Sunday, February 19, 2012

Orchid Excitement

I'm so excited! My orchid is re-blooming! This is a Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream'. I have a wonderful friend who buys beautiful orchids, and when they are done blooming, she is nice enough to pass them on to me. And somehow, I got this one to bloom again.
I wanted to find out some information about this orchid, and so I did some research. 'Howard's Dream' is an intergeneric hybrid using Miltonia spectabilis, Brassia verrucosoa, Chochlioda noezliana, Odontoglossum crispum Odm. Percatorel and Odm. harryanum. Do I really understand any of that? No, I don't. I'm glad somebody does, though, because they have hybridized a  beautiful plant. Because of its parentage, it is adaptable to a wide range of temperatures, it is easy to grow, and can flower twice a year. I hope it flowers again this year, but I'm quite happy if it doesn't. It is a purple, speckled, beautiful orchid, and I'm satisfied, especially if it blooms again next year. 
It likes low to medium light, but I have it on a West window sill. I've read that strong light will cause the leaves to turn a slight purple. I must be mistaken about the strength of my light, or my windows are really dirty, because mine is in what I think of as strong light, and there is, as you can see, no purple tinge.  Cooler night temperatures seem to make flower spikes appear. I do keep the night temperatures around 60 degrees, so this is probably why, without much help from me, this orchid is flowering.
All this information is helpful, but not all of it seems to coincide with what I've done. This goes to show that everyone has different experiences with the same plant. I guess this orchid likes how its been living, and it's flowers are proof. 


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