Pretty picture: Oncidium Tiger Brew 'Pacific Holiday'

I'm not normally a big Oncidium Alliance guy, but I like this kind of thing.

It was probably my second-favorite orchid at the show, even.¹ I really like the big flowers, and the patterning on them. (Yellow/brown isn't my favorite color combination; I'd rather have seen just about any other color scheme. But you get to photograph the orchids they have, not the orchids you want.)

Oncidium Tiger Brew = Oncidium Memoria Rudolf Pabst x Oncidium Tiger Hambühren (Ref.)

Previously, we've seen a half-sibling (Odontocidium (now Oncidium) Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' related via Oncidium Tiger Hambühren).

There is also Wilsonara (now Oncidium) Sheila Anne,² which is Onc.Tiger Crow x Onc. Wearside Pattern. I spent a really long time staring at the relationships here and wound up not quite being able to figure it out, but I think Sheila Anne is the half-niece of Tiger Brew, or something along those lines.³

This orchid, and the other two previous orchids, all look pretty similar anyway. Tiger Crow is yellower, and lacks the brown outline around the tepals that Tiger Brew has, and Sheila Anne has large blotches of brown where the other two have a number of smaller spots, but even if you didn't know they were related, you'd probably suspect they were related.

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¹ The actual favorite being Oncostele Midnight Miracles, which was, strangely enough, also an Oncidium Alliance orchid. Maybe I like them better than I think I do?
² Spelled as "Sheila Ann" in the blog post, because apparently I still trusted the tagging to be accurate in 2011.
³ Not that concepts like "sibling" and "cousin" have a terribly distinct meaning anymore, once you're talking about hybrids of hybrids of hybrids, with everything so inbred and all. But orchid genealogy amuses me, so:
• Oncidium Tiger Brew = Oncidium Memoria Rudolf Pabst x Oncidium Tiger Hambühren,
• Oncidium Tiger Crow = Oncidium Crowborough x Oncidium Tiger Hambühren,
• Oncidium Sheila Anne = Oncidium Tiger Crow x Oncidium Wearside Pattern.

Pretty picture: Oncidium Heaven Scent 'Redolence'

Usually, when an orchid at the show has a scent, I can't confirm it, either because there are so many competing fragrances that I can't tell which one belongs to the plant in question, or because the plant is inaccessible. In this particular case, I was able to confirm that there's a scent.

Which it really ought to be fragrant, considering that the name for both the grex and clone makes reference to an odor.

The flowers resemble Onc. Sharry Baby so much that I was expecting the smell to be similar too. Sharry Baby smells a lot like sweet, vanilla-heavy chocolate, and is really pleasant, so that's what I was expecting, but that's not what I got. Instead, it was "more floral," according to my notes from March, and I didn't actually like it. It may be that being primed to expect vanilla/chocolate made the floral smell less pleasant than it would have been otherwise; it's also possible that it's just a disagreeable fragrance, though the name suggests that the breeders didn't think so.

It also turns out that Onc. Heaven Scent is half descended from Onc. Sharry Baby. I mean, you can totally see it in the appearance, but I wouldn't have guessed from the fragrance. So that's also interesting or disappointing or something.

Oncidium Heaven Scent = Oncidium Ruffles x Oncidium Sharry Baby (Ref.)

In other news, as I write this (Tuesday morning), I have completed the first part of the Anthurium purge, getting rid of 32 seedlings, 3 parents ('Joli,' NOID green/pink, and salvaged cuttings of the NOID purple), and one miscellaneous other plant (Aglaonema 'Sapphire Suzanne,' which was overdue for discarding: it hasn't been happy since it arrived here.). I was also probably more lenient with certain highly beloved plants than I should have been, which will no doubt make the whole process completely futile, but even so: only a 39% pass rate on the first round.

The 3-inch and 4-inch plants will be both harder and easier to deal with. They're harder because there are a lot more of them, and because in most (3-inch) or about half (4-inch) of the cases, there's no bloom to evaluate yet, and I'll have to gamble, in part, on what I think the bloom might look like. Easier because in the cases where there are blooms to evaluate, the blooms are disproportionately garbage (if they were good blooms, the plant would have been promoted to a 6-inch pot and then purged on Monday), and many of the 4-inch plants have been around a very long time without ever even trying to bloom, so it's probably safe to conclude that they don't intend to and I don't need to keep taking care of them. So my expectation is that the pass rate for the 3-inch plants will be higher than 39%, and the rate for the 4-inch plants will be lower.

