Plant Find: Helping out the poor orchid sellers from eBay...

Lately I have just felt so sorry for those poor people who sell orchids on eBay that I have given them all of my plant allowance.

Bepi. Femme Fatale - Notice that there is a bud spike beginning to emerge from the center!

This Bepi. (Brassoepidendrum) is really cool in bloom, and pretty neat foliage when it's not.  The blooms have cool speckling of purple overlaying white and greenish-yellow petals.  The plant is pretty small, but it must not get very large when mature, because it is already producing buds.  This is a blooming size plant!  I've got a pretty good collection of miniature orchids now, which is nice, since room in my greenhouse is limited.

Dendrobium atroviolaceum with several large buds, ready to open anyday.

Sometimes I am a little disappointed with plants that arrive on my doorstep, being a little smaller than they appeared in the pictures online or being a little worse-for-wear after shipping.  One case where this definitely was not true was with the Dendrobium atroviolaceum which came in this shipment.  The ebay seller used reverse psychology on me, posting pictures of the plant in bloom but stating that the plant was no longer in bloom.  The plant I received had a couple of half-spent flowers on it and, upon closer inspection, quite a few bud spikes starting.  The plant looks really healthy and I feel good about the chance of these buds opening for me!

Dendrobium victoria-reginae

I can't say that this Dendrobium has been on my want list for a long time, but I can say that it has been at the top of my list from as soon as it was on the list.  I know: It looks really pathetic.  But take a look at this picture and tell me I'm a fool for buying it!  (I won't say confess how much I paid.)

Hamelwellsara June 'Indigo Sue'

My Hamelwellsara (above) was also posted as a non-blooming plant, but came to be with flowers open and many more buds ready to follow!  The color of this bloom (below) is just amazing.  It is closely related to the Zygopetalum genus, as you might have guessed.

Hamelwellsara June 'Indigo Sue'

I also purchased two small Brassovola glauca 'Woltmon' orchids (below).  These have really neat creamy white blooms that appear just at the top  of the cluster of leaves - not on long spikes or racemes, like many other orchids.

Brassovola glauca 'Woltmon'

The species name 'glauca' refers to the powdery coating on the leaves which makes them appear bluish-gray (not so obvious in my picture above).  Another plant which has the name 'glauca' is the blue fescue grass (Festuca glauca).

Megaclinium saurocephalum

The next orchid (above) was sold as Megaclinium saurocephalum.  I have also seen this plant with the genus name Bulbophyllum and I haven't yet determined which is considered the current valid name.  Either the Megaclinium genus was sunk into the huge Bulbophyllum genus, or divided out.  Either way, it's a really cool plant.

Megaclinium saurocephalum bloom spike

Don't you just love the weirdness of this bloom spike?

Megaclinium saurocephalum spike closeup

Hopefully I'll have some bloom photos to share soon from my Dendrobium atroviolaceum and Bepi Femme Fatale!

Plant Find: Ginkgo biloba trees

I have long admired the Ginkgo tree. I can pretty much name every place where I have seen one now - the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, the Missouri Botanic Gardens and two here in town (one small tree in my neighbor's backyard and one near a park by our house). I have even been inspired by the Ginkgo to paint my first piece of art (maybe - it may or may not look like art once I'm finished).

Even though these trees are well known and well loved, they are really hard to find around here. The only ones I have seen for sale were very expensive at a local nursery. I got some seeds from a friend, but none of them have sprouted for me. Then I came across a real deal on eBay several weeks ago! For $14, I got two saplings between 18" and 24" tall each - shipping included! That's much better than the $150 I would have had to pay for a 6 foot tree here locally!

Leaves just beginning to emerge from the tip of the tree planted in the ground.

So I have two Ginkgos now. What will I do with two of these things? Not sure. For now, one is planted in our backyard near the corner garden. I have put a tomato cage around it to keep the pups from running it over while it is still small. The other is in a pot, where it will remain for the time being. I don't know how long it will be happy in a pot, but I imagine it is doable, considering some people train Ginkgos to be bonsai specimens. My two trees are already too big to be trained as bonsai, but maybe this one will still make a nice container tree. Of the two trees I now have, the one in the pot is growing more quickly than the one in the ground, possibly because it is in partial shade and just quicker to establish.

Ginkgo biloba leaves out and mature. This is actually the tree I potted.

The two plants were sent to me bareroot, wrapped in moist paper towel and had not yet produced any leaves, but they are already starting to pop out now, as you can see in the pictures above. Ginkgo trees have the most amazing leaf shape and really beautiful color in the fall, when they turn solid yellow. I am looking forward to that show every year.