Pretty picture: Paphiopedilum hybrid

Officially, this is Paphiopedilum (Michael Koopowitz x adductum) x Paph. Shin-Yi Edward #1, but I wasn't sure all that would fit in the title.

Also he prefers "Dave."

Pretty pictures: Hatiora cvv.

I am becoming increasingly worried that the summer will be over before I get the official sell-trade list together. (This worry may make more sense once you see the post in question.) As a result, I'm announcing a semi-hiatus, which will last until I get that posted. (The "semi-" part is because some orchid posts are already scheduled.)

In appreciation for your patience, here are a couple photos of NOID Hatioras that I didn't buy from the ex-job.


Why not? Well, they were expensive: $10 for a 4" pot. Even if that weren't an issue, though, I don't think I should grow Easter cacti: it doesn't seem to go very well, and even the plants that survive and prosper don't rebloom. So it all seems kind of pointless, even if the flowers are undeniably pretty.

Pretty picture: Cattleya aclandiae

Hmmph. Cattleyas think they're so pretty.

In this case, actually, I can kinda see it. It may be that I only like this one because it's different -- most of the catts and their relatives that I run into are frillier and more monochromatic than this.

By reader request:

A reader has requested that I let you know I'm okay, after all the weather.

I'm okay. There were tornadoes in Iowa, but mostly in southwest Iowa. The closest one to us was near West Des Moines, which is a solid 125-150 miles away. (There was a tornado warning issued closer to us, but they apparently decided later that it was not in fact actually a tornado. And also it was still a good 70 miles or so.)

Benjamin, who was a lot closer to the action than I was, is also fine, he says in today's post.

The severe weather action is again supposed to be close to us, but not that close: the NWS forecast has the biggest danger area today somewhat to our north, in NE IA / SE MN / SW WI, so we'll probably get through that fine as well.

Saturday morning Sheba and/or Nina picture

Another kind of rough week for Sheba, the most noteworthy event of which was a bit of carsickness on Wednesday. This photo isn't from that trip, but it easily could have been: this seems to be one of her favorite sleep positions.

New (old) plant: Salvia elegans

We've been without a pineapple sage here since last fall, when my only surviving plant fell to a surprise frost before I could try to get cuttings to overwinter. There had been backup plants, of course, but those all pooped out because of drought or spider mites (or both), so when the one outside died, that was my whole stock.

Naturally I questioned whether or not I wanted to try to get another one. I mean, it had been a plant I liked, before all the unpleasantness, but nobody else seems as interested in it as I am, the mite thing was really annoying, and it grows a little too fast to keep up with effectively, so I wasn't going to.


But you know how it is. You run into one another again, exchange pleasantries, start feeling those feelings again, and before you know it you're going home together. (Also some money changed hands, which kinda ruins the metaphor, but whatever.)

Pretty pictures: Epidendrum Rose Valley 'Caribbean Dream'

The orchid show had two different-looking plants that were both identified as Epidendrum Rose Valley 'Caribbean Dream,' which was confusing. One is the one shown here:


And the other [EDIT: NOT SHOWN IN THIS POST] was the same shape and size, but the flowers were orange-red instead of pink.


Both colors show up in a Google search, so it could be that there's a pink form and a red form of the same flower. Which would be strange, but it's hardly the strangest thing I've ever heard of from the orchid world.

(The orange-red version gets its own post, but that's scheduled for December.)

Another sale/trade preview post

I'd hoped to get this year's sell/trade post up a couple weeks earlier than I did last year (25 April), but it's looking like I'll be lucky to post it at the same time. Deciding which things to offer took a very long time on its own, and then everything had to be photographed, and I spent a day trying to make sense of the USPS's shipping charges from last year, in hopes of coming up with a better approximation for this year, so on and on it goes.

But! I do at least have a few early pictures, which I may as well share, since I don't have much else going on anyway. Prices are still being determined, and obviously I'm selling more than four kinds of plants (about 80, with another 10 that aren't ready yet but will be by the end of the summer -- or at least I hope they will be), and I may as well admit now that these are some of the better-looking plants I have to offer, and they don't all look like this. But as a taste:

Episcia NOID.

Gasteraloe x beguinii.

Hatiora salicornioides.

Nautilocalyx forgetii.

Peperomia pereskiifolia.

Pereskia aculeata var. godseffiana.