The Devil's Excrement

I had not posted pictures for a while because the battery charger for
my camera went on the blonk. Today I decided I had too many nice
species in flower, so I took some pictures with AC power. This is very
inconvenient for taking pictures of orchids as you have the wire
connected to the camera and as you move it gets tangled and
disconnected. Hopefully I will receive the new charger soon.

Above two more Laelias Pupurata from Brazil. The one on the left is exquisite, very large with four rather big flowers and some straition on the bcak of the sepals and petals. The one on the right is pretty, but when you put them next to each other, it can’t match the color, lip or size of the other.

On the left a Cattleya Bicolor from Brazil. This is a tricky plant but it decided two years ago to grow vigoruously and flower regularly. I love the contrast between the green and the pink. On the right a frequent visitot to these pages, a Cattleya Aclandie from my largest plant. This is a piece I cut to give to a friend last Octobre and it is already flowering on its own.

On the left is a Brassavola Nodosa. I am never happy with my pictures of this flower. It usually ahs many flowers and the flowers are spindly and it is difficult to take a picture in focus. On the right is a Dendrobium from Australia that I alwsy forget the name of, will post when I remember it.

Well, the Purpurata’s have begun to flower. The National flower of Brazil was called Laelia Purpurata for the last couple of hundred years and obviously, ever since I began collectng orchids. But guess what? Last year scientists decided that it is very close to the Sophronitis family and now it is known as Sophronitis instead of Laelia. How did they determine this? Using DNA analysis two scientists Berg and Chase determined that they were essentially from the same family. I am sure as scientists they were thrilled, but as a collector I find all of these continuos reclassifications a pain, I just can’t keep track of them!

Sophronitis (Laelia) Purpurata Werkahuseri. The color is a mixture of purple and gray that I think is absolutely spectacular.

This is the more subtle Sophronitis Purpurata Suavisima or Delicata, I ahd trouble taking the picture on the left as there are two bunches of flowers on the plant and they were in such different planes that they would not come out focused until I chanegd the angle.

I have lots of plants of this Equitant Oncidium whose name has the word clown in it, but I can’t remember it. I splt a large plant into smaller pieces two years ago because it was growing over itself, but not doing well. This is the first “spin-off” to flower since two years ago, hopefully it will now start flowering regularly. It is a very nice and strong plant that every spring flowers in man shoots that last for months.

Above left: A hybrid between Angraecum Eburneum and Sobennikoffia humbertiana made by my friend Carlos Garcia Esquivel. Top right: A regular in this page, Slc. Jungle Gem, very fragrant.

Top left, a nice Equitant Oncidium, it has many shoots coming out. Top right: Cattleya Intermedia: This is a very nice flower, big and well shaped, but I am concerned about the “stain” on the bottom left petal, it may be an indication of a virus and I might have to destoruy the plant. So far, all I have done is separate it from the rest of the plants.

Since I was on vacation, I had not posted pictures of flowers in quite a while, flowering is starting to pick up now. This time, a rare three hybrids and two specieas

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Catlleya Lulu Hot Pink, very fragrant flowers. This plant flowers man times a year in spectacular bunches. On the right Cattleya Labiata Suavisima from Brazil

Two “moder: Phalenopsis that I picked up at the World Orchid Conference in Dijon, They are both called Phalenopsis Di Dii, the one on the left is the “Prince” variety, while the one on the right is “Fragance”

Encyclia Cochleata from Mexico and the Caribbean. This is a very large form of that plant.

This weekend was the Orchid Exhibit of the Asociacion Venezolana de Orquideas. Orchid Societies seem to be a reflection of Venezuelan society, lots of disagreements, jealousies and bickering, so that they have divided themselves into three groups in the Caracas area. I belong to none of them, but collborate with all. This exhibit was held at one of the largest shopping malls in Caracas, inside of a tent structure on the terrace. This mall is simply too big. I have been there now six times in my life, five times (three this week) for orchid exhibits and once to buy a present.

Yesterday morning I went there with a cameraman from Canadian TV who interviewed me about orchids and Venezuela. I took my camera, but I used a flash only to learn once again, that it just does not work. Pictures come out with no depth, colors are funny. So, today I went back with my tripod and did long exposures with artificial light which works ok, but only where the ligthing is good. Fortunately, some of the best plants were under the best ligthing of the place.

While Cattleya Mossiae tends to be the star of this show among Venezuelan Cattleyas, this year it was Cattelya Lueddemanianna that won the day. The weather has been too cool delaying flowering. Above left the winner of the top prize for the show, a Cattleya Lueddemanianna Coerelua owned by Agustin Morales, who took the time when I knew little about orchids to teach me quite a lot. This flower was huge, perfect in symmetry and shape and, on top of that. it was the rare coerulea form. Compare it with another good Cattleya Lueddemanniana top right. Notice that it is very nice, but slimmer, has a smaller span for its sepals.

Two very nice Cattleya Lueddemanianna of the purple form, the most common. The one on the left had a deep yellow that I loved even if the flowers were drying out. The one on the right had a spectacular deep purple.

Top left another nice Cattelya Luedemanianna Corelua. Top Right: This plant is mine, it won to my surprise the prize as the best Cattleya Jenmanii of the show. It was a surprise, because it was the first time it had ever flowered. It has very good shape and in the day between setting up the show and the judging it darkened quite a bit, which is what made it win. Next year it should be spectacular. Curiosuly, I had never won first prize for a Venezuelan Cattleya before last September with a plant of mine, when another of my Cattleya Jenmanii’s won, now I have for two shows in a row. This is a combination of the relatively rarity of this Cattleya as well as the fact that they do very well in my orchid terrace.

These two hyibrids won first place in their categories for theri deep colors. The one on the left is a Cattleya hybrid, the one on the right is a Potinara.

This spectacular specimen of Venezuela’s Cattleya Violacea was in the same booth where my plants were and won first place. It had 14 very nice flowers of Cattleya Violacea (You can alo find Cattleya Vioalcea in Brazil)

No sooner had I taken my plant to the orchid exhibit that the flowering started to pick up.

Above left Cirropetalum Medusae, one of the most unlikely and beautiful orchids I have ever seen. It is big, the hairs are four inches long to give you a sense of scale. In the middle and right there is an Oncidium I did not take to the exhibit because I learned late Wednesday I had to take my plants that same evening and the exhibot was at a local shopping mall which isn huge, so I could only carry two plants and letf this one. It was given to me as Oncidium Sphacelatum, but in the picrtures of those flowers in books, the sepals in the middle looked bigger.

This is a nice Cattleya hybrid, flowers regularly, no clue what it is, it is from the time where I would get any orchid no matter what it was.

Not many flowers so far this spring, weather has been unusually cool (still is) thus flowering is delayed. This is unfortunate because next week there will be a show and I will only have three show quality plants, including the Encyclia Cordigera below

Top left: Encycli Cordigera Rosa, this is the Central American variety, more Showy than the lighter colored one one can find in Venezuela. On the right a first bloom of Cattleya Lueddemanianna Aurora x Mayor, does not have a great shape, but it is amazingly fragrant.

Top Left: My usually generous Cattleya Gaskelliana Mimi x Aida, on the right Oncidium Cebolleta

Flowering had dried out, but it started picking up this week into what is ussually the best season of the year for flowers. Above left, a Laelia Gouldiana from Mexico, you can see how similat it is to Laelia Anceps, on the right  Cattleya Lueddemanniana ClinMcDadex Raga

Above left, a “modern” Phalenopsis from Taiwan, it really looks like abstract art is oming to orchids with this. This is a Dpts. Ever Spring “Light” On the right a Cattleya Gaskelliana, the flowers are not great but all of them together make for a very nice sight.

Above two species. On the left A spectacular Cattleya Schilleriana, the yellow in the lip is beautiful. On the right three Sophronitis Cernua flowers. My Cernuas are now almost free flowering, demonstrating that they key to flowering in thsi species is just water, water, water. I have them under the sprinkler of the misting system which goes on when the humidity in the orchid room goes below 50%.

On the left a huge Laeliocattelya Persepolis, very nice shape and size, a pity the lip is so twisted. On the right another free flowerer Slc. Tangerine Jewel. I have a few of these plants and they flower most of the year. They grow so much that I have been moving them outside the orchid room in partial shade. They initially don’t do great, the old leaves are burnt, but then they start flwoeing and do quite well with the new leaves not shwoing any burns.

This is old realiable Slc. Ronald Hauserman. The flowers are absolutely huge. The sepals are almost like cardboard. Note that there are two flowers on each side. This is one of my favorite hybrids, I have about three plants now, all coming form a two inch seedling I bought in Hawaii many years ago.

Two different Cattleya Intermedia from Brazil, a fairly large one on the left, a cross between Cat. Intermedia Flamea and Sonia on the right. The one on the right is a seedling, very small plant, the flower is almost as big as the young plant itself.

On the left is a Brazilian Cattleya that I love: Cattlleya Warneri. This is a plant given to me long ago when I visited Ricsel in Porto Alegre Brazil, I brought the owner some venezuelan plants and he gave me this plant telling me it is one of the best Warneri’s around. It certainly looks like it!. On the right is an Asian species I have shown before a Cirrhopetalum Gracillinum. The flower is very delicate, the hair-like thinks going down move easily with the breeze, which makes it hard to take pictures. But this one came out really well.