Some non-Anthuriums will be dumped here and there too, eventually. I'll be focusing particularly on the Dracaenas (bacterial or fungal leaf spot) and Aglaonemas (ghost mite reservoir).

Pretty picture: Oncidium Twinkle 'Sun Light'

Tag: ONC. TWINKLE 'SUN LIGHT' (cheirophorum x sotoanum)

Pretty picture: Oncidium Space Race 'Coco'

I'm kinda meh about these flowers, but I find the unopened bud in the top left corner kind of interesting.

Space Race is a hybrid of Onc. Sphacetante and Onc. Pupukea Sunset. The former tongue-twisty name is a clumsy mashup of its parents' names, Oncidium sphacelatum and Oncidium Debutante (I would have recommended "Debutatum," if anybody had asked me, but of course nobody ever does.), and I didn't care to track down the ancestry of Debutante, so that is left as an exercise for the reader. Pupukea Sunset is a hybrid of the two species Oncidium fuscatum and Oncidium cheirophorum.

Space Race most strongly resembles O. sphacelatum, which is also yellow with some brown or red-brown spots. I much prefer the looks of O. fuscatum (brown, with a large pink and white labellum) or O. cheirophorum (solid bright yellow), but that's just me.

Pretty picture: Oncidium Twinkle 'Golden Fantasy'

[Taps microphone] Is this thing on?

Not a lot of comments lately. What would you like me to be writing about?

Rumble Among the Jungle, Match 5.3

Results of match 4.7:

Haworthia spp. pretty much beat the crap out of the self-heading Philodendrons. The final score was 78 to 46.

Today, we have an unstoppable force / immovable object sort of thing shaping up: both the Oncidium alliance orchids and the Echeveria cvv. have gotten a lot further in the tournament than I expected them to, so it'll be interesting (to me) to see which one gets knocked out of the competition.

Match 5.3
Echeveria cvv. and related plants (Sedeveria, Graptoveria, Pachyveria, etc.) vs. Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies)

Top row, L-R: Echeveria 'Perle von Nurnberg,' E. 'Topsy Turvy,' E. setosa.
Middle row, L-R: Graptosedum 'Alpenglow - Vera Higgins,' Echeveria coccinea flowers, Echeveria 'The Rose.'
Bottom row, L-R: Echeveria nodulosa, Pachyveria x glauca, Echeveria x shaviana 'Pinky.'

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'

Rumble Among the Jungle, Match 4.6, Plus Bonus Music Video

Outcome of match 4.2:

For some reason, more of you voted for Philodendron hederaceum cvv. than for Aglaonema cvv. in match 4.2. I infer that this is because 56% of you are extremely high. I don't want to hear your feeble excuses; just know that I am very disappointed in you.

Philodendron wins, 64 to 51, and will face Saintpaulia cvv. in match 5.1, which will begin on 31 October.

Match 4.6
Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies) vs. Sansevieria trifasciata cvv. (snake plant)

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'

Top row, L-R: Sansevieria trifasciata 'Black Coral,' 'Laurentii,' 'Bantel's Sensation.'
Center row, L-R: S. trifasciata NOID, 'Hahnii,' 'Hahnii Pearl Young.'
Bottom row, L-R: S. trifasciata 'Moonglow,' 'Black Gold.'




As a bonus (though 56% of you don't deserve it), here is a music video for the video "2012," by the group WORLD ORDER. (The main guy is apparently a retired Japanese mixed martial artist-slash-kickboxer named Genki Sudo, who writes and sings the songs, choreographs the videos, and could completely incapacitate you in 0.4 seconds using only his pinky. I only heard of him for the first time last night, so I know basically nothing about the man.)

