Even more vandas on the patio in Southern CA Oct 09

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

I posted a while back about the status of the vandas I have growing outside. It's starting to cool down here and I'm going to test the theory that the V. coerulea hybrids will handle the So Cal winter. I've been watching the various vandas mature and bloom and even though I haven't gotten repeat bloom this year, they've all been politely following each other in blooming order like planes approaching an airport. The first blooms were from V. Tokyo blue, starting in early summer, followed by V. Manuvadee in August which is winding down now (it's the darker blue in the background in some of the pictures), and over the past few weeks my V. Motes Indigo has been coming into bloom. It looks like the final blooming of the year will be a V. Manuvadee/Mimi Palmer cross which is just now starting to develop color in its buds. A good five/six months of continous blooms.

I've always loved watching plants grow and develop and thought you folks might enjoy seeing how the Mote's Indigo has developed over the past six weeks or so. Picture heavy, as a warning

Early Sept:



Sept 20



Sept 27



Oct 2





Oct 3



Oct 4



Oct 5



Oct 6 morning




Oct 6 evening



Oct 7




Oct 8



Oct 9




Oct 10




Oct 11





and here's the V. Manuvadee/Mimi Palmer cross that is having it's first blooms for me.

Mid Sept:




Oct 2



Oct 7



Oct 8



Oct 11 Evening




And hopefully in three or four weeks, this will be what I get: