Masdevallia maculata 'Dark Red' x self ('Dark Red')

This species Masdevallia first bloomed with a
a single flower on it some time ago and
I wondered if it was reluctant to flower or if
my growing conditions weren't good enough
for it.

After a few months when that first flower was
long gone I was pleasantly surprised to
find numerous buds which shortly thereafter
opened into small but very attractive
blooms that remind me of the flowering
habitat of another species-
Masdevallia angulata.

As is often the case with this blog,
clicking on the photos will take you
to much bigger sized versions of the
particular photo you clicked on.

Masdevallia Prince Charming II AM/RHS

This Masdevallia hybrid is a cross between
M. angulata and M. veitchiana.

The blooms have a heavy texture and last
quite a long time under ideal conditions.

The first photo was taken without a flash
and at its full original size is somewhat blurry
but the color is accurate.




The photo below was taken with the flash
on, giving much more detail, but the color is
inaccurate (more red in the middle whereas
it is actually purple in normal daylight).

* Clicking on the photo will take you to a much
larger sized version in my Photobucket
Album.

Pleurothallis aff. sp grobyi

I assumed this was just Pleurothallis grobyi but
I compared the flowers with those of Pleuro.
grobyi I found on the web and noted that it
wasn't quite the same so then I checked the
tag again.

I googled the tag and found out that it means
it is a Pleurothallis that has an affinity (aff.) to the
sp (species) grobyi but hasn't (at the time of
collecting or labelling) actually been
formally identified... cool!

Hopefully next time it flowers I may be able
to get a better macro photograph showing more
detail.

Oda. Gerald McCraith

Each of these photos are linked to their *much*
bigger original sized versions in my Photobucket
Album.

*These photos were taken with the camera
flash on; in normal daylight the pink/magenta
is actually darker - more like a maroon/purple.


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Bulbophyllum echinolabium

Closeup [above] of the lip structure which is hinged and will 'swing' from air movement.




The photo [directly above] shows the whole flower along with the actual plant mounted on corkbark upper left corner.


I bought my plant in May 2007. It had a small shoot which grew and developed into a mature bulb and leaf. In the latter days of Summer two spikes grew and the first bloom appeared early February [2008] on one of the spikes. The spikes have been successively and alternately flowering on and off, the most recent flower only just fell off a few days ago and each spike has another bud in development.



The smell is supposed to be bad but doesn't seem too bad unless you stick your nose right in it or it is a very hot day which tends to make the smell permeate the entire greenhouse. Over the winter it was kept probably at a minimum of 10 degrees celcius via an oil column filled heater I used along with a thermostat that would turn the heater off at 14 degrees celcius.

This winter I will be placing it inside a wardian case of sorts, located in my greenhouse but with a 3ft fishtank containing a 250W heater which will help keep the temperature in the case much warmer than the rest of the [unheated] greenhouse.

Masdevallias; Carousel 'Lolly Pink', Bella Donna 'Prima' and Angel Heart 'Rosie'

Here are a few photos of Masdevallias I bought recently that were or are in bloom or spike, beginning with Masdevallia Carousel 'Lolly Pink'. Click on any of the photos for the original [much bigger] size version.

Masdevallia Bella Donna 'Prima' [a difficult photo subject] is coccinea x datura. The blooms are faintly fragant [more so on a sunny warm day] which could be due to the parent datura. Masdevallia datura is one of the species I would very much like to grow but I have been told it is difficult to get [here in Australia] and also to grow, though my book Masdevallias: Gems of the Orchid World says datura is easy to grow at cool to intermediate temperatures. Here and here are two posts by Leo on the Pleurothallid Digest where he discusses his experience growing datura.

Actually I would like to grow every Masdevallia species I can get my orchid lovin, obsessed hands on [and ditto for every Pleurothallis species too! lol] but for now I am focusing on Masdevallia hybrids and the easier to grow Masdevallia species that are less demanding in terms of needing absolute minimum temperatures.