The video is a slow build, but I suspect that it works better if you let it build, rather than skipping ahead to the big finish. (Also helpful: keeping in mind that what you're watching is choreography, not special effects. If that fails, you can watch the plants: it was filmed in Mexico and there are several plant-relevant locations.) If you're not feeling thoroughly entertained by 3:57, I will apologize to you personally. Not in person, but, you know, I can call or something.



The video (and song, actually) for "Machine Civilization" is more of the same, if you want more.

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 3.11 and 3.12

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results from matches 3.3 and 3.4:

Breathing a sigh of relief over match 3.3. It's not that I thought Dracaena reflexa cvv. would defeat Aglaonema cvv., but y'all sometimes do things I don't expect, so I've learned to worry anyway. Aglaonema advances to the fourth round by a vote of 64 to 37.

I liked both plants in match 3.4 and really wanted to see them both do well, so it was difficult to decide, but in the end I went along with most of the rest of you and chose Philodendron hederaceum cvv. over Strelitzia nicolai / reginae. The final score was 63 to 42.

Aglaonema cvv. and Philodendron hederaceum cvv. vie for a fifth-round spot on 24 October, in match 4.2. And if I thought I was anxious about 3.3 and 3.4, I'm going to be nearly catatonic with worry over 4.2.

Today's matches:

Match 3.11
Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm) vs. Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies)

(Bottom left: Beaucarnea recurvata variegata. Others: B. recurvata.)

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'





Match 3.12
Dracaena deremensis cvv. vs. Sansevieria trifasciata cvv. (snake plant)

Clockwise from top left: Dracaena deremensis ''Lemon-Lime,' 'Warneckei' or similar, 'Dorado,' 'Malaika,' 'Janet Craig Compacta.'

Top row, L-R: Sansevieria trifasciata 'Black Coral,' 'Laurentii,' 'Bantel's Sensation.'
Center row, L-R: S. trifasciata NOID, 'Hahnii,' 'Hahnii Pearl Young.'
Bottom row, L-R: S. trifasciata 'Moonglow,' 'Black Gold.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 2.21-2.24

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Match 2.5 to 2.8 results:

Matches 2.5 and 2.6 weren't particularly surprising. In the first, Dracaena reflexa cvv. defeated Asparagus spp. 76 to 37, which is only logical considering how Asparagus spp. are kind of dicks, with the thorns and everything. (I'm left more mystified than ever as to how Asparagus managed to defeat Cissus rhombifolia and get to the second round at all, though.)
In match 2.6, Aglaonema cvv. beat Oxalis triangularis cvv., 70 to 43, which is likewise pretty much what I expected. (Oxalis made a better showing than I thought it would, but I'm not very objective when it comes to Aglaonemas.)

Dracaena reflexa and Aglaonema go up against one another in match 3.3, which will begin on 16 October.

Matches 2.7 and 2.8, on the other hand, did surprise me quite a bit. Not necessarily the winners (I voted with the victor in both cases), but that neither match was particularly close. They were both pretty tough choices for me.
In match 2.7, Strelitzia nicolai and reginae defeated Ficus maclellandii by 70 to 43. Sad to see Ficus go, but I knew when I started this that most of the plants I liked would not win, so I have only myself to blame.
Finally, Philodendron hederaceum cvv. beat Dracaena fragrans cvv. to a sappy pulp in match 2.8, winning by a score of 82 to 28.

The Strelitzias face Philodendron hederaceum in match 3.4, also beginning 16 October.

And now, today's matches:

Match 2.21
Dendrobium cvv. vs. Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm)

Dendrobium cvv. Right center is 'Karen;' the others are NOIDs.

(Bottom left: Beaucarnea recurvata variegata. Others: B. recurvata.)





Match 2.22
Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies) vs. Polyscias fruticosa (ming aralia)

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'

Top left and bottom right: Polyscias fruticosa. Top right: P. fruticosa 'Snowflake.' Bottom left: P. fruticosa 'Elegans.'





Match 2.23
Dracaena deremensis cvv. vs. Schefflera actinophylla / arboricola (umbrella tree)

Clockwise from top left: Dracaena deremensis ''Lemon-Lime,' 'Warneckei' or similar, 'Dorado,' 'Malaika,' 'Janet Craig Compacta.'

