winter blooms

It's been a while. There was a period of time when nothing was blooming. Now I have blooms! And almost blooms!

First, a common winter flower: amaryllis. This one is two and a half feet tall! With four massive blooms.

Next, a cymbidium noid. 

Gastrochilus bellinus is finally in bloom! Last year it had three blooms. This year it has four. The flowers smell faintly of soap. These pictures were taken from the bottom of the mount looking up. The flowers hang below the leaves.

Here's a winter hibiscus flower. It's not too happy inside. 

My winter jasmine is blooming. All but one bud blasted on this plant, but it still  smells so strong that I could tell it had opened from the other room!

My Seville orange is about to bloom, too. This plant did absolutely nothing all summer. No new leaves, nothing. Yet now it's producing so many flowers!

Lastly is a noid succulent that I was given in a plant swap. It has many little pink flowers.

Hodgepodge of blooms

I have several plants in bloom now. Some are repeat bloomers that bloom any time of year.

First off some Restrepia species.

Restrepia striata.This species does not really stop blooming. Except when I accidentally set it in the sun, and it burned. It sits in water all the time.

Restrepia brachypus.

I also have a mini variegated AV in bloom.

I have a rock plant - one that mimics a rock - in bloom. So cute. I didn't water it all summer, and then I gave it a good soak. A month later, this is what happened:

And my large hibiscus is going strong.

fall plants

I've started to bring my plants inside for the winter, inspecting each one for harmful insects. The spiders can stay.

The first of my fall-blooming plants is... a strawberry. I bought an ever-blooming strawberry, because fresh strawberries are great in the dead of winter. It had a slight thrip problem, but that has been resolved. I hope.

Next, I have my Lepanthopsis astrophora "Stalky" blooming again. I love this little plant. I always keep it in a terrarium with the bottom of the pot submerged in water. It needs constant moisture.

The pot is an inch in diameter. And just to give you an idea on size here's the whole plant:

I also have several orchids that are putting out spikes including my Zygo hybrid: Zygonisia Cynosure 'Blue Birds.' Hopefully this spike shouldn't take too long to develop.

(It's in semihydro.)

I also have my Gastrochilus bellinus in spike again. This spike will take a long time to develop. I don't expect flowers to open until April! And a Bulbophyllum cernuum is also in spike. This is the first time I've been able to successfully spike a Bulbophyllum. Very exciting, especially because it's not the stinky kind. (Bulbos are pollinated by flies, so a lot of them smell like death. Literally.) I have no idea why this one is spiking and the others haven't, since they're all right next to each other.

Also, both hibiscus in the same pot are blooming and happily established. 

 

And also, some everbloomers. My crown of thorns and an anthurium rescue from Lowes. Apparently the color of both of these flowers is dependent on light, because when I had the anthurium in my classroom, it had red flowers, now it has pink flowers. The crown of thorns only has different shades of pink.

Baby lemon

It looks as if I will have two lemons - if everything goes well!

Look at that cute little lemon! (Okay, it's a swollen ovary, but lemons!)

Also the hibiscus is still going strong, and so is the Coelogyne.

Odds and ends

No broad category of plants are blooming. I just have bits and pieces of plant families doing their thing.

My lemon is trying to kill itself with flowers. It has bloomed for me three times since January, and I have tried unsuccessfully to pollinate it myself. This time around, I stuck the thing outside and let things happen. And, lo! They did happen.

I have never seen a bumblebee so obsessed with a plant before! She didn't even bother to put her tongue back in between flowers! Look at that face full of pollen and bulging pollen sacks!

I also think another one of the reasons that none of the flowers took to pollination was that the light wasn't strong enough for the pistil to properly develop. I hope I have at least one lemon from this! (The flowers smell so strongly!)

My out-of-season Coelogyne ochracea has started to open its flowers. This is normally a spring-blooming plant. The smell is of strong lilies, and I can barley be in the same room as it: it's that strong - and it's not even fully opened!

I also have a sedum noid that blooms reliably every August. This year is no different.This was a gift three years ago, and this is the third year it has bloomed for me.

Last April (as in a year from April), my grandmother gave me all her African Violets. They were in sad shape. One of them died - root rot - but this one finally bloomed for me!

And lastly, I have a hibiscus that's very, very happy. It's putting out multiple blooms each day. Unfortunately, each bloom only lasts for a day. It's potted up with another hibiscus that isn't as enthusiastic. That plant has a coral-colored flower with a lavender center. Once these two plants are established together, they're going to put on an amazing show!

More Summer Orchids

The summer-blooming orchids are blooming. Let's start with Dendrobium lawesii. This species comes in all sorts of colors from yellow and orange to white and pink to red, so when I picked up mine, I had no idea what color bloom I'd end up with. It turns out that I have this lovely magenta-red bloom.

This plant is free-blooming, not necessarily summer-blooming, but this is the first bloom for me! Like all Dens, this one comes from the South Pacific and grows warm to cool in low elevations. I keep mine on the warm side, because, well, it's currently 90-something degrees F out, and I don't have an AC. There's a fan going on it, but fans are a must for orchids, because it keeps away the mold and other pathogens.

Now, heading to the North Pacific, my Neofinetia falcata are starting their blooms. These plants are from Japan, where the Latin name is replaced by the Japanese name of furan, which means Wind Orchid. These orchids have an amazing history in Japan that goes back hundreds of years to the samurai.

There are all sorts of cultivations of this plant. I have one blooming right now. It's Neofinetia falcata Oonami seikai. It currently has nine flowers on two spikes. Those flowers have a mild perfume. This Neo also has five fans with three more just starting out. I'm going to have to divide this plant next winter. Let me know if you want a division!

And a bonus hibiscus bloom:

 I rescued this plant from Lowes last summer for four bucks. It's currently four feet tall, has beautiful blooms, and has survived three rounds of spider mite infestations.