Hanging by a Thread

I love this dendrobium. It has beautiful flowers, is very prolific, and grows very well under our eaves.

It's so prolific that it's grown way to big for the pot it's in. Time  for a repot.

I've separated it into two plants and will plant it into two pots (follow along with our epiphytic orchid repotting instructions here).

It's an epiphyte (meaning it grows on the side of trees in nature) so I'm planting it in bark chips.  A hammer helps to make sure the new potting mix is very tight on the roots.

Time to water in.

All done, now I have a fresh, hanging basket of orchids. I'll give the other pot away.

Darryl 
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Cyms, Dends, and Epis...it's Orchid Season Again

Not content to wait on my schedule, the orchids have gone ahead and started blooming. It's not a big deal but it pushes me to get cracking on giving them some care.

The problem with the cymbidiums is that their flower stocks are top heavy. This is also the time of the year that we get some big winds. If I don't do something, they'll snap off in a stiff breeze.

This guy is a good example.

I'll pull a bamboo stake out and put a twist-tie on it. I use the 'figure 8' method, where I cross the twist-tie across itself to put a cushion between the bamboo stake and the flower stock.

There, all done.

Other news on the orchid front...this little epidendrum will be pumping out dime-sized flowers throughout the season.

This dendrobioum...

...and this one also show buds and signs of a very spectacular bloom to come soon.

The last dendrobium, above, was a hanging basket but some rodent or bird dug a hole in the bottom so it's in the orchid infirmary to recover until we can repot it.

Darryl
Copyright 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Season is Springing Out All Over

The blooms...they just keep on comin'.  Cymbidium hybrid Lloyd Hawkinson 'Madrigal' put out two spikes with these white and pink flowers.

That's not all, you can browse our posts for the last couple of weeks to see more cymbidiums in bloom.

This little dendrobium is blooming...

...as are our bletilla orchids. 

I always recommend the bletilla to people who say they can't grow orchids because these literally take no care at all from me.

Not to be outdone, our hanging basket dendrobium has opened too. This climate is perfect for dendrobiums.

This little Angel Face rose will be the first bloom for us this year.

And finally, after getting a big haircut last season, this Superbells Calibrachoa hybrid in a hanging basket is back.

Darryl
Copyright 2014 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Dendrobiums are Dandy

One of the all-time easy to grow orchids are dendrobiums. They're also very beautiful, giving you more bang for the buck than any orchid I can think of.

Since they're epiphytic, they grow exceeding well in soil that is composed solely of bark chips. 

You can grow them in a pot, like our fragrant dendrobium kingiana above...

or in a hanging basket, like this white dendbrobium.

Ours easily handle several night of 28 degree temperature each year with no ill effects at all and they grow like weeds. I divide or repot them every three years and the cuttings easily grow into new blooming plants themselves.

I said they were among the easiest to grow, here is the easiest orchid to grow, our bletilla orchid now in bloom too. 2 months of gorgeous blooms every year and I do absolutely nothing...nothing...to take care of them. They just pop up at the end of winter, bloom through spring, and go dormant in fall.

You can see my post on bletilla culture here.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

The Orchids Are Coming!

Just a little preview of what's to come. This orchid, about the size of a dime, is dendrobium kingianum. Native to Australia, I got a five dollar cutting at the Santa Barbara Orchid Show. It's very easy to grow and, apart from the tiny flowers, very spectacular.

More dendrobiums...one of the easiest orchids to grow...will be blooming soom.

Also this week, I planted some cherry tomatoes in this basket.

Hanging outside our laundry room, I put an emitter on it an hope to have a crucial salad ingredient in a couple of months. I will have a more complete report on this project later, note how I left some of the "straw" sticking out so the birds can have a little nesting material and we have a bird viewing platform.

On the rose front, Mr. Lincoln...the king of classic red roses...is now in bloom.

Look at the size of this bloom, it completely covers my hand.

And, finally, here's an In-n-Out rose...a double Double Delight.

Darryl
Copyright 2013 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved