76 and still gardening
To those who are feeling blue, here’s a pretty orchid to brighten up your day… – Mama Nene
In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.
– Sam Llewelyn
These indigo flowers come from the Vanda Rothschildiana, a hybrid orchid between of the Blue Orchid (Vanda coerulea) and the Euanthe sanderiana. I’ve enjoyed looking at the 5 inches wide flat flowers bloom for at least 4 weeks.
Vanda Rosalind Cheok x Vanda Varut Leopard is the most expensive orchid recently added to my collection. It is this plant’s first time to bloom in 14 years. I guess it’s worth the wait for the red-mottled yellow flowers are quite large about 6 inches wide. Honestly, I wasn’t attracted to it at first or second glimpse but then again…once you’ve got orchid fever, you couldn’t resist to collect.
God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled. ~Author Unknown
It’s Typhoon MINA that’s been causing all those rain, wind, and brownouts here in my hometown for the past days… and Lanao del Norte is just at its outskirts! My cacti suffered the most — weeds grew in every pot and cacti condition ranges from okay to rotting to dead. I even found an “empty shell” of a dwarf cactus while weeding its pot…
and a dead Thelocactus setispinus reclining like a tower of Pisa…
…but not all is bad news on cacti. As they say, a garden is always on the business of life and death; if a plant died, seedlings would sprout… and sprout they did. I’ve propagated some Thelocactus seeds early this month and look how they’re (Thelocactus seedlings) starting their new life.
Also, two of my orchids bloomed again… The red-mottled golden flowers of the Vanda hybrid cheered me up ( this orchid arrived in bloom here in my garden last February 2011)… And so is the orange blooms of my Ascocenda.
Some plants also bloomed to show that they’re faring well in this current weather condition. So overall, I’m still glad while waiting for the this wet season to pass.
Being popular doesn’t mean high maintenance. And Vanda teres is one of those popular orchids that are easy to maintain by a novice or jaded gardener. This species is also of great value in the tropical flower trade especially here in the Philippines; flower farms use it to develop a new hybrid and flower shops make it a staple for corsages. As for me, I simply like to see its rose-colored blossoms (3 inch across) fluttering on its long stalk.
In gardens, beauty is a by-product. The main business is sex and death.
– Sam Llewelyn
These indigo flowers come from the Vanda Rothschildiana, a hybrid orchid between of the Blue Orchid (Vanda coerulea) and the Euanthe sanderiana. I’ve enjoyed looking at the 5 inches wide flat flowers bloom for at least 4 weeks.
This orchid Euanthe sanderiana arrived in my garden last thursday, April 28 all the way from Davao, Philippines. Even though I already have one in my collection, the waling-waling orchid is always welcome in my garden. Just look at it those flowers (3-4 inches across), and you could just marvel at the creativity of the Maker. The upper sepal and petals are fairly uniform white to rose while the lower sepals are yellow-green and heavily veined with reddish brown. Truly, the waling-waling is an original beauty.
Mama Nene's Garden 