautiful pigmentation, and smell like heaven on earth! Just look at those long elegant tails! What’s not to like?!

Two Neos

This evening I snapped a few photos of two very special Neofinetia falcata orchid plants. These are tiny plants, but they would sell for a relatively large amount of money — that is, if I were selling. These are collector items,
rare special varieties which have been developed by the Japanese
over hundreds of years using selection and breeding.

The first plant featured here is Neofinetia falcata variety ‘Houmeiden’ which sports ultrapink root tips and a creamy white coloration which always appears on the topmost leaf. This plant also gets long-spurred flowers which are extremely fragrant. They are in the standard form for this species, and their color is white, sometimes tinged with pink. The first two photos showing the pink root tip were taken as the sun was setting, and the third photo showing the other side of the plant was snapped after the sun had set.

The second plant featured here is Neofinetia falcata variety ‘Kinginrasha’ which has leaves with a rough surface texture. This plant is a bit more difficult to grow than many other varieties of Neofinetia falcata. The flowers are fragrant and have a rough texture just like the leaves. They are white with a pink tinge. They face upward and are thicker than normal for the species. The root tips are reddish brown. ‘Kinginrasha’ is not an inexpensive plant, but it is not as costly as ‘Houmeiden’. All three photos were taken as the sun was setting.