How long from beginning of spike to flower

[Eahonn]

I have been able to get a epicat Rene Marques, colmanara wildcat, encyclia cordigera, and a mule ear oncidium. These are all bag babies and I have never seen them bloom. I have just checked the orchid section intermittently over the past two years and have gotten lucky. These are definitely not regular items. Like yours they mostly have cats and phals. So when they have something different i cant resist. Happy hunting!!

[Discus]

Originally Posted by Pelepel

I'm curious. Is there any type of special resin for preserving blooms so you could make earrings/pendants/whatever out of your favorite orchid bloom?

I suspect that even if you embedded flowers in resin, they would decompose unless they were somehow preserved. I suspect you need to basically dehydrate them and replace the water content with something like glycerine and perhaps some other antimicrobials/antioxidants for this to work - they do this in the far east, but I'm not sure what processes are involved - I imagine it's likely a closely guarded commercial secret!

e.g.
ORCHID GIFTS
Horcid Asia (Online Catalogue)

[Eahonn]

There are specialists that do this for brides and their bouquets.

[bballr4567]

Originally Posted by Paul Mc

Wow, wish we had your lowes here! All mine ever has are phal's and catt's.

It helps to step in every now and again. My recent Lowe's just started to get named everything in. Plus, they are always more than willing to negotiate on the ones that have lost the flowers. I was shocked by how many named ones my store had.

What that means basically is because you are in our region for distrubtion, your store should have named stuff as well.

[en3rmax]

Hi Eahonn, it tends to take 2 to 3 months for a spike to flower.

[WhiteRabbit]

Definitely varies by plant, and growing conditions too
In general, about 3 months, some will be faster, some slower.

[Pelepel]

Thanks Discus (your name always reminds me of my favorite cichlid fish...well, one!) and Eahonn for the input! Wonderful idea to preserve your bouquet! I'll check to see if there is anyone local that can do this as I doubt a bloom would survive long enough in transit.

[Bud]

I have to go upstate, New Jersey or Connecticut to be able to experience Lowe's or Walmart...
we dont have them here in Manhattan...grrrr
I live vicariously through you guys...

[Leafmite]

We only have one lowe's that sells phals and a walmart that rarely gets phals. They never have an ID. I keep hoping they will branch out a bit but if they have, I have missed it.
I have a few orchids that take many months to bloom and some only take weeks. It really depends on the orchid and the conditions in which the orchid is grown.

[Pelepel]

Our Home Depots and Trader Joe's sells beautiful orchids. Especially Trader Joe's. I had to restrain myself because they brough out a huge box of newly shipped orchids just I walked in with my cart! ;X Paphs, phals, Bllras....dendrobium...mini cats....epidendrums..all NoIDs but strong and healthy plants.