Plant Find: Orchids from friends

This weekend my orchid collection grew without much impact on my wallet.  My aroid friend and fellow blogger Jason was in town, so he came over for dinner on Saturday and we got to hang out in the greenhouse and talk plants for a long time.  That was a lot of fun because most people that come over and see my greenhouse are like "Oh, that's neat - there are some green things in there."  It's not very often that someone comes over who has a real interest in plants and specifically the plants that I grow.

Cirrhopetalum cuminghii division from Jason.  It is a very small plant, shown here in a 2" (maybe smaller) pot.

Jason gave me a cutting of an orchid (above) he bought recently and I shared some cuttings of my plants, as well.

Blc (Lc Time-Life x Blc Lisa Irene 'Melinda') from Oklahoma Orchid Society meeting.  This one is pretty large and healthy.  I have it hanging on it's side in my greenhouse to encourage growth on the other side.

Then, on Sunday, I went to my first Oklahoma Orchid Society (OOS) meeting and came home with two new orchids.  Both of them are in need of some TLC, having been neglected for a while by a former OOS member who doesn't have time for her plants now.  She had donated 15-20 plants to the group and they raffled them off and ended up just giving them away by the end of the meeting.  I put in $2 in raffle tickets and came away with two orchids.  Not bad.

Dendrobium NOID from Oklahoma Orchid Society meeting.  In need of some TLC, but you can see there is a new little cane starting down there at the base.  This picture is kind of crummy.  I apologize.

I learned that these meetings are a good way to grow your collection without spending too much money.  There was a giant Dendrobium (D. Candy Apply x. D. something-or-other) that was still in bloom and was auctioned off for $30 or $35.  A real steal considering the size of the plant!

I had a good time hearing about other people's orchids and growing methods.  It reminded me that our aroid meetings should include more presentations concerning horticulture.  At our meeting in Fort Worth last year there were some really good conversations in the group whenever horticulture came up.  But we could have encouraged this even better by making it part of the agenda.

At our OOS meeting, someone proposed that we have a troubleshooting time of about 15 minutes built into our meetings from now on.  People could bring in an orchid that they are having trouble with and allow other members to comment on how they might be able to combat the problem and get the orchid happy and healthy.  I think this is a great idea and the other members were all for it, too.  It should be interesting for all involved, even if I am just a spectator for that portion at some meetings.

Zygopetalum syd monkhouse from Leslie.  A nice, healthy offset from a large plant she has.

One of my aroid friends, Leslie, recently sent me a large Philodendron cordatum plant that she no longer had room for.  She snuck an extra plant in the box, too - a Zygopetalum orchid, one of my favorite genera.  The flowers of this orchid are dark purple and brown - really cool.  You can see a picture here.  I wonder where the name came from.  Does anyone know?

I'm thankful for terrific friends who share my interests and are happy to share plants with me.  Of course, it goes both ways, and I always send plants or shipping reimbursement in return.

I also bought a couple of orchids on eBay last week and they came in the mail yesterday.  I'll be posting pictures of those soon!