Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Orchids Are A-Growin'
I love this time of the year because as the temperatures start to fall, many Paphs start to spike. I grow all my orchids outside during the summer, and bring them in in the fall. Last year my collection suffered some losses from leaving them out too long though; even though they were in the coldframe, an early frost killed off a few of my most beloved plants. Therefore I took extra caution this year and brought all the plants in as soon as it got down to 5 C at night (which was less than 2 weeks ago). Usually it doesn't get this cold this fast, but sometimes it does, obviously. However, the falling temperatures in the second half of August have done some good. I now have two plants in sheath and one in spike, besides the Phrag 4N cross that has been in bloom since May. The two in sheath are Paph Satin Smoke (micranthum x victoria-regina I think) and Paph (Yerba Buena x Golden Days) x spicerianum, a complex hybrid that last bloomed 2 years ago; these are often slow-growing. The one in spike is Paph Pinocchio (primulinum x moquettianum I think), a Cochlopetalum cross which flowers almost perpetually when mature. The last time it flowered was last summer, and it flowered until the spring, therefore it took only a few months break! The first flower already opened on that plant, but it quickly died off due to a mealy bug infestation. Mealy bugs are little white sap-sucking insects which are the sole biggest insect pest for Paphs (which don't get a lot of trouble with pests). These guys love to hide in flower sheaths (as happened here) and in the crevices between leaves. They are easily killed off with insecticidal soap and I think these ones are all gone now. The rest of that plant's flowers should be fine (it will open several more over the next few months). Luckily this was the only plant in my collection affected this time around. This was the third time only in the 7 years that I have been growing orchids, that I got mealy bugs.
By the way, this was my 200th post on this blog!
By the way, this was my 200th post on this blog!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Another Gardening Season Ending...
...But hey, fall is a great time of the year! It may not be as exciting as spring, but the autumn is a great time to clean up the yard after a long (or not so long) season, maybe make some improvements to it, and buy some bulbs (which is actually pretty exciting). What's more, is if you are into orchids like I am, the fall marks the beginning of the season for many types. And for me personally, September is the month that my orchid society resumes its monthly meetings which I greatly miss over the summer. Bearing all this in mind and as I begin a new stage in my life with university, I have quite a positive mind about fall right now.
I am doing a great deal of work on my garden at the moment and rushing to have it finished before first snowfall, which in my region can happen any time now, believe it or not, although there is an equal chance that it will remain in the 20s Celsius for the next few weeks. I found it very difficult to get anything done outside over the summer as it was around 30 degrees Celsius (often quite a bit hotter than that) almost every day with very little rain - difficult weather to get hard work done in. Now that it is cooling off I am spending more time outside. I expect all of my projects will be finished by the end of the month weather-permitting. This will include new flowerbeds in both my front and back yards, with space for interesting new plants - some of which are already purchased - and some great new yard art and other geographical features. I am focussing now on xeroscaping as much as I can - this means that I am mainly planting low-maintenance plants (specifically drought-tolerant ones), many of which are native. However, of course I can never resist planting finicky exotic plants as well - that's what I'm all about! In the end most of the lawn on my property will be eliminated as I have found it difficult to maintain a healthy lawn in my neighborhood, where people allow weeds to grow in increasingly large ranks and tons of their offspring sprout on my lawn throughout the year. The money and time required to keep the lawn looking good is not worth the return, I think. Instead a thick and healthy planting of low-maintenance flowers will keep weeds out and look impressive.
Aside from projects outside I am looking to refine my orchid and carnivorous plant growing space indoors so that I can get better results and make more room. For years I had a light-mounted three-tier shelf in my bedroom; this has been moved to the kitchen and a smaller shelf put in its place which now holds my larger plants (which were too large to grow well on the tiered shelf). I am also planning to set up a growing area in my crawlspace basement.
I will be uploading some pictures soon, and hope to make a posting every week at least.
I am doing a great deal of work on my garden at the moment and rushing to have it finished before first snowfall, which in my region can happen any time now, believe it or not, although there is an equal chance that it will remain in the 20s Celsius for the next few weeks. I found it very difficult to get anything done outside over the summer as it was around 30 degrees Celsius (often quite a bit hotter than that) almost every day with very little rain - difficult weather to get hard work done in. Now that it is cooling off I am spending more time outside. I expect all of my projects will be finished by the end of the month weather-permitting. This will include new flowerbeds in both my front and back yards, with space for interesting new plants - some of which are already purchased - and some great new yard art and other geographical features. I am focussing now on xeroscaping as much as I can - this means that I am mainly planting low-maintenance plants (specifically drought-tolerant ones), many of which are native. However, of course I can never resist planting finicky exotic plants as well - that's what I'm all about! In the end most of the lawn on my property will be eliminated as I have found it difficult to maintain a healthy lawn in my neighborhood, where people allow weeds to grow in increasingly large ranks and tons of their offspring sprout on my lawn throughout the year. The money and time required to keep the lawn looking good is not worth the return, I think. Instead a thick and healthy planting of low-maintenance flowers will keep weeds out and look impressive.
Aside from projects outside I am looking to refine my orchid and carnivorous plant growing space indoors so that I can get better results and make more room. For years I had a light-mounted three-tier shelf in my bedroom; this has been moved to the kitchen and a smaller shelf put in its place which now holds my larger plants (which were too large to grow well on the tiered shelf). I am also planning to set up a growing area in my crawlspace basement.
I will be uploading some pictures soon, and hope to make a posting every week at least.
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