Oct. 11, 2015 [update]: More pictures of the Phal. equestris v rosea:

Sep. 24, 2015 [update]: The little Phal. equestris v rosea keiki that Ron gave us is blooming!

Jun. 26, 2014 [update]:  The Bulb. frostii is in full bloom!

Jun. 15, 2014 [update]: The Bulb. frostii buds are beginning to look more noticeable. So exciting!

May 31, 2014: Our story relating to Taylor Orchids goes way back to the very beginning of our wacky orchid journey. In the dead of winter (late Dec/early Jan), after hitting almost every nearby Meijer, Home Depot, Lowes, and English Gardens store shopping for orchids, we wondered if there are any orchid-specific nurseries around.

Searching online, we found this article about Ron Ciesinski and Taylor Orchids in Monroe, MI. Excited about the pictures on the article, we had to check this place out (remember, at this point, we’ve only been able to encounter no id Phal hybrids at the mainstream stores and whatever English Gardens had to offer in the middle of what would become the coldest winter in decades). Further searching online, we found the address and phone number for Taylor Orchids. I made the call to see if we can visit and I will never forget how Ron responded to my enthusiastic question: “Are you crazy? Did you not see the weather outside?” All I can muster in response was an “oh, so sorry…”.

Since then, after discovering a whole bunch of other orchid vendors around us, discovering local orchid shows and orchid societies, and online orchid resources, we never had a chance to attempt to visit Taylor Orchids again. That is, until today. As a favor to a fellow Michigan Orchid Society member, we volunteered to drop off some plants there. We took it as an opportunity to scope the place out ahead of the big Summer Sale next weekend. We heard stories about Ron and his greenhouse but we did not expect what we experienced today.

Stepping into Taylor Orchids for the first, we were overwhelmed with the sheer amount of amazing plants everywhere. Every direction we turned, there’s something interesting to look at. This isn’t like any retail establishment where you see dozens of the same kind of plant. This is like stepping into a huge private collection where you find one or two of a certain plant. We went there as a favor but as it turned out, we were the lucky ones since we got the chance to pick up unique plants before anyone else ahead of next weekend’s big sale.

Masd. Snowbird. Of course we searched for Pleurothallid Alliance plants first. This was the only one we found for sale which was fine since there were a lot of other interesting plants around.

(picture from Internet) The flowers of Masd. Snowbird clearly shows its mother’s traits: tovarensis x mejiana. Very pretty.

Phal. Little Emperor (Sogo Lit-Angel x Golden Amboin). Taylor Orchids had a vast variety of Phalaenopsis plants and it was quickly evident to me that this trip would be very Phal-centric.

Of course my first choice was this plant with a beautiful orange flower.

Phal. Peoker Beauty (Salu Peoker x Diamond Beauty) was Larry’s first choice amongst all the Phal hyrbids.

I don’t blame Larry for gravitating towards this plant. The flowers that were on it looked species-y

Amongst all the hybrids was this plant tagged: Phal schilleriana x Phal schilleriana. I guess that makes this a self or sib cross? When we pointed this out to Ron and asked if it was meant to be on the Phal hybrid tables, initially he said no. That it should have been with the other larger, healthier-looking Phal schilleriana plants (which were a little more expensive). We figured, if that’s the case, we might as well get a bigger, better plant then.

This was the biggest one there and the tag still says: Phal schilleriana x Phal schilleriana. Because of the sheer sensory overload, we ended up actually buying both plants (we only discovered when we got home).

(picture from Internet) No regrets tho, the flowers of Phal schilleriana is very pretty.

Phal. tetraspis. Once we were on the roll with Phals, it was a fun hunt for what other Phal species were available.

(picture from Internet) At that moment, we didn’t realize that this was how the flowers of this plant would be. It’s the random, color blocked Phal! So geeked!

Phal. inscription. This is going to be an interesting one. I can’t seem to find any information online regarding this. There is a Phal species called “inscriptiosinensis” but those have solid green leaves. Picture of flower to follow once the spike it came with blooms. So exciting!

This was the infamous “Don’t Even Think About It!!!” sign that everyone mentions when talking about Taylor Orchids. It was amongst beautiful Phal equestris plants in bloom.

Phal. equestris v rosea. We were admiring all the Phal equestris plants so much that Ron actually broke off this keiki to give us.

Phal. equestris alba x celebensis ‘Sweet’. Ron offered us this plant for free if we would pick up a few more plants. Of course we took him up on his offer!

(picture from Internet) This particular cross doesn’t seem to have been registered with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) yet. So I can’t find the grex. This picture is of Phal. Silbergrube which has the parents reversed (celebensis x equestris).

Bulb. frostii. While walking around the greenhouse with Ron, he picks this plant up and says for us to buy it. We complied, of course.

Walking around further into his private collection area, Ron points out that these would be the flowers of the plant he urged us to get.

We always see Bulb. frostii as a parent is a lot of Bulbophyllum hybrids available out there but I guess we never bothered to check how they look themselves. The tag also indicated Bulb. bootanoides which Ron mentioned is because they look like dutch clog-booties.

Vanda kimballiana. This plant was just sitting there by its lonesome with no tag. I initially thought it was a Paraphalaenopsis which we only started to get really interested in. Ron cleared it up when he found his other more mature versions of this same plant.

(picture from Internet) Although it wasn’t a Paraphalaenopsis, the flowers of Vanda kimballiana looks so unqiue. We’re glad we picked it up.

And to round things out, we also bought a very beautiful Oncidium plant that’s in bloom (picture of Larry with it below) but we left it at Taylor Orchids for today to be display for next weekend’s sale. Also to give us an excuse to go back (as if we needed an excuse).

Orchid count: #209-219