Orchids: The View From My Windowsill

Back after long break

2009-02-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I have moved and my orchids are finally beginning to recover fromthe shock intheir new home. Lost most of the dendrobia, one is hanging on, and the phals of course are stalwarts.

Next half up tomorrow

2008-08-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I have the first session of painting all up in these five clips. I am loading the second session into the editor now.

Kaleidescope Orchid

2008-08-19T22:57:00.001-07:00

Finished the second painting video today. The very first section is up now, and I am editting the second 3-minute bit now.

Today's shooting went really well. It rained and I got a sequence of the rain pouring down beyond the window, and then for the rest of the video the sound of rain falling made a nice backdrop. Then the leaf and pot got really going on their own, with flowing colors... hard to explain... how watercolors can "paint themselves".....

I still have to remember the camera angles, but this is waaaaaay better than my first one! I am really beginning to enjoy this.

Another painting

2008-08-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

I did another painting video today. Managed to get it done nicely in one long "take". Can't load it up until the battery recharges. I got the painting about half done and it took 30 minutes, so I will cut it down to one 5-minute sequence and then tomorrow hopefully can nicely finish the second half.

I am not happy with my first orchid painting. I "fussed" with it too much. This second one is not my best, either, because of the distractive affect of speaking for the camera, but it is better. I want to become completely natural and be able to "finish" a piece all in one fell swoop.

I bought two blooming phals for this. Almost bought a paph but it was $25 and I needed to stay under $15....

Final Cut

2008-08-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have pulled together some clips to make the "final cut" of this painting video. I had to learn a lot about camera and lighting placement as well as planning for the edit, so this is still not very good, but I feel confident that my next one will be better.

Video Painting Sessions

2008-08-11T02:12:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I have started to post videos as I go along with a new watercolor. I know these videos are a little "rough" but I am certainly going to improve with practice. I can't upload more than about five minutes' worth at a time and it seems three minutes is the ideal length for online video segments, so I am breaking this up into sections.

It is just my technique of quick-sketching and if you have not painted this way, I hope you give it a try. You may find yourself spending some very rewarding afternoons in forest, field, and garden. I'm deliberately keeping the materials basic: just a pad instead of the fancier mounted-paper rigs many watercolourists use, and just a small portable paintbox instead of an elaborate palette and tubes of paint. This is a "kit" you can keep in your car or even a purse if you choose to paint post-card size.

They died.....

2008-08-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

The two remaining Antelope Orchids died. I am not surprised because I certainly had separated them all too soon. This is a learning process!

Well, anyway, I have some more of the larger ones that are doing well. I'm following the lead of some more experienced growers in Orchidtalk and putting some on a driftwood mount, and they are doing very well. I think I will stick to the larger orchids and avoid flasklings for a while. I'm obviously not ready.

I started another watercolor today, and am videotaping the process. It was kind of funny, because I set up the camera on a tripod and then blithely painted and talked, and most of the time the only thing the camera was recording was the back of my shoulder, or my arm with the paper & brush beneath the lower edge of the screen! Obviously, I have to learn better spatial awareness if I am going to make painting videos.

But all was not lost. In spite of the difficulty, I did manage to capture at least a little that might do the job of presenting a good beginning. I'm painting a Phal with deep alizarin-spotted blossoms. Tomorrow I should get quite a bit done, hopefully with better camerawork.

Bath Time

2008-07-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I got out the Physan and gave everyone a bath, except Momma Phal and her foster babies, the two antelope flasklings. The Oncidium was the reason because I thought I saw just the faintest dust of white on one of the pseudobulbs.

Good thing I did. Apparently I have been overwatering because the roots are all soft and just starting to look wrinkled, flaccid and brown where once they were velvety, grey and fat. I repotted the Oncidium with fresh new bark flakes and made a note to pick up some clean sphagnum moss. Today I checked again and the roots already look better, not quite as brown. The Physan must have cleaned off whatever was beginning to grow on their surface.

While the baby Antelopes sleep, the Dancing Ladies awaken...

2008-07-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

The two surviving Den. Antennatum flasklings look ok where I have snuggled them among the roots of a mature mother Phalaenopsis and while I was looking at them, a change in the shape of the Oncidium next door caught the corner of my eye. There is new growth that does not look like the new leaf that is sticking saucily out of a fresh new pseudobulb next to it. Instead, this growth has a thin stem and a few layers of leaf-like greens forming a sheath. And there is another, smaller one, just two pseudobulbs behind it.

I would not have known what they might be if I had not just been reading this thread in Orchidtalk, which is full of pictures of new sheath development. Now it looks like my lovely "Dancing Ladies" Oncidium is about to sprout two new sets of flowers. I'm still not 100% sure, but about 70% sure. This is a bright yellow Oncidium that filled the window with brilliant sun when it was blooming a month ago. I didn't expect another round so soon. But I don't know how long these sheaths will take to form blossoms, if that is what they are.

Camera Issues

I have been frustrated in the picture-taking department because my old camera is married to an old toughbook laptop that has bit the dust, and the old camera program won't agree with anything newer than Win98. I just got hold of another camera to use but when I set it up yesterday, I discovered that the battery had been left attached, killing it. :( Well, I'll have that fixed very soon and then I'll able to fill this blog with the kinds of pictures required of any self-respecting orchidophile!

Meanwhile, the act of setting up involved completely re-designing part of the studio and living area where my orchids grow, and I am very happy with what I did! I pulled a couple of bookcases forward just 18" from the wall, shrinking the room a little but creating a huge amount of storage behind. Now the new media equipment has a home along with the art studio, plant nursery, & livingroom and you'd never guess it was anything except a livingroom with a lovely window garden. I have made a joke about living in an apartment that is the size of an RV, but I am really enjoying the creative challenge.

