This is usually when things start to slow down a bit in the courtyard. Our heat index has been well over 100°F (37.7°C) every day and the night temps are not much cooler. I actually checked the weather on my phone when I got called into work late one night. The “feels like” temp was 108°(42°c)... at 11pm
So I definitely appreciate orchids that can look at those temps, laugh, and keep chugging along.
First Catasetum bloom of the year. This is Ctsm. Portagee Star 'Brian Lawson's Sunrise' x Ctsm. Chuck Taylor 'SVO Sunshine'. I picked two of these up last year and I am thrilled with how the first one looks. It’s exactly what I was hoping for. Nice big flowers, too
Myrmecavola Aruba’s Spotted Beauty. A seedling that I picked up from H&R in 2017 is blooming for the second time with several more spikes on the way. Very long lasting flowers on this one. Very nice fragrance, too
Den. Hibiki ‘Tiny Bubbles’. Another one that I bought from H&R. Did poorly the first year I had it because I was growing it too dry. Now we are back on track.
Phal. bellina. I’ve had this for many years but I can never decide if I should keep it or not. I’ve almost killled it a few times due to my apathetic care over the winter. But it blooms every year, smells good, won’t die, and now there’s two keikis (probably due to the near death experiences...)
Cattleya (Laelia) alaorii var. orlata. I can not bring to words my love for this little one. It’s ultra vigorous, blooms constantly early spring though mid winter, isn’t picky about light like my other Catts are, and is just charming.
Phal. equestris. Carol kindly sent me a keiki of her plant and it finally got established, put out another keiki, and bloomed. I’m not sure what color form or variety this is, but I love it and want to get some more!
Dtps. Tzu Chiang Sapphire. My favorite (and currently only) Phal hybrid. This is such a good grower and bloomer but the camera has a hard time picking up just how blue this one is. The second photo is more true to what my eyes see
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Den. schuetzei x Den. draconis. BIG ol waxy bloom that smells like a salad. Got this due to the draconis parent (which I want but still can’t find..). Flowers last a good long time, stand up to the heat and heavy rain very well, and grows awesome
Den. tobaense var. giganteum. Ahhhh, my pièce de résistance. And such a pain. When I bought this, I was hoping that the var. giganteum was a bit more heat tolerant due to it coming from a slightly lower elevation and slightly warmer area than the standard form. Spoiler alert- it’s not. It grows great all though out the fall, winter and early spring. Summer with my hot nights? Not so much. That’s usually when I start losing growths and the whole plant looks limp. The plan was to grow this under lights this year, but it spiked with 8 flowers, we had a very early heat wave before I could move it, and they all started slowly dropping. One flower made it, so that’s an improvement, and there are two new growths starting. And yes, it is now indoors under lights. I’ll move it back out for the winter most likely.
Thanks for looking!
Summer bloomers (or, bring on the HEAT!)
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