These Damn Plants

I'll try to get a higher resolution of this in the future, but imagine my surprise when I take the Hoya curtisii down to water and it has one lone bunch o' blooms on it. I've never had this one bloom before, and honestly didn't expect it because I don't take great care of it, and it's reputed to being a particularly hard one to get to bloom.

This is my most consistent bloomer, bar none. Cycnodes is called a "nothogenus" because it indicates that this orchid in question is an intergeneric hybrid. What that means is that it is a cross between two closely aligned, but different, genera. This is quite common in the orchid kingdom, but less so among other flowers. For instance, I'm pretty sure you can't cross a rose with a strawberry even though they are both in subfamily Rosoideae. Anyway. This one, Cycnodes Wine Delight 'Jem' is a cross between Cycnoches lehmannii and Mormodes sinuata. Do you see what they did there? Cycnoches and Mormodes. Cycnoches is a nice looking genus, they are collectively known as the "swan orchids" because some fanciful Victorian believed the flowers looked like nodding or flying swans. 

Mormodes is another very interesting genus. Orchids are, far and away, androgynous as far as flower anatomy is concerned. With very few exceptions, there are no male and female flowers; each flower can be fertilized and produce seed, with many orchid species being self-fertile. In other words, all you have to do is knock the pollinia onto the stigma and boom. Mormodes is not like that. Each plant, given maximum health and perfect growing conditions, will grow female and male flowers at different times. This property was apparently passed on to Cycnodes, at least on occasion, because I got two sets of flowers last year. The female flowers are the ones you see above; big, red, showy, intensely fragrant (sort of like cherry syrup). The male flowers, on the other hand, were like all men: wan, listless, musky, pale, and unimpressive. They also produced so much sap they could hardly even open on their own. I had to use a toothpick to prize the petals apart at the tips. Who knew even male flowers could be unctuous.

For any person who doesn't think they could be an orchid grower because they're "too hard," I would recommend giving Cycnodes a shot. As long as they are potted in well-draining media, they almost can't be overwatered during growing season. If I let even a single day go by without drenching the thing I'd start to see the pseudobulbs start to shrivel. Maxillarias are like that too but that's another story. The best part about Cycnodes is that it requires two distinct seasons. After it blooms and the leaves fall off, you just stop watering it entirely and ignore it. It shrivels up, looks dreadful, many of the roots will die back, you feel a little bad for it. But then, when it starts getting warmer and sunnier, it'll poke out a new leaf tip, and then you just start soaking the thing and it will be like it can't grow too many new roots. 

Plus I like anything with super fragrant flowers. The flowers aren't even completely open yet, which means that the scent hasn't come anywhere near reaching its peak, and I can stand at the top of the stairs and their cherry soda fragrance is all I can smell. The picture doesn't even really capture how deep red the flowers are, and they're very thick and waxy. Just gorgeous.

Summer brought a whole lot of nothing as far as flowers were concerned. I also had a few fatalities which inevitably come with a big move; at least we moved to a region that had a climate that is a TEENSY bit (read: a ton) more amenable to orchids' tastes, so just over the past couple months I've already had an explosion of new growth. We'll see if that translates to more flowers in the winter and spring, even though at this point all of my winter bloomers are done for and if anything else blooms in the winter it'll be off season for it. One can still hope.

This one is some sort of Zygopetalinae; it wasn't labeled so I can never be for sure, but I have it in my books as Zygonisia Cynosure 'Blue Birds'. Of course I'd never claim that in any sort of official capacity, but it looks REMARKABLY similar to other specimens that are confirmed as Cynosure, and that name is a lot catchier than "Unlabeled Zygopetalum hybrid." There really aren't, to my knowledge, too many hybrids of Zygopetalum just because there aren't really too many species of Zygopetalum, and the ones that exist are all very similar in appearance. Zygo. maculatum, Zygo. mackaii, Zygo. graminifolium, and Zygo. intermedium, for instance, are remarkably similar. Likewise, the presumptive hybridizer, Acacallis/Aganisia cyanea, has a distinctive shape that I believe I see present in these petals. Plus, every pure Zygopetalum has dappled green/brown tepals and a purple labellum, and this has a purple labellum but dappled white and purple tepals (a quality of Acacallis cyanea). Then again, it is always easier to conjecture when you are already assuming the outcome you want.

You may recall, only a couple months ago, I had given up on this thing as dead. Well, what a difference a fresh sterile potting medium can make! After repotting it, it set about blooming nearly immediately, with three new canes shooting up in short order afterwards. Additionally, there are two keikis forming: one on a dormant cane, and another near the base of the same cane that is blooming. This one is one of my all-time favorites, Dendrobium Green Lantern, which is a mix of Den. cruentum and Den. formosum (I believe a 75-25 mix).

This was sold to me, in November, as Dendrobium anosmum. I had no reason to doubt the seller; he grows, shows, and sells orchids for a living. He seemed to know what he was talking about. Besides, it looked like a Den. anosmum; how many pendulous Dendrobiums can there be? 

Well, I noticed last night when I was watering it that the buds were opening. This was very surprising to me, because they hardly had any color to them, I figured I had at least another couple weeks before they darkened to the characteristic lilac color that I expect Den. anosmum buds to be. I shrugged it off, initially, as this being some strange, lighter-colored cultivar (which was annoying in and of itself, because I wanted an ordinary, species, Den. anosmum).

Imagine my surprise this morning when I go in to water it again, and the buds have fully opened to reveal... It is not Den. anosmum at all. I had been sold Den. aphyllum. This was really disappointing because I sought out Den. anosmum, I bought this plant from this guy because it was a blooming-size specimen of Den. anosmum, and there was evidence that it had already bloomed, in which case he should have been able to tell that it was not Den. anosmum. The two flowers look nothing alike. For one, Den. aphyllum has a fuzzy yellow labellum. 

This is, nevertheless, a beautiful flower. You can tell I didn't winter it long enough because it's still got leaves, but that didn't evidently interrupt its willingness to bloom this spring. There are not nearly as many blooms as there should be because I had a slug get to it over the winter, destroyed every single flower bud on one of the canes before I caught it. Those things can do some major damage overnight, as this one did. Oh well, until next year I suppose. There are some keikis growing off of this one that I will eventually break off and repot, so if anybody's interested in a Den. aphyllum, I'll have some to spare at some point.

The saddest part is that this seller had a lot of plants that were interesting, but if he sells mislabeled plants, I won't be buying any more from him. This is just not acceptable in the orchid trade.