Some blooms

Well, as stated just previously, I haven't updated this blog/journal in a while, so these have been open for a while. First is my Phal. tetraspis 'C#1' (or speciosa var. christiana) that had made three buds, but one blasted early on. It also has another spike beginning!!! I just love how vigourous this plant is!

Here it is with a .  .  . geometry tool.  .  . that has a ruler on it to help with size scaling. Since you can't really see the measurements, its slightly longer than 15cm. (I am going to try to incorporate this into all my plant shots, and probably flower shots too).

And, here is an attempt at a semi-professional picture with our lame point-and-shoot. It is interesting to note that now it is blooming in the winter, the flowers are all white. Compared to it blooming in the heat of summer (literally), I was getting flowers that had much more red on them. With a difference of the day temps being around 7-9C* from summer to winter, its interesting to see how much temperature affects the colour of the blooms on this little guy.

(I just measured and the flower is about 4cm. NS)

Here is the first to open Grand Stars #2 bud to begin to open with aforementioned.  .  . geometry thingy.

And here is a semi-professional attempt to get a good shot of the flower.

Approx NS of 25cm.

Spike progress!

YAY!!! It won't be long  before I am enjoying blooms!!!

Here is the NoID with buds beginning to show.

Phal. ATL Crossing, just starting to show buds on its fat spike.

Phal. (Tying Shin Cupid x Super Stupid) with its two spikes! My goodness, I am going to have a show with this one!

Here is the new one.

Phal. Mambo

Phalaenopsis speciosa v. christiana. Sigh, this is one absolutely crazy phal! I think in total, it has 15 inflorescences and side spikes. Now, just to get them all to bloom at once. . . .

My Tolumnia is just finishing up its newest lead, which means its time for it to spike! I'm not sure if all Tolumnias do this, but this one starts a new growth, spikes when it is just about to finish the lead, finishes blooming, and then after a very brief rest, starts over again!

Phalaenopsis speciosa v. christiana

   Okay, first off, this plant is commonly known as Phal. tetraspis 'C#1,' but it is now called Phal. speciosa v. christiana. When I bought this from Kingfisher Orchids, it had a total of nine spikes and subspikes, and as you can see, it is now working on #10, which is actually spike #5. It currently has two blooms, one of which I have pollinated with my Phal. Penang Girl, and the other one was a tad ugly, so no photos for you! I plan on pollinating it with pollen a friend from the US is donating to me, Phal. mannii 'Red Spider.' I hope they both work!