Encyclia inventory

Over time my collection of plants changes quite a bit. I buy new plants and other plants perish. At times I have tried to keep a comprehensive inventory, but my commitment to keep that inventory updated doesn't last and it gets to a point where it is so far behind I almost feel I need to start over.

E. tampensis v. alba

E. atrorubens?
This plant is labeled as E. guatemalensis, but that is not a recognized species.

E. tampensis
This plant FINALLY bloomed this year after having been in my collection for almost 6 years.
You'll notice it looks very similar to the first plant pictured in this post, except the first plant is lacking the pink,
since it is the "alba" variety.

Recently I decided to inventory my plants in groups. I'm starting with my collection of Encyclia, which is probably the genus of which I have the most plants. It's fun to post this list now because a lot of them are blooming or bloomed recently.  It turns out I have more than 35 Encyclia plants, consisting of 22 species and10 known hybrids.  (I know, 22 and 10 do not add up to 35, but I have a couple of duplicates and a couple of unknowns.)

Complete inventory of Encyclia species:

• E. angustiloba 
• E. aspera
• E. aspera
• E. belizensis **
• E. cordigera
• E. fowliei x fowliei 'Duncan'
• E. fucata
• E. gracilis
• E. guatemalensis * (may actually be E. atrorubens)
• E. hanburyi 'Mem. Merlin Rigley'
• E. kennedyi
• E. moebusii
• E. navanjapatensis
• E. patens
• E. phoenicea
• E. plicata **
• E. polybulbon
• E. ramonense 'Dr Pepper' **
• E. randii
• E. seidelii *
• E. tampensis *
• E. tampensis v. alba **
• E. unaensis

* indicates a species that has bloomed for me

** indicates a species that blooms regularly for me

I'm not a complete species purist, but I do concentrate on collecting species.  Most of my hybrids are ones that I acquired in eBay auctions of multiple plants, and they were bundled with species I was interested in purchasing.  In all I have 12 hybrid orchids that include Encyclia among the parents or grandparents.

Complete inventory of Encyclia hybrids:

• E. Faerie Glen (diota x mooreana) *
• E. John Brunton (mooreana x tampensis)
• E. phoenicea x tampensis
• E. tampensis v. alba 'Mendenhall' x plicata 'Cherokee'
• E. Cindy x dickinsoniana
• E. Orchid Jungle (alata x phoenicea)
• E. Gay Rabbit ([alata x cordigera] x cordigera) *
• E. (unidentified hybrid potted with Gay Rabbit) *
• E. (unidentified, possibly Grand Bahama)
• Epy. Mabel Kanda (E. cordigera x Epi. paniculatum) *
• Epc. Siam Jade (C. Penny Kuroda x Epc. Vienna Woods)
• Eplc. Pixie Charm (Lc. Pixie x E. alata)

* indicates a species that has bloomed for me

Epy. Mabel Kanda
An intergeneric hybrid between Epidendrum and Encyclia.
I had to look up the correct abbreviation for this one in the RHS register.

E. Faerie Glen
This is a new plant that I just purchased at Santa Barbara Orchid Estate when I was in California in March.

The hybrids are a mix bag of primary hybrids (a pure species crossed with another species), multi-generation hybrids, and even intergeneric (plants from different genus being crossed) hybrids.  A lot of Encyclia are used in orchid hybridization, especially crossing with Cattleya, Laelia, and Epidendrum.  You'll notice that Mabel Kanda hybrid is a cross of an Encyclia and an Epidendrum, while Siam Jade is a second generation intergeneric hybrid - a Cattleya crossed with a hybrid of an Encyclia and a Cattleya.

Unidentified Encyclia hybrid

The Encyclia above is a mystery because it is in a pot labeled Enc. Gay Rabbit. There are a lot of pseudobulbs in the pot and I have actually had two concurrent spikes with different flowers.  One set of flowers has a white lip with some dark pink streaking (as shown in the photo), while the other flowers have a solid pink lip.  I believe one is correctly labeled Gay Rabbit and the other (pictured above) may be something different.  It is also possible that both are the same hybrid from the same parents and they are just displaying some of the variation expected for this hybrid.