Top row, L-R: Schefflera actinophylla, S. actinophylla 'Renegade,' S. arboricola.
Bottom row, L-R: Schefflera actinophylla ('Amate?'), S. arboricola NOID.





Match 2.24
Begonia cvv. (rhizomatous begonias) vs. Sansevieria trifasciata cvv. (snake plant)

Clockwise from top left: Begonia 'Soli-Mutata,' B. 'Erythrophylla,' B. 'Tiger Kitten,' NOID.

Top row, L-R: Sansevieria trifasciata 'Black Coral,' 'Laurentii,' 'Bantel's Sensation.'
Center row, L-R: S. trifasciata NOID, 'Hahnii,' 'Hahnii Pearl Young.'
Bottom row, L-R: S. trifasciata 'Moonglow,' 'Black Gold.'





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

Rumble Among the Jungle, Matches 1.41-1.44

Rules and Stuff
1) It's probably possible to vote more than once per poll, but please don't. If I believe that someone is voting repeatedly, I will throw out those results, repost the poll, and seriously question that person's priorities.
2) If you want to link to a poll on Twitter / Facebook / your blog / whatever and encourage your friends to come and pump up the support for your favorite plants, you are encouraged to do so.
3) You are also encouraged to leave comments on Rumble posts, if so moved.
4) All photos will enlarge if opened in a separate window/tab.
5) You can choose which plant is "best" according to whatever criteria you decide for yourself. My personal process is a bit convoluted.¹
6) All polls will be open for three days.

Results for matches 1.25 to 1.28:

In match 1.25, Platycerium spp. beat Stromanthe sanguinea cvv., 65 to 51.
Match 1.26 went to Gynura aurantiaca over Hypoestes phyllostachya by a similar but slightly wider margin, 66 to 48, though there were some complaints from people that they didn't like either plant and didn't want to have to choose. Which is fair enough.

Platycerium and Gynura advance to the second round, where they will compete with one another on October 10.

The other two matches were basically blowouts: in 1.27, Aloe vera trounced Gymnocalycium spp. 83 to 33, and in 1.28, Schlumbergera cvv. smashed Dracaena surculosa by 91 to 23, which is not close at all but nevertheless a little closer than I had expected.

Aloe vera and Schlumbergera also meet up on October 10, in match 2.14, and I gotta say I'm a little nervous about the outcome of 2.14.

If anyone besides me cares, we're now about 2/3 of the way through the first round. (It'll end next Thursday Friday.) After that, the rounds will start going by a little faster. If everything goes according to schedule, I'll be announcing the winner on November 16.

Today's matches:

Match 1.41
Ficus pumila (creeping fig) vs. Dendrobium cvv.

Top left and bottom right: Ficus pumila. Bottom left and top right: variegated F. pumila.

Dendrobium cvv. Right center is 'Karen;' the others are NOIDs.





Match 1.42
Sedum morganianum / burrito (burro's tail) vs. Beaucarnea recurvata (ponytail palm)

Top left and bottom right: Sedum morganianum. Top right and bottom left: S. burrito.

(Bottom left: Beaucarnea recurvata variegata. Others: B. recurvata.)





Match 1.43
Euphorbia ammak / ingens / trigona (large columnar Euphorbias) vs. Oncidium alliance orchids (dancing ladies)

L-R: Euphorbia NOID, Euphorbia ammak, Euphorbia trigona, Euphorbia NOID, Euphorbia NOID.

Left side, top to bottom: Beallara Marfitch 'Howard's Dream,' Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'
Center, top to bottom: Vuylstekeara Aloha Sparks 'Ruby Eyes,' Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl,' Wilsonara Lisa Devos.
Right side, top to bottom: Oncidium Saint Dawn Gold, Bakerara Truth 'Silver Chalice.'





Match 1.44
Polyscias fruticosa (ming aralia) vs. Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose (Eve's needle)

Top left and bottom right: Polyscias fruticosa. Top right: P. fruticosa 'Snowflake.' Bottom left: P. fruticosa 'Elegans.'

Austrocylindropuntia subulata monstrose (Photo credit: ArséniureDeGallium, at Wikimedia Commons.)





