Yet another orchid picture. I wasn't terribly impressed with the
Vandas we had at work. The flowers were very pretty, but the plants . . . not so much. And they were really expensive too, for flowers that looked an awful lot like just another
Phalaenopsis.
The disappointment was mutual: most of the
Vandas didn't last long enough to be sold, which is why I don't expect to see any
Vandas there for the next three to five years.
That said, when it comes to the blue-violet ones like Pakchong Blue, I understand why people would bother. That color! That pattern!
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For this one, I wanted to get a shot that was backlit, so I was having to take the photo from a point almost underneath the plant. Given that it was at an orchid show, and I couldn't touch the plant, or even get very close to it, and there were people everywhere, I wound up aiming the camera in the general direction of the flowers, hoping to catch something reasonably interesting and focused. Lots of failures, but I kind of liked the way this one turned out, off-center though it may be..jpg)
And the more standard face-on view, where I didn't have to contort myself quite as much.
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It is beautiful. I've heard that these are very difficult to grow.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely breathtaking!
ReplyDeleteYeah, wow, who wouldn't love that plant? Well, I would love it, but then I would kill it, then I'd feel bad, then eventually my guilt would give way to anger at the expired plant and its kin for CAUSING the guilt in the first place.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, that's a beautiful orchid... and the above cycle of love->guilt->hate is why we have orchid shows.
Um...Vandas are my favorite orchids. I own two, in blue hues, which I will hopefully some day propagate. One was a gift and quite expensive. The other I bought last year for $12 in a bag. It's grown pretty quickly, but hasn't bloomed yet.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! (I was drawn to click on it when I saw it on another blog.) I really love that backlit shot. Nice!
Floridagirl:
ReplyDeleteI suspect that Floridians have unfair advantages over the rest of us, when it comes to Vandas. The ones we got at work were grown there, and I think every Vanda picture I've seen on the various gardening blogs I follow have been from Floridian gardeners as well.
Gorgeous colour!
ReplyDeleteHi I just found this blog a couple of days ago and got instantly addicted..
ReplyDeleteI live in Norway and right now one of my two Vanda Sansai Blue is blooming and the other one has a tiny budding spike! If I sound overbearingly proud it is because I am, I have not given them artificial light and the winters here are a terribly dark affair..
And even more, I tend to treat my orchids horribly for months at a time, sort of forcing them to be depressed when I am in the fall and early winter. When more light returns, I start thinking about my orchids again and this year started babying them.
The Vandas live in my southfacing window which does not have sun all day. They must be tough things because when the temperatures outside dropped to -17 Celsius this winter they didn't show any signs of being upset standing just two centimeters from the glass.
Mr. Subjunctive, I suspesct that you just aren't that into orchids (I've read the post about Phalaenopsis) because you otherwise clearly are a superior indoor gardener to me.
P.S.
You have made me *need* to have that MacGyver plant! Which is not even an orchid (most of my indoor priorities are)and probably not even possible to conjure up in this part of the world.
Elin
I'm from Brazil and I just acquired this vanda and was looking for more information on line about her, your pictures are so beautiful that actually made me love her more. I hope to care properly for her, all the talk about her being difficult made me scare.
ReplyDelete