I have one other plant that is missing a label.  I am pretty certain it is an Encyclia species or hybrid, because the pseudobulbs and growth habit match and it is sitting with all of my other Encyclia.  Based on my past records, I think it may be E. Grand Bahama (tampensis x plicata).  I'm going to put that tentative label on it for now.

Trip Report: Orchid Show in Wichita, Exceptional Exhibits

Over the weekend, we traveled to Wichita, Kansas for the Kansas Orchid Society's annual show, which was in conjunction with the spring meeting of the American Orchid Society.  Whenever the AOS meeting coincides with a regional show, it is a big affair, with more plants on exhibit and more vendors present.  Some of my good plant friends from neighboring states converged on Wichita, so I got to spend time with plants and friends, which made for a really fun weekend.

Some of my good plant friends.

We're all members of the International Aroid Society, as well as local orchid societies.

Since I have so many pictures and so much to talk about, I am going to split this post into a several different posts, the first concentrating on the exhibit highlights.

Me with my two award winners, Polystachya paniculata (in hand) and Dendrobium Little Green Apples (on upper right)

For the first time, I sent a couple of my blooming orchids for inclusion in the Oklahoma Orchid Society's exhibit.  Both of my orchids (Dendrobium Little Green Apples and Polystachya paniculata) were given 3rd place ribbons, so that was encouraging.

My Polystachya paniculata plant

I have heard about Andy's Orchids for a while.  It is probably one of the five most popular orchid vendors online.  They have a lot of species available and generally have pretty reasonable prices.  Most of their plants are mounted on sticks, which is nice, too.

Exhibit by Andy's Orchids

Andy's Orchids had a really nice "exhibit by a commercial grower."  My friend Steve told me it was put together at their business and shipped in a box filled with packing peanuts.  When they got to the show, they just opened the box, pulled out the structure and let the peanuts fall away.

Cochlioda rosea

The exhibit consisted mostly of intermediate to cool growing orchids, including Masdevallias down near the bottom and at the top a couple of orchids from the genus Cochlioda, a new genus to me.

Spectacular exhibit by Max C. Thompson and Bryon K. Rinke

Two gentlemen that must have huge orchid collections put together this single amazing display that was gigantic.  Can you believe how many blooming orchids are in the photo above?  That is a lot of really nice orchids.  It took several visits by this exhibit to really take it all in.  Actually, scratch that, I doubt I took it all in, even after several visits.

Ancistrochilus rothschildianus

Epidendrum Panama Ruby

These couple of photos are not really the highlights of their exhibit.  They are just plants that I was really interested in.  The above Epidendrum was just an oddball and that's why it was interesting to me.  Do you see the blooms?  They are kind of discrete.

Epidendrum magnoliae 'Bryon'

The Epidendrum above is native to the southeastern United States, found as far north as North Carolina.  It can withstand a light freeze and prefers to live in Magnolia trees, hence the name Epidendrum magnoliae.  I would like to try growing this orchid someday.

Cattleya that won a first place ribbon

If you grow Cattleya orchids well, they will reward you with a lot of blooms.  If you grow them really well, they will build an army of flowers determined to march to the nearest orchid show and demand a first place ribbon.

Ida locusta

The most highly awarded plant had a totally green flower, with a little bit of yellow on the column.  The plant is Ida locusta and it was given the HCC award (Highly Commendable Certificate), which you can see in the lower part of the picture.

Trip Report: Ruben in Orchids

Before embarking on our trip to southern Florida, I scoured the web, looking for planty places to visit. I knew I would be visiting the wonderful Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, for the IAS show and sale, but I also wanted to visit some nurseries while we were in the area. I am always coming across plants that are sold on eBay or other sites from nurseries in the Miami area. Also, I was particularly interested in finding some places that sold certain genera of orchids and other places that sold Aglaonemas.

Sea of orchids at Ruben in Orchids

One of the places I found that sold Encyclia orchids is Ruben in Orchids, which is located in the Redlandsssh , Florida - south of Miami. The owner is Dr. Ruben P. Salueda, who has a long history hybridizing Encyclias and Cattleyas. I sent an email and found that they would be open while we were there. I was excited!