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¹ I'm deciding according to a hypothetical situation in which all of my houseplants are gone, as are all the other houseplants of the world, except for one producer/supplier/retailer. Said person is offering to restock me with one or the other of the plants in question but refuses to give me both. Which one would I choose?

List: Houseplants Which are Also Epiphytes

It's a lot easier to define the word epiphyte than it is to provide examples. The reason is that epiphyte is less a type of plant than it is a lifestyle, and with lifestyles, one can dabble, or one can commit. The line between regular plants and epiphytes, therefore, is kind of fuzzy.

But first things second. What epiphytes actually are, are plants that grow on other plants, generally trees. (Epi - on or above; phyte - plant) They're not parasites: they don't steal nutrients or directly harm the plant they grow on. They may get large enough to break branches off, but that's an accident, and doesn't serve the epiphyte's needs any more than it serves the host. There are a few sinister epiphytes that begin development growing on branches or trunks but eventually outgrow, overwhelm, and kill their host, notably the "strangler figs" like Ficus aurea.

A lot of the aroid epiphytes (Anthurium, Monstera, Philodendron) can either begin life on a tree branch and eventually drop roots down to the ground (primary epiphytes) or begin life on the ground and crawl until they find a tree to climb (secondary epiphytes). Either type of plant is sometimes called a hemiepiphyte. (hemi - half, partial) Some other plants can grow either terrestrially (in the ground) or as epiphytes, depending on where they find themselves, but any individual plant picks one or the other spot and sticks with it. On the other hand, some epiphytes are unable to live terrestrially, and either find themselves a branch as a seedling or they die.

Epiphytes are over-represented in the houseplant world. I suspect the main explanation for this is that epiphytes are naturally adapted to shade, so they adjust better to the lower light levels found in the home. The most common groups of epiphytic houseplants are found in the aroid, bromeliad, cactus, and orchid families.

The list that follows is far from exhaustive; I was kind of in a hurry. (This post is partly so I can be eligible for an epiphyte-centric plant giveaway Steve Asbell is doing; details on how to enter are at his post here.) I'll certainly add other plants if anybody wants to suggest some.

Aechmea fasciata.

Anthurium x 'Marie.'

Dischidia ruscifolia.

Guzmania NOID.

Hylocereus sp.

Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite 'NN #1.'

Platycerium sp.

Schlumbergera NOID.

Selenicereus chrysocardium.

Tillandsia xerographica.

I haven't grown some of the plants in this list (Anthurium, Tillandsia), and one I haven't had for very long (Oncidium), so I'm not sure the recommendations and anti-recommendations are going to be all that useful, but we'll try.

I'm a big fan of Schlumbergeras. They have slightly quirky needs, but they're less complicated than I'd been led to believe, the flowers are really pretty, and the plants can last forever.

Dischidia ruscifolia doesn't do a whole lot, but as far as I can tell, they're easy to keep happy.

Aechmea fasciata should be available a lot more often than it is, because it's a very nice plant, even when it's not flowering. I find them very easy to care for, too, which helps.

(I also suspect that I would probably like Tillandsia xerographica if I got to know it, but they're rarely available here, and when they are available, they're really expensive. So I don't have one yet.)

For the anti-recommend, I'd have to go with Anthurium x 'Marie,' even though I haven't actually grown it, because I've grown a couple other foliage Anthuriums and it hasn't worked out. They're not hard to keep alive, but they need a lot more light than I can provide: without it, the leaves get either enormous and thin (A. "hookeri") or small and twisted (A. podophyllum), and neither one looks particularly good. (I haven't had a good time with my Platycerium either, but I'm not sure which of us is more to blame for that, so they might work out fine for other people and I won't discourage you from trying one.)

All epiphytic plants have certain expectations for what kind of material they're going to find around their roots, and sometimes if you have trouble with an epiphyte, the soil is the problem, not you or the plant. I've recently started adding coarse, unchopped sphagnum moss to the potting mix I usually use, in about a 1:1 ratio, for my Anthurium andraeanums and bromeliads, and it seems to have made a world of difference there. (This may be why the Platycerium hasn't worked out: for it, I used the straight potting mix, with no modification, which is possibly too heavy.) Orchids are typically grown in mixed chunky pieces of bark but are sometimes also grown in 100% coarse sphagnum. For a lot of the epiphytic cacti, my regular potting mix seems to be okay with no modification most of the time.

