Congrats!!!

I'm close, but I still have a few that are finishing up when the last ones open. Eventually I'll have all these soldiers in order! The pale yellow had an initial burst of 8 flowers (usually it's about 20 on branching spikes). I was disappointed, but then, before the last few flowers fell, it decided to keep going and grew 12 more buds!

Better days for the purple guy (no idea what it is, I found it with no roots in the trash):

A tiny little IKEA purchase who decided to rebloom, since everyone else was doing it:

And last, a first bloom for this four year old keiki. The parent plant (in the same pot right behind it) decided to spike two months after. Weird.

You have a beautiful collection of plants Dannie. I must say mine are all pretty boring but I was given the majority of them as gifts. That's what got me into growing them in the first place. I would love to vary my collection alot more then what I have. Where did you get such varied color palettes?

I love how you have such different colors and shapes. I yearn to do the same!

Thank you, as do you! My collection involved a bit of serendipity: I inherited the white/purple spotted one; the pale yellow was a thank-you gift, the fuchsia/purple one was plucked out of the trash and nursed back to health, the white one was picked up for $5 at my local orchid society, and the yellow/pink one was a $7 IKEA purchase. I have a few "fancier" orchids, but you just can't beat all of these gorgeous, random, no-name phals that put on a reliably beautiful show, year after year!

Now, if my stubborn Oncidiums would fall in line ...

WOW! Very nice plants!!

Congratulations!!

What a wonderful display. Congrats to both of you!

If you like oncids.....check mine out here........http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3422259/odd-flower-spike-on-my-oncidium If you go all the way towards the end of the post, you can see my sharri baby in full bloom.....

This flower...

Was from this plant...not sure what type of oncidium it is.

Congrats on all the phal blooms. I especially,Ike the small bloom types. Cj! That Has to be the most beautiful Sharry Baby I've seen! It almost seems to have a more dwarf growth habit. Does it have a varietal name? I'd love to grow a SB but don't have space for ones with a tall spiking habit.

Cj, I saw your sharry baby in the other thread, it's just beautiful! I have a division of one from a fellow orchid society member, but it was in sad shape. It's been holding its own this past year ... no new growth, no blooms. We'll see if it decides to rebound. I do have a twinkle, it's small but mighty! It's in a 4 in. pot, and each flower is maybe a half-inch. Smells lovely, though! I'd love to add a yellow twinkle to my collection.

Oh I have envy, all I've had so far this winter is an Onc 'Gold Dust', and a Paph villosum. I have some dend bracteosum coloring up now though to carry me into spring.

This is a fun thread! Takes me back many years when someone would post a 'what's blooming/spiking at your house' thread. You guys should really be posting these bloomers in the gallery too.

I NEED to get a twinkle. Love your plant and blooms!

The Sharry Baby doesn't look like 'Sweet Fragrance' but there some other very desirable clones caused by the mericloning process. One has the unlovely name of 'Yellow Mutation'

Nice Phals pictured in the posts above, but surely you do not want them all in bloom at the same time.

Maybe some of the summer blooming species might extend the flowering period. There are some summer blooming hybrids too but they might be hard to find.

I'm not sure what type of Sharry Baby it is, but I can assure you the fragrance fills the whole room during the day. It's wonderful.

And me personally, I certainly do want all of my phals in bloom at the same time because they are outside, out of site for the summer time. The cycle I have them synchronized to leads to vegetation growth all summer long, and then when I bring them inside after autumn, the spiking begins. By the time this flower show is over, it's going to be time to put them out again. It works out just perfectly for me.

I don't mind that they all bloom over the course of a few months. I've had flowers on one or another for the last 4 months, with the last few weeks being a crossover of most of them having flowers at the same time. Two of them will have flowers through March. There's a slightly confused phal that will start spiking next month, if history repeats itself, and I have paphs on my window at home that send up blooms at all random times. After that: spring and summer beauty abounds! Knowing I've got a plethora of color to look forward when it's grey and cold outdoors is fine with me!