Brassavola

We had a little trouble finding the place, thanks to Miami's genius idea of naming all of their streets with numbers - in both directions. What I mean is that this place was near the intersection of SW 184th and SW 224th. Do you see why this is confusing? In addition to using numbers for all the street names, they use both cardinal directions.  It should be S 184th and W 224th.  That would make sense.  Anyway, finally we discovered that east-west roads are called "streets" and the north-south roads are "avenues."  That's helpful to know, but there are also exceptions to that rule.  Every once in a while one of them is a "court" or "drive."  Anyway, we did make it there, as referenced by the pictures.

Epidendrum of some sort - possibly E. pseudepidendrum.

Ruben's wife, Claudia, showed us around the place.  She told us they have only been in this location for about 4 years, which is astounding, considering how settled they look and how much maturity there is in the place and the landscapes.  You would have guessed they had been there 20 years or more.  Their love of orchids and other plants is evidenced all over their property.  The backyard has orchids hanging in the trees, some attached to the trunks, others hanging in baskets.  There are vanilla orchids and dragon fruit cacti climbing up the trunks of all of their palms.  Beautiful plants everywhere.

A beautiful peach-colored hybrid orchid growing on the back porch. Sadly, not for sale.  Christie and I both loved the colors on this one.

They even have African reef lake cichlids in their pond up by the house. Amazing!

African cichlids happily living in an outdoor pond

Needless to say, I was in heaven. I was surrounded by orchids - and many of them were Encyclias.  This place wasn't set up for shoppers really.  It was a grower's greenhouse.  So prices weren't clear - or even a tag to know if the plant was for sale or not.  But I had a wonderful time perusing the rows of orchids and seeing all sorts of things I hadn't seen before.

One happy guy!

Beautiful pendant blooms of Cycnoches chlorochilon - at least that is what it was labeled. It doesn't match the photos here, though. I think it could be Cycnoches dianae.

At the last Oklahoma Orchid Society meeting I attended, the talk was given on the genus Cycnoches, which is unique among orchids. Most orchids have both male and female parts on every flower, while Cycnoches have separate male and female flowers, though they can be on the same plant and even on the same raceme. It's fascinating. And we got to see one of these in person at Ruben's. It was a really nice specimen in the prime of it's bloom.

Somehow I didn't catch the name on this one and I really wish I had. It is awesome!

Epidendrum Mabel Kanda x Encyclia cordigera - I think.

I ended up purchasing two really nice Encyclias from Ruben in Orchids - Encyclia tampensis and Encyclia plicata.  The E. plicata was in bloom with really tall bloom stalks.  We enjoyed them for the remainder of our vacation and then had to clip them off before getting on our plane to fly home.  Maybe next time we'll be able to fly.  Of course, I can only imagine how much money I would spend if we drove and had lots of room in the car for plants...

Hybrid orchid - probably a mix of Encyclia and Cattleya.

Before we left, Claudia told us we should visit R.F. Orchids, which was "just down the road."  I was shocked, because I had heard of R.F. Orchids and had no idea they were in the area.  It's a good thing I didn't know, because I might have gone there, rather than Ruben's place.  And I'm really glad I visited Ruben's.

Blooms from the Encyclia plicata plant I bought.

Driving around the Redlands we discovered that this is orchid territory.  There were literally stands on the side of the road all over the place with signs advertising "$6 orchids," "$7 orchids" and even "$1 orchids."  We checked out several of these places on our way to R.F. Orchids, some of which had some really good deals.  More on that soon.

Plant Find: Two miniature orchids

I got two miniature orchids in the mail yesterday.  First, I give you, Encyclia dickinsoniana.

Encyclia dickinsoniana.  (Note: the spelling on the tag is wrong.)

Next, is Epidendrum longicaule, which is currently in bloom.

Epidendrum longicaule

Pretty nice, huh?

"Just how big are these miniatures?" you might ask.  Well, here's a little size comparison.

Dendrobium 'Marie McFarlane' and Epidendrum longicaule (tiny)

Note: the larger Dendrobium orchid is really not a big plant.  That tiny thing sitting at the base is my Epidendrum longicaule.  Needless to say, Christie really likes my tiny blooming orchid.  After all, it's tiny.