Share some photos of your favorite orchids!

[camille1585]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use a bit of cheer in my life right now, I'm feeling weary and worn out by the constant stress induced by the progressing pandemic. So to help us get through lock down, the prospect of lock down, or just to forget every day worries and the empty TP shelves in supermarkets, I was thinking we could cheer things up with orchid photos.

Do you have any favorite photos of your orchids? Doesn't matter what, maybe you're proud to have finally gotten a plant to bloom, it holds a special place in your heart, you nursed it back from the brink of death, or just really like it. Doesn't matter if the photo is recent or many years old, show us your favorite blooms and tell us its story!


I'll start:

This was one of my favorite Phals (Phal. Anna-Larati Soekardi x Phal. wilsonii), until it died 7 years ago from a bacterial infection. This is also one of the first photos I took, as a DSLR newbie, that came out just the way I wanted. I've never been able to find this cross again.


Second photo is my Phal mannii 'Black', with one of the nicest spikes it has ever made. I'd like to get one that big again.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/JbwA9D]

[Afid]

Here are some of my favorites, all of these are ones that I have seen growing wild across the country.


Platanthera praeclara I was lucky enough to get a chance to see nearly 10% of the world population of this plant while volunteering to help survey it with the Minnesota DNR.


Platanthera unalascensis this is one of the 8 species that I have found on my 30 acre property. It has the most unusual scent, almost like rising bread dough.


Calypso bulbosa var. americana This is another of my yard orchids, this one is particularly strange because it has a white beard like var. occidentalis, but doesn't have the characteristic spotting. It seems to be some sort of mutation that is unable to produce yellow pigment.


Calypso bulbosa nothovar. kostiukiae yet another fascinating variety of Calypso bulbosa this is the naturally occurring hybrid between the eastern and western varieties.


Cypripedium montanum The first Cypripedium I have seen in bloom, and definitely a favorite! not only does it have incredible flowers but they also have a strong and very pleasant scent.

I could keep going, I have so many favorites!!!

[early]

Originally Posted by Afid

Here are some of my favorites, all of these are ones that I have seen growing wild across the country.
I could keep going, I have so many favorites!!!

OH, how lovely. I was in Colorado for the spring until fall, and loved the wild flowers there. I have read there are wild growing orchids in New Mexico.
I live south of ABQ and have not located them yet but still have research to do.

In what part of Montana do you live? It is such a lovely state.

[Afid]

Originally Posted by early

OH, how lovely. I was in Colorado for the spring until fall, and loved the wild flowers there. I have read there are wild growing orchids in New Mexico.
I live south of ABQ and have not located them yet but still have research to do.

In what part of Montana do you live? It is such a lovely state.

There are actually quite a few orchids in New Mexico (at least 33 species), mostly at higher altitudes.

I live just a few miles outside of Bozeman.

[DirtyCoconuts]

this thread rules!!

[early]

Have a few still blooming.

[WaterWitchin]

First Vanda, still only vanda, but it bloomed last summer.

Tahoma Glacier, gifted to me by Dolly a year ago. Bloomed by me. Who knew?

My first cymb that I bloomed.

A phrag grande from 2014

Good post Afid.

[Afid]

I'm so jealous of that P. grande WW, that is awesome!

[camille1585]

Afid, I love those photos! Terrestrials are some of my favorite orchids, and I miss the time when I lived in the French Alps during college. My favorites were Cypripedium calceolaris, and the many beautiful Ophrys species. Sadly I don't have much in the way of photos, I got my first camera shortly before moving away from that region.

[jcec1]

So some of my best bloomers over the years.