Monday, March 31, 2008

Unfinished business: Ludisia discolor blooms

Just before Christmas, I posted excitedly with the news that the Ludisia discolor ("jewel orchid") plants in the greenhouse were all budding, and I was excited about what the flowers would end up looking like. Then they all got sold before any of them opened up, so I never saw even one flower, which was depressing. Well. In last week's tropical order, we had some come in that were already in bloom, so now I know, and I took pictures, so you also can know.

The bud:



And then the flowers:



A little anticlimactic, no?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Ludisias (aka jewel orchids), Mr.S! I can't tell you how many I've bought and how many I've killed over the years. (Or how many people have told me that they're easy to grow... sigh.) But I agree, the leaf's the thing. I'm always sort of aggravated when mine bloom and send up those long, distracting spikes. but of course I can't bring myself to cut them off when they've put so much effort into making them (just like lamb's-ears; guess I'm just a softie at heart, but at least those feed the bees).

Anonymous said...

I think the flowers are kind of cute, not that I've gotten mine to rebloom. But definitely anticlimactic when one is expecting an ORCHID FLOWER!

Frankly, I'm not that excited about the foliage either. Mine looks like a lanky Wandering Jew. I haven't even bothered to reroot it yet to try to make it look presentable again.

Anyone want to swap my pathetic plant, good mainly for a few cuttings, for something else?

Julie said...

Once again, the leaf outshines the bloom...I am a leaf fanatic!!!