Pretty picture: Cattleya Betty Ford

Some business to get out of the way first: it occurred to me that I could make a PayPal button for the Coffea seed offer. So here that is. I hope it works. (Blogger won't let me test the button in Preview mode.)

[button removed because seeds no longer available]

So far, only two people have e-mailed about the seeds, and that batch has 205, so in theory eighteen more U.S. readers can order seeds before I run out. I'm planning to mail them out on or around 28 February, though if the weather looks like it's going to be exceptionally bad or cold that week I might wait until the following week. (I'll e-mail you first if that's the case.) You should be able to start soaking them as soon as they arrive, and sow them the day after that.

Sorry for not thinking of this sooner, but PayPal won't let me sell things through the donate button (top of the sidebar), so I had kind of overlooked the fact that I could still use PayPal to sell things by making a new button, and didn't realize that was an option until late last night.

Now for the orchid. It was tagged "Rnc. Betty Ford," but as best as I can determine that's now Cattleya Betty Ford.

Cattleya Betty Ford = Cattleya Barbara's Delight x Cattleya Nigrescent

For sale

If anyone is interested in starting some Coffea arabica plants from seed, I have a lot more seeds than I'll be able to use. (I actually threw out the first group I harvested because I couldn't figure out how to germinate such a huge number in the limited space I had. That problem has since been solved, thanks to Costco and their semi-delicious pretzels.) The batch on offer is currently drying and will be ready to plant on 6 March. I'm thinking $5 (which includes shipping) for at least 10 seeds. The actual number of seeds mailed out will depend on how much interest there is.

I don't know whether going through the USPS will affect germination or not; my guess is that it probably won't (seeds are often more flexible about temperature than the corresponding plants are), and I'm fairly certain about that, but I won't promise anything. I got 100% germination from the seeds in last year's crop that had been dried for 8 weeks (these will have been also), so I would expect very high germination from these as well. All you'd have to do once the seeds arrive is soak them for 24 hours and then plant them in damp soil or vermiculite, then keep moist and warm. Germination will almost certainly happen by early June if it's going to.

Contact me by e-mail (the address is in the sidebar at right; note the instructions) if you're interested in getting some seeds.

Pretty picture: Ascocenda Thonglor x Ascocenda Yip Sum Wah

Oh. This picture. I remember this one, mainly because trying to get the color properly adjusted took a very long time and was ultimately unsuccessful. It's a shame, too, because the flowers are really pretty.