I'm also tremendously enjoying Eric Hansen's book, Orchid Fever: True tale of Love, Lust, & Lunacy. It's a hoot! I'm posting a couple of lists of the orchids he mentions, and I am going to see if I can add some of those to my collection.

Still convalescing....

2008-07-22T01:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, I carefully and gently removed the potting medium to look at the babies' roots, and they are healthy, but not really growing much. I thought about the fact that I probably did spread these flasklings out too soon, and so I decided to pot them in with one of the healthy half-grown phals and let them have slightly more light.

Growing stronger...

2008-07-19T19:26:00.001-07:00

The surviving Dendrobia Antennata seem to be doing well. I'm being careful to water them less and to keep them misted. The other orchids all seem to be thriving, although I'm not seeing much blooming going on. It might be just a tad too shady where they are. But they are putting out some leaves and the roots are nice and firm, so I think I will leave them alone for now.

Attrition....

2008-07-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

My Antelope Orchid babies are not doing so well. The bigger ones are ok and there is one very strong one, but the others are withering.

I think I should have left them more closely clumped together under a dome for at least a week longer than I did. But at least some of them are still ok and growing.

Ah, rain!

2008-07-08T18:51:00.001-07:00

We had a nice couple of showers in the past 24 hours and so I have collected enough rainwater that I'm not too worried about a dry summer. Yesterday as I was crossing the overpass near my building, I saw a beautiful rainbow suspended just over the roof.

Sometimes when I am sitting inside, the western sky is lit by the late afternoon sun and the plants in the courtyard form a wonderfully luminescent backdrop behind my two blooming phalaenopsis and my row of green shoots. There is a pale lavender crepe-myrtle on the left and a bright orange and yellow thing, I don't know the name, on the right. It has popcorn-type blossoms at the end of long chevron-leafed canes. These two plants frame a rusty brown urn that bubbles with water in the center of a pool, and occasionnaly a shiny black grackle sits raven-like on the edge, drinking and flexing its wings.

My little flasklings seem to be at a standstill and there is even a little attrition: the roots don't seem to be growing. I fear I may have separated them too soon. But a few are still going strong so we'll see how it works out. I've picked up some books and am just amazed at the variation in Dendrobia orchids. The antennatum varieties are all especially graceful.

P.S.:
after posting here I went on to work on my links and while doing that, i discovered a whole slew of beautiful orchid videos! Scroll down the sidebar to see my video-box!

Letting the antelope play...

2008-07-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have to get away from fussing over these "dendrobium antennatum" flasklings or I will kill them with too much attention. They are also called "Antelope Orchids" and are native to Australia. I found some nice links to some information with images of them:
http://zanaf.dyndns.biz/Dendrobium/Den_antennatum1.htm

http://orchids.wikia.com/wiki/Dendrobium_antennatum#Naming

They are found wild in the savannahs of australia and are endangered in the wild. Their seeds are available from orchid growers who cultivate them articficially.

Here is some more information about their habitat:

Although three-quarters of Cape York is covered in various types of tropical savannah woodlands, this type of vegetation is now rare on a global scale. Similar woodlands once stretched across Africa, Asia, India and South America.
However, 70% of these have been cleared. Of the 30% that remain, most are seriously degraded. Australia has the most extensive, and least disturbed tropical savannah left in the world and Cape York's savannah woodlands are then most diverse in the country. These are wilderness areas larger than anything else on Australia's east coast.
from http://capeyork.wilderness.org.au/heritage_savannah.shtml

Right now I have about 20 of them, from one to two inches long. I will get a picture of the group, soon.

Babies doing well....

2008-06-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

My second attempt at growing from "flask" is going well. I have about 20 little dendrobia and they have been in a compot for about a week. I moved several of the larger ones into individual pots and placed one on a twig to start it towards growing on a slab, which was recommended for this species. I have that one enclosed in a clear plastic juice bottle. It looks happy, so far.

I moved a couple of my larger dendrobia into a hanging basket so that their pots will be ready to receive these babies as they grow. The basket is pretty big and I am pretty sure these two are the same variety, (although I lost the label,) so I put them in together. They are not quite blooming size. One appears to be preparing to spike, but it might be just new leaves.

My "3 tiered wire basket" collapsed from the weight of the other orchids. Fortunately, nothing broke and so now I have the lighter basket on that hook. It pretty much fils the window.

June Already!

2008-06-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again.... Just finished reworking my windowsill garden of orchids, getting rid of most non-orchid plants. I now have one window-box of terrestrial orchids, some purple "ground orchids" that bloom in clusters of small blossoms, the yellow Oncidium with has just ended, a purple Phal. The pale green phal is in its third blooming, with one delicate bloom far out on the end of a graceful spike and it looks like it is making another bud!

My vanilla is the only one not doing well. It almost looks dead. I actually discarded it into the terrestrial pot but then noticed that the stem seems alive and has one weak root, so I will leave it there to see if it does better. I did have it in a mix of bark & spharnum, but I think it wants some soil.

I've placed a three-tiered wire basket in the middle of the window with some non-blooming babies and some nice white organdy panels to cut the sun. The other orchids are arranged on a water tray on the half of the sill that is not covered by the windowbox. The trees outside have filled in their leaves and so I keep the panels up most of the time, now.

I found some of the right kind of pine trees for getting fresh bark flakes and I am just coming to the end of rain-water supplies, so I hope we get some more rain soon.