Masdevallia Angel Heart 'Rosie' is a sequential bloomer [which can rebloom from the same spike more than once] and is supposed to be more tolerant of warm temperatures. One photo shows the bloom and other spikes on the plant and is more colour accurate.

The photo below shows a detailed close-up look at the flower.

I have Masdevallia infracta and Masdevallia tovarensis 'Waverly' which are also sequential bloomers. The infracta is putting out new spikes and growths at the moment, but also has older spikes which I will leave on until they turn brown and die. The tovarensis [also multifloral [?] ] is putting out many new growths at the moment but no new spikes yet and it doesn't have any older spikes.

Future stuff: my Masdevallia Yungsun and Masdevallia Copper Queen growing and blooming in semi-hydro, new potting mix possibly better than the perlite/peat/styrofoam 'mud' mix.

Gippsland Orchid Club Spring Show 2007

Here are several photos from my club's last show earlier this month. You can click on most of them to see them at a bigger size in my Photobucket Album.

Of course there were my favourite orchids at the show: Masdevallias.

Another novice won Champion novice for their very nice blooming Masdevallia Copper Angel 'Highland' AM/AOC plant which is great because I also happen to have a division of that particular Masdevallia hybrid and got to see firsthand what it looks like in full bloom. Mine though wasn't in the best of conditions when I got it and is tiny in comparision. Hopefully I can get it to grow into as nice a plant as the one at the show and will be rewarded with such a similarly stunning display.

Future stuff: semi-hydro, spikes, Masdevallias I've bought, my growing conditions, orchids in bloom and more.

Blooming Masdevallias.

I feel I need to say that when it comes to blooming Masdevallias, that it is just the beginning for me as I have only grown them for about 2 years and am just now getting 'it' right and keeping them not just alive but healthy enough to bloom [yey!]. Also I'm still experimenting, trying different things, and different ways of growing Masdevallias [different media/mixes organic verus non-organic semi-hyro etc].

Masdevallia Hurdy Gurdy 'Deep Magenta Tails' is my 3rd Masdevallia that I've gotten to bloom again recently since I started growing Masdevallias in particular. I purchased it from Mt Beenak at the 2007 Drouin orchid growing workshop so have only had it for about 5 months which isn't long enough to take it to my clubs [the Gippsland Orchid Club] next show, but I can take it to the next meeting instead if the bloom lasts. It also has more spikes taking off that could also be open by then :) Check out this photo at much bigger size in my Photobucket album here. Also in my Photobucket album are photos of the original bloom on this plant when I first got it.

Masdevallia Sundancer x Masd yungasensis ‘Bob’ was the first Masdevallia that I originally got in flower which rebloomed but it was not a very good one due probably to it and my other Masdevallias being inside in a fishtank without sufficient air movement, circulation, light and being crowded. Also I had repotted it into semihydro [which I'll discuss in another post]. I've since divided it [and they've been in my GH since late Autumn]- half into Mt Beenak style [moss around roots on top of bark [or chc]/perlite and the other half is in semi-hydro; there are new spikes so I'm hoping they're better than the deformed one.

Masdevallia Copper Queen was the 2nd to reflower, it's actually potted semi-hydro style in hydroton clayballs; it had two blooms but they didn't open fully, I'm not 100% sure why. Another one is just opening and more on their way, it will be interesting to see if they open properly.

My Masdevallia Lemon Glow 'Gold Rust' is still in flower [bought it in bud] and I'm loving it; check out the macro photo of a bloom I took that shows what happens when you look at the blooms side on or tilt them around- they turn from yellow gold to purple- it's something to do with the hairs I think?

Finally my Masdevallia Pichincha 'Eruption' HCC division I recently got in bud is blooming [beautiful!] .

Future stuff: I just got a Masd. Bella Donna in bud from Marita [another Masdevallia afficiando from my club] which is opening soon [very excited here lol] and also my club show is coming up soon. Last time I got champion novice for my Zelemnia Liz 'Full Moon' and even a $50.00 gold token which I'm going to use to buy the Britanica Encylopedia of Orchids [Sweet huh?!]. I didn't take *any* photos at our last show but will this time!