indoor gardening

I brought 3 orchids back with me from Florida earlier this month. I packed them in a travel tube and carried them on the airplane. They made it home fine, only a little crushed. A magenta dendrobium, an orange and red cattleya and a small unnamed pink dendrobium. The red cattleya, burana beauty, is amazing. I have never had an orchid with such a beautiful scent. These new plants have joined my old orchids and a couple amaryllis on the window sill.

Below are some old photos of orchids on my sill that I never posted. They add some more color here.

the view out my back window

It is 25*F this morning! After last week was in the 80's. Amazing weather pattern! New England is famous for this though we remark every year at how impressed we are. The pussy willows in my backyard are bursting and leaves are out. My orchids are fading after a generous 3 months of color on the sill. I am watching with much pleasure as the birds at the backyard feeder and boxes start their spring routines.

indoor flowers

Let's see, I have a big white paph blooming, and "Trick or Treat", a fluorescent orange Lc. And Ise x Sachi, a delicate white dendrobium. These three orchids have bloomed for me every year for more years than I can count.

I love the way they catch the winter sunlight.

showy lady's slippers -- not

I made a real find today.

Skippy and I wandered into an area of the woods where we don't usually go and came across a nice stand of Showy Lady's Slipper Orchids (Cypripedium Reginae). I have never seen these before and am mostly guessing that this is what they are as the leaves look like pink lady's slippers, which are fairly common here. The difference is that the plants I found are MUCH taller - 2 to 3 feet tall.

I looked up photos of the showy lady slipper and they look like the plants I found. They are native from Newfoundland to Manitoba, in the northeastern and north central U.S. and in the Appalachians southward and stand 35 to 90 cm (1 to 3 feet) high topped by gorgeous pink-and-white flowers. In most of its US range, this plant is considered rare, endangered or critically endangered.

One of the plants has a bud and I am looking forward to seeing the blossom! I will have to check back regularly so I don't miss it. I read that they usually bloom in June, but it looks like this one may bloom sooner than that.




Note added: Thanks for the comment that this plant is actually Veratrum! Ooops. Its a very poisonous plant used for many medicinal preparations with a fairly plain white flower plume. I will have to keep searching for a showy lady slipper.

lc. trick or treat

white dendrobium

With so much snow outside, I am photographing indoor subjects. Dendrobium Ise x Sachi blossoms profusely several times a year despite my neglect. This year it has many air roots on little shoots along the stems. I am considering potting these up.

orange orchid

This is Lc. Trick or Treat - one of my favorite orchids. Its blooming a month late this year, but as beautiful as ever.

my old orchid photos