Not pictured:

Most other Aechmea spp. (epiphytic or terrestrial)
some Aeschynanthus spp. (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Anthurium andraeanum (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Anthurium crystallinum (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Anthurium podophyllum (epiphytic or terrestrial)
some Begonia spp.
most Billbergia spp.
Cattleya and Cattleya alliance orchids like Potinara, Brassolaeliocattleya, Sophrolaeliocattleya, etc.
some (?) Cryptanthus cvv. (?) (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Cymbidium spp.
most (?) Dendrobium spp.
Dischidia spp. including D. nummularia 'Pebble Beach'
Epiphyllum spp.
Ficus benjamina (not a lot of information about it being a strangler fig out there, but it comes up often enough that I think it must be occasionally)
Hatiora salicornioides and other Hatiora spp.
a few Hippeastrum spp.
some Hoya spp., including H. carnosa (?) (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Lepismium spp.
Monstera deliciosa (hemiepiphyte)
Myrmecophilia spp.
Nepenthes spp.
some Neoregelia spp. (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Oncidium and Oncidium alliance orchids like Miltoniopsis, Beallara, Odontoglossum, Vuylstekeara, Wilsonara, etc.
some Paphiopedilum spp.
Phalaenopsis spp.
Philodendron bipennifolium (hemiepiphyte)
Philodendron bipinnatifidum (hemiepiphyte)
Philodendron hastatum (hemiepiphyte)
Philodendron hederaceum (hemiepiphyte)
Philodendron martianum (epiphytic or terrestrial)
Philodendron mexicanum (hemiepiphyte)
Pseudorhipsalis ramulosa
most (all?) Rhipsalis spp.
Schomburgkia spp.
Syngonium podophyllum (hemiepiphyte)
Many but not all Tillandsia spp. ("air plants")
Vanilla spp. (hemiepiphyte)
Vireya spp.
some Vriesea spp., including V. splendens
Worsleya rayneri

More New Plants

These are the latest batch of plants, from the trip to Cedar Rapids last Wednesday. Mostly what impresses me about these, if anything does, is that most of them were very cheap, for what they were, especially relative to the ex-job (which is still what I weigh plant prices against, those being the prices I know best). One in particular.

In the order of purchase:

Peperomia verschaffeltii. Earl May, Iowa City, $9.
(Well, okay, this one wasn't cheap.) This is one of the two plants I bought specifically for Nina. I'd passed it up at least three times before this: though I wanted it, in part because it was the only one I'd ever seen, I've also had pretty consistent bad luck with the non-succulent Peperomias (P. caperata, P. argyreia). P. argyreia was particularly frustrating. So I only bought P. verschaffeltii because I knew I had a terrarium to put it into.

The logic seemed sound, but then we got to Cedar Rapids and I saw one at Peck's for either $5 or $6, which made me wish I'd waited.

Adiantum capillus-veneris. Peck's, Cedar Rapids, $6.
Speaking of Peck's: I hadn't been there in at least a year, I think, because the last time I was there, everything seemed really ordinary and expensive, and the time before that, everything was covered in Christmas crap and it took me like twenty minutes after I left to stop dry-heaving.

And then a month later they sent me a bill for the glass door I (allegedly!) ran through in my haste to escape the glitter and poinsettias. But, you know, if I can't go to Pierson's anymore -- and I cannot -- then it seemed like maybe I should reconsider Peck's.

And although, yes, somebody'd left a six-inch layer of Christmas on everything in the store with a cement mixer, the houseplants were more or less left alone, and the music was at a low enough volume that I could ignore it, so I bought some stuff anyway. I would never ever ever have bought an Adiantum if not for the terrarium (When I was still at the ex-job, WCW told me once that they had trouble keeping Adiantums going even with the greenhouse, never mind in the drier air of somebody's home.), but since I have one, we're going to try it. It'll be pretty if it works.

