Hello folks. (be warned, I probably won't use most of the terminology properly, but I'm happy to learn)
I've owned a Phal for about six months. It was a "bargain bin" purchase from the gift shop at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, about six leaves, no apparent young growth, no spike in about a 5-inch pot.
Since then, it lost one of the bottom leaves (dried out, turned brown and separated from the stalk), but grew a new one as well. Then a month or two ago, I noticed some new growth from the stalk above one of the bottom leaves. Couldn't figure out what it was at first (of course I was hoping for a spike), but it turned out to be a new root.
Then just a few weeks ago, I noticed some more new growth from near the same place on the stalk. Pretty sure this one's a spike. Only about 4 inches so far.
Today I went back to the botanical garden (it snowed overnight in St. Louis, and I figured it might make for some nice photos). Turns out their annual orchid show is happening, so I got some nice shots of that too. The orchid photos only are
here, if you'd like to see photos of the whole trip (including the orchids), go
here.
Even better though, the gift shop was having a sale on all orchids and orchid accessories. I picked up another orchid: The tag says "(Paph. Supersuk 'Eureka' AM/AOS x Paph. Raisin Pie 'Hsinying') x Sib", and I've been reading up on that variety here and other places. I gather it's now called a Hsinying Alien. Mine's got a spike and bud (about the size of a huge grape or cherry tomato) that looks like it could open any day now.
Anyhow, hopefully I'll have more news on my plants to report soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy the photos as I've been enjoying yours.