Newbie in the Big Apple

[nynighthawk]

Greetings,

I just found this forum site and it sounds great. I'm looking forward to lively, helpful conversations with fellow orchid lovers.

I live in Brooklyn, New York. I have a small backyard semi-shaded garden and limited widow space in my little house. I am an avid and knowledgeable gardener, but have limited experience with orchids. I've been successful with cymbidiums up to now. I have three healthy plants, two are blooming now, which I summer outside in my small garden and winter over indoors under lights in a cool room. I am interested in exploring some additional types of orchids, but am trying to find plants that more or less suit the culture set up that I already have, since my space is very limited indoors.

As an experiment, I just bought a plant on eBay, Phaius Dan Rosenberg 'Mellow Yellow'.

Does anyone have any experience with this plant and/or suggestions about culture?

Also, please let me know if I should post this question separately and not mix it in with this general introduction.

Thanks a bunch for any suggestions and guidance on how to use this forum.

Best wishes,

Jess

[tuvoc]

Welcome aboard Jess. Although I don't know much about Phius, if you are doing well with cymbidiums, you should be well on your way.Try posting your question in the Beginners forum. I know there are several members who will be able to give you all the help you need. Above all, have fun.

Kim

[nynighthawk]

Thanks, Kim.

I'll post the question in Beginners forum, as you suggest.

I look forward to chatting with you/Tuvoc again, soon.

:-)

Jess

[Tindomul]

Welcome to the Orchid Board. Glad that you joined up. I myself am in Queens NYC, and mostly grow phals and catts. I use terrariums to grow others genera. What do you grow?

[nynighthawk]

Howdy neighbor!

Isn't that the amazing thing about the internet? There could be folks in China and folks right around the corner on the line. So amazing.:-)

At this point I have three cymbidiums...all dwarfish varieties. They love being outdoors in the backyard in moderate sun during the summer (from about April to November, depending on the temps) This year, because of the warm winter weather, I didn't bring them in until our first serious cold snap in December. This has been very successful in triggering their flowering cycle. One plant is in full bloom now. One has two flower spikes, but would have more. It needs to be repotted desperately and has reduced flowering due to over crowding. The third put up a flower spike in the fall...but a squirrel chopped it off!!!. I didn't realize that could be a problem and I was heartbroken about it.

My oldest cym is "Leodogran" and is a lovely crushed strawberry color and sweetly fragrant. I originally bought it when I took an orchid-growing class at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden many years ago. There was an orchid sale on that day, so I bought this plant. It has been tough as nails and has multiplied and flowered for years. It is huge, now. I really have to divide and repot it this spring and give it room to grow and flower better.

The other cym that is in full flower is an unnamed variety that I bought from a little flower shop in the flower district in Manhattan. It's very floriferous with lovely white flowers blushed with pink.

The cym that got nibbled by a squirrel is a mystery back bulb that I bought at a flower show. It was simply listed as a "green" cymbidium. This would have been its first year to flower and that's why I was so bummed that it got snipped by the squirrel.

My setup is pretty funky, to say the least. But it's working so far. The room where the orchids stay during the winter is cool and has good air circulation and humidity in the winter, so the cyms seem happy.

I'm hoping that the young phaius that I just got will do well in similar conditions but with more shade and water . I won't let it stay outdoors as long as I do with the cyms, either.

I have to run, now, but I'll try to post some photos.

Nice to talk with you,

Best wishes,

Jess

[Tindomul]

Darn squirrels. And to think I went ahead and gave one a part of my danish today.

[nynighthawk]

Hi Tindomul,

I notice different numbers of little orchid flowers beneath the names of senders....what do they signify?

[Tindomul]

It signifies the amount of posts that member has. You need like 500 posts before you get your first flower. I think. And you get a purple one if you become a sponsor of the site. Most people have gold stars, but Moderators and Administrators get platinum stars. As you can tell, I've been here for a long while.

[cb977]

Hi Jess

Welcome to Orchidboard

You sound like you've got a working setup there!
What part of Brooklyn are you in? I lived in Queens and Staten Island until 3 yrs ago when I moved south.

You'll love it here...we have friends all around the world talking and sharing their orchid-growing (and other) experiences

If you need help with anything, let us know

[nynighthawk]

Thanks for the clarification.

I can see how quickly posts add up. I've had a very nice chat with several folks already about my new phaius.

Nice group!