(Unfortunately, I finally tried cleaning the new terrarium yesterday, and am no longer optimistic that it's ever going to be usable. Yesterday was a fairly bad day all around, and I'm easily frustrated, so this is not the last word on anything, but let's don't go expecting miracles.)

Radermachera sinica. Peck's, Cedar Rapids, $5.
I've tried Radermachera once before, and it was underwatered to death very quickly, which put me off them for a long time. I'm going to try again, though I'm not sure I have much higher hopes for this specimen. I'd consider it in the terrarium, but I think it'd probably outgrow the terrarium so fast there'd be no point. Can anybody opine about whether that would be a good idea?

(I'm pretty sure you can: what I mean is please would you.)

Saintpaulia 'Shimmer Shake.' Frontier, Cedar Rapids, $4.
We're also being brave again about Saintpaulias. I've kept one alive for over a year (maybe two years?), so maybe I can do this. It didn't photograph particularly well, but African violets with blue or purple flowers never do, and it was nearly bloomed-out besides. If it survives long enough to flower, it'll be prettier.

Schlumbergera NOID. Frontier, Cedar Rapids, $3.50.
I was planning to wait until after Christmas to pick up Schlumbergeras, but there's so little variety out there this year that I figured I should grab a yellow one when I saw it: Frontier is the only place I've seen with yellow holiday cacti this year. (Includes: Reha's, Earl May, Peck's, Lowe's, Wallace's) Everybody's favoring the red ones really, really hard, and then most of what's left over is pink. Is it always like this?

Anyway. So I was happy. And this is a very pretty flower, too, with a little flush of pink around the center. However many thousands of seedlings had to be grown out and evaluated to get this, it was totally worth it.

Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite NN #1. Frontier, Cedar Rapids, $10.
And then there were orchids. Frontier had them the last time I was there, and I didn't have money to buy any, which sucked because they were the cheapest I'd ever seen for a non-Phalaenopsis orchid that was old enough to flower. So it was a relief to see that they still had some. This Oncidium's flowers aren't especially beautiful, but they're fragrant in a weird way -- the scent reminds me of cardboard, that vanilla/woody/chemical smell. (Another opinion, from a poster at orchidboard.com, is that it has a "comfortable" smell, like the poster's grandmother's house. For what that's worth.)

Mainly, though, I was impressed by the number of roots. Which is perhaps a weird thing to be impressed by, but the plant's practically bursting out of the pot, and there are roots all over the place, so it seemed really healthy, if nothing else.

I assume that I should wait to repot until at least after the flowering is over, right?

Potinara Eye Candy 'Sweet Sensation.' Frontier, Cedar Rapids, $10.
More orchids. This is the one that caught my eye first, the one I knew for sure I wanted to get. No detectable scent, but the colors are particularly nice, and long, careful examination of the Wallace's Orchid Show photos led me to the conclusion that Potinaras are my favorites. (Or one of my favorites.) Can I grow them? I don't know, but I've had a Brassolaeliocattleya for two years now, which is related, so maybe. And unlike the Blc., I know that these orchids are all old enough to flower, so there's more hope of reblooming.

Potinara Eye Candy 'Mellow Yellow.' Frontier, Cedar Rapids, $10.
Orchids again. Same cross as the preceding plant, but a different clone. No scent on this one either. I'm surprised that it's colored so differently from 'Sweet Sensation,' but I suppose I shouldn't be. I don't think I've ever seen two different clones of the same cross side-by-side before.

I'm less impressed with the color of 'Mellow Yellow,' but it looks really good next to 'Sweet Sensation,' which is the main reason I got it.

Leuchtenbergia principis. Frontier, Cedar Rapids, $5!!!!
I already had a Leuchtenbergia, which I bought about a year and a half ago. It was in a 6-inch (15 cm) pot, and I paid $25 for it. It hasn't done anything very exciting, but it hasn't given me any trouble, either. So I didn't need this plant at all. But: it's rare to see it for sale, it's bigger than the first one, and it was priced about 1/8 of what it's worth. (The guy at the counter said that they'd had it for a long time and it wasn't selling, so they gave it a ridiculously low price to get rid of it.)

I don't have a good place to keep it, of course. But I'm sure something can be worked out.