Greetings from Belgium
 

Hello everyone,

I'm 25 years old and have been growing orchids for the past 5 years or so. Even though I've often visited your forum to read up on orchids, I never considered becoming a member myself. So...here I go!

Having a father who is passionate about orchids, a mother who's a botanist and having spent so much time with them, I ended up inheriting the plant virus...

When I finally started growing some of them myself, everything spun out of control as you might have suspected...it would actually still be sort of all right, but I managed to transmit the addiction to my girlfriend.

So now we are spending our evenings constructing wooden baskets, plunging our hands in nice and fresh bark and reading up on orchids in stead of going out like a nice healthy young couple should do.

At the moment we are in full orchid expansion and it doesn't seem anywhere near to coming to an end. I'm focused on normal sized orchids (slowly specializing in Coelogyne and Dendrobium), while she's had me build a 1,5 m high orchidarium for all her 40-ish miniatures...as I was saying: out of control.

Here's a (probably) temporary list of all our orchids together:

Aerangis distincta x modesta
Aerangis punctata
Angraecum didieri
Baptistonia echinata
Barkeria melanocaulon
Beallara "Stephan Isler"
Beallara "Tropic Splendor"
Brassavola cebollata
Brassia x
Bulbophyllum barbigerum
Bulbophyllum contortisepalum
Bulbophyllum echinolabium x caranculatum
Bulbophyllum taiwanense
Bulbophyllum woelfliae
Calanthe velicata
Cambria x
Catasetum fimbriatum x penang
Catasetum jumbo pearl x penang (twice)
Catasetum penang x pileatum 'Yellow'
Catasetum pileatum x orchid glade
Catasetum pileatum x penang
Catasetum pileatum x susan fuchs
Catasetum susan fuchs
Catasetum Susan fuchs x penang (twice)
Catasetum x
Cattleya x
Cattleya x
Cattleya x
Coelogyne cristata var. hololeuca
Coelogyne fimbriata
Coelogyne flexuosa
Coelogyne huettneriana
Coelogyne lentiginosa
Coelogyne memoria w. micholitz
Coelogyne pulverula
Coelogyne septemcostata
Coelogyne speciosa
Coelogyne stricta
Coelogyne tomentosa
Cymbidium x
Cymbidium x
Cyrtochilum aureum
Cyrtochilum detortum
Cyrtochilum pardinum
Cyrtochilum ramosissimum
Dendrobium aberrans x polysema
Dendrobium anosmum
Dendrobium antennatum
Dendrobium antennatum alba
Dendrobium biggibum
Dendrobium capituliflorum
Dendrobium chrysocrepis
Dendrobium densiflorum
Dendrobium denudans
Dendrobium discolor
Dendrobium dixanthum
Dendrobium eximium
Dendrobium farmerii 'Pink'
Dendrobium harveyanum
Dendrobium loddigesii
Dendrobium mohlianum x cuthbertsonii
Dendrobium nobile
Dendrobium polysema
Dendrobium rhodosticum
Dendrobium smiliae
Dendrobium tetragonum
Dendrobium thyrsiflorum
Dendrobium x
Dendrobium x
Dendrobium x
Dendrobium x
Dryadella simula
Epidendrum polybulbon
Eria javanica
Eria javanica
Gongora galeata
Haraella retrocalla
Laelia harpophylla
Lepanthes ribes x saltatrix
Lepanthes terborchii
Lepanthes vellicata
Lepanthopsis acuminata
Leptotes bicolor
Ludisia discolor
Masdevallia x
Maxillaria kautskyi
Maxillaria notylioglossa
Oberonia myosurus
Octomeria grandiflora
Odontoglossum cristatum
Odontoglossum hallii
Oerstedella centradenia
Oerstedella centradenia
Oncidium cariniferum
Oncidium crispum
Oncidium fasciferum
Oncidium misaki
Oncidium peltiforme
Oncidium phymatochilum
Oncidium sp. Brazil
Oncidium sphacelatum
Oncidium 'Twinkle Fragrant '
Oncidium 'Twinkle Red'
Oncidium x
Paphinia Herrerae
Paphiopedilum "Michael Koopowitz"
Paphiopedilum "Little Alexander"
Paraphalaenopsis labukensis
Phalaenopsis bellina
Phalaenopsis bellina var. alba
Phalaenopsis wilsonii
Phalaenopsis x (16)
Phymatidium tillandsioides
Platystele misera
Platystele sp.
Pleurothallis allenii
Pleurothallis condorensis
Pleurothallis hemirhoda
Pleurothallis niveoglobula
Pleurothallis paleolata
Pleurothallis phalangifera "Blackadder"
Pleurothallis picta
Pleurothallis restrepioides
Pleurothallis sclerophylla
Pleurothallis sonderiana
Pleurothallis sp.
Pleurothallis sp.
Pleurothallis sp.
Pleurothallis stricta
Pleurothallis tribuloides
Pleurothallis truncata
Restrepia dodsonii
Restrepia trichoglossa
Rhynchostele cordata
Scaphyglottis violacea
Sedirea japonica
Sigmatostalix radicans
Stelis sp.
Stelis sp.
Tolumnia scandens
Trixpermum formosanum
Tuberolabium odoratisimum
Tuberolabium quisimbingii

All the 'x' ones are those we get from neighbours and friends, you probably know how that goes.

Amongst those, there are probably about 1/10 seedling sized plants, my recent project. I'm growing those under lights, but I'm still trying to figure out the right conditions and appropriate lighting...

I hope this answers to all the introduction requirements :), I'm looking forward to sharing pictures, tips&tricks and much more with you all.

Yéri

Yéri, Welcome to the OB. That is am impressive collection. I hope we can learn a lot from you too :)

I've spent many pleasant weeks in Belgium in the last few years for business, staying in Antwerpen and working in Beerse. Where in Belgium are you?

Thank you :)

I lived in Zaventem (where Brussels airport is located) during my youth, but am moving out to live with my girlfriend in Kortenaken (located between Tienen and Diest if that's any help to you...), which would be to the south-east of Antwerpen.

Did you manage to visit any orchid nurseries during your stay in Belgium?

Welcome to OB :D

I never even thought about visiting an orchid nursery when in Belgium - I wish I had thought of it.

:welcomeflowers:

Sounds like you are a happy couple with the both of you "infected" by the orchid bug ;)

Welcome to Orchid Board :welcome:

:hello and :welcome: That's an impressive list, way to grow. Having a partner who also likes orchids is a definite plus.Usually it's one or the other. Most of us seek out the OB because no one here judges us or asks " Didn't you buy one of those a few weeks ago at the last show ? :rofl:

Thank you :), and having a partner is nice indeed. We feel guilty about the plants we buy, but at least we feel guilty together so that makes it okay :P

Welcome to OB!

You have quite a few orchids there! :)