Any of you guys grow Cattelya's? I just grabbed one at discount two months ago. Right now it's just holding steady, no change good or bad aside from some new root growth, which is a good sign. I'm guessing it's probably not gonna budge until I put it outside this summer.

cj,

I grow 10-15 different catts (minis and compacts mainly), and they definitely need their summer sun and good winter light (south window or supplemental in 7a?) to do well and get some blooms. I would think it should do well with a bit more sun than the Sharry Baby. I give all my catts a bit more sun than my only oncid, a Twinkle. With good summer sun and supplemental winter lighting, I think indoor growers can successfully grow most orchids.

BTW, I have a few years of experience as an indoor orchid grower and generally to indoor growers I think Sharry Baby's are like boats: Happy days when you get one, happier days when you get rid of it, as they can get huge!!! Thus the Twinkle for me. For me, size becomes a very limiting factor. I'm always struggling with plants that started small but have grown large over the years. Usually an issue when I have to move everything back indoors in the fall.

I like phals also, as they make up at least 1/3 of my collection (@35 phals total for me), if you throw a few species phals (or heavily influenced by species) into the mix, you can have some nice summer blooms too. I always have at least a couple of phals in bloom year round, but as I said, I do like phals. Don't get me wrong, I like winter blooms too as I have @20 plants blooming currently, 8 are phals the rest are a mixed bag, anything from a Dracula to a rupicolous laelia.

Good luck,

Bob

So then almost full sun for the Catt's in the summer?

Into the sun gradually CJ. Morning sun, than dappled shade thru the afternoon should work. I've sunburned too many catts thru the years . With our Texas sun, many plants can't take that intense light past mid morning.

That's exactly what I do with my Oncids and they love it. I have the perfect spot. Thanks!

So my lady bought me this beauty for V-day

As I started taking it apart to fix it up, I noticed it has these things in it....

Not just in it, but JAMMED down into the growing heart of the plant.

Who would do such a thing to these plants? I was absolutely livid. I'm not sure this thing is even going to grow correctly now? These things were in so deep I had to put a significant amount pressure on them to pull them out.

You can still see the glitter all jammed up in it.

This company is irresponsible and this should not have happened. Why put these into the plant when if need be you can put them into the medium? I finally got a different color phal and now it may not even grow correctly. What do you guys think? Do you think it will be okay in the long run?

I know it's funny to hear someone get so upset over a plant, but these things are like my babies......LOL.

All spiking On Cue... This show is going to be better than last year's!

Al...what type of orchid is the one shown in your avatar? It looks like it's a phal but the flowers look a bit different?

It's an oncidium intergeneric NoID, smells like a sharry baby but doesn't look the same. Only one leaf from the top of the pseudobulb. It's one of my favourite orchids but is still a young one. I have it in semi hydro - it's very easy going as long as it gets water and bright light. I love oncidiums - my jaw dropped when I saw your sharry baby photos.

Yes, I've come to find that the oncid's prefer to stay more on the "moist" side of things compared to the phals.

That sharry baby was split this spring and now I have two growing successfully in seperate pots. From the looks of it now, the bigger one is going to have to be split again.

I really think I'm going to go all in and build/purchase a green house for my back yard just for my orchids and carnivores. There are some really awesome pitcher plants I'd love to buy but would never be able to sustain them properly in my dining room as I have the orchids.

That being said, my orchids would literally be "perfect" if I could maintain them in a green house where I can control all the variables. It's become quite an addiction....lol

Where you can control all the variables. lol. That is why my small collection of Phalaenopsis is in this room. Less Variables!!!!

Of course, if you have enough sheckles you can have a fully automated Green House/Glass House setup with heating/cooling and humidity controls and even have shading controls.

Then you will only have one problem. Which climate do you wish to copy?