A couple of weeks ago I took a three-hour orchid class at Birds Bontanicals. Dave Birdled a wonderful learning experience oriented toward the window sill hobbyist. The class was especially helpful because he addressed conditions specific to the seasons shifts in north-east Kansas. He discussed the general growing and blooming requirements of five popular genera and showed off some of the finer ones in bloom, including Blc. Orange Nugget (above). I couldn't stop staring at it. When he found out about my catt addiction, gave me specific tips about my catt culture (catts like clay pots, catts are heavier feeders than I thought, I should keep my small fan on for longer periods of time to improved air circulation in my growing space, and -- my consistent worry -- let there be more light!).
At the end, we learned how to pot a phalaenopsis. We took our plants home, but Dave observed that we will truly pass the class only when we can get them to bloom. The class was conducted with a lot of good humor, and I think the best advice concerned WalMart phalaenopsis packaged with the infamous recommendation to water the plant with three ice cubes per week. With a flash of fierce dry humor, Dave said that we might as well use thirty ice cubes, since that will kill it quicker.
Riley eyes a bloom from this Colmanara Wildcat ‘Green Valley.’ This particular hybrid is a cross between Odontonia Rustic Bridge x Odontocidium Crowborough. Riley thinks that this particular spray is on its last legs, and he’s probably right. This is supposed to be a frequently blooming variety so, as long as Riley is on good behavior, we should be okay. But you never know with Riley.
For months we wonder why our spider plant wasn't thriving. Other plants grew while our spider plant cutting flailed. It never got off the ground despite regular water and plenty of light. What could possibly be wrong? Teeth marks on the leaves pointed to at least one of four possible troublemakers. Then, I witnessed Griffin barf up suspicious looking plant matter, but I it didn't explain the wholesale misery of our particular specimen. Then I saw it. Griffin was sitting on the spider plant. Moreover, she seemed to have no awareness that she was doing anything wrong. It must have seemed like a perfect place to watch squirrels and -- you have to admit -- she looks extremely content. Recognizing our uphill battle, I moved the plant from the clay pot to a hanging plastic pot. It's thriving now that Griffin is unable to sit on it.
We were interested in spider plants (chlorophytum comosum) after learning about their ability to absorb air pollutants. I didn't think they were going to be a problem because some say that these plants are "the easiest to grow of all the hanging or trailing plants" and are "among the easiest houseplants to propagate." No one, however, considered the Griffin factor.
Riley watches Griffin inspect the Dendrobium. Riley and Griffin are good friends, but their fraternizing often leads to rough and tumble antics. Griffin will walk up to Riley for some grooming and – five minutes later – the sweet scene of one cat lapping the forehead of another devolves into claws, tackles, and furry chaos. It looks like Riley had a perfect position to paw at Griffin, but he was on surprisingly good behavior. The blooms are from a Den. ‘Thames Blue.’ I don’t know much more about it except that it came to me with severely wrinkled pseudobulbs. I gradually increased the water. It's been in bloom for a long time. After it's finished, I'll give it a rest and ease up on the water. I’m glad Riley and Griffin don’t have to rest for the winter – it would be a lot less fun.
Ever since she was a small kitten, Lan Lan has appreciated the fresh water that flows from a slow faucet. Even with a full dish of water, LL will rush toward the faucet and demand that someone turn it on. It can't be a faint drip, but it can't be turned too high, either. And she prefers the coldest available from the tap. This adorable little habit has been easy enough to indulge. Its cost in terms of water is low, except for the approximately 6,800 times Lan Lan forgot to turn off the faucet after she finished her drink.
Here, she's posing next to a myoxanthus octomorioides, a pleurothallis-type miniature I picked up from Clackamas Orchids. No one bid on it during the eBay auction and, at only four dollars, it looked too cute to pass up. Plants of the Myoxanthus genus are found in Central and South America. Botanist have identified about fifty Myoxanthus species. Myoxanthus means "dormouse flower" in Greek. I couldn't find much information about this species, but I stumbled upon some important cultural information for the genus at the blog About Orchids. I especially appreciated the pronunciation tip (Myoxanthus rhymes with "Go try Kansas.")
Okay. I think Lan Lan is done. Time to turn off the water. Oh look! A pretty orchid . . .
Above the fog, pushing her way past the Bulbophyllum, Alice contemplates jumping into the ultrasoinc mister. We have it set to bathe the frogs and the orchids at regular intervals for about four hours a day total. Almost all of the frogs have climbed up on the ledge and dropped into the foggy pool while the ultrasonic mister is on. It seems like the thing to do. The frogs and most of the orchids love it, but the one featured here is getting too much of a good thing. You can see rot begin to form on the bottom right root. It’s simply getting too much water in this location.
So, we moved it to a higher and drier place on the frog wall. The baby in question is a Barkeria whartoniana about two years from flowering. Barkeria whartoniana is very rare in the wild and is only found in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in OaxacaMexico. I bought mine from Clackamas Orchids. It grows on rocks in dry and hot conditions, so its initial placement on the frog wall invited all sorts of problems. Barkerias also need to dry out during the winter. I've mounted it on the other side of the orchid wall, away from the fogger, and it has recovered nicely.
Can Lan Lan wait a few more years until this blooms? Or will she demand I get a blooming-size one next Spring? She’s staring at a Lc. S.J. Bracey ‘Waiolani.’ The pictures of the full-sized plants look gorgeous, but who the heck is S.J. Bracey?
Typing “Sidney Bracey” and “orchids” into Google immediately leads me to references to an actor named Sidney Bracey who played an uncredited role in Edward G. Robinson’s “Brother Orchid” (a wonderful movie, by the way). Searches for B.O. Bracey were equally frustrating. To the library!
With a little research, I discovered that Sidney J. Bracey was born in England in 1899. He came to the United States with his brother Benjamin O. Bracey in the early 1920’s. Both were listed in the census as florists in the greenhouse industry. By 1930, Sidney was married to a woman named Louise and they had a three year-old daughter named Vanda.
A 1927 Los Angeles Times article described how Ben Bracey went to see Walter Armacost, a horticulturalist from the Chicago area. Bracey had, “like his father before him, been employed on a great estate in England to grow orchids.” Bracey and Armacost made a business arrangement and then brought Lewis Knudson out from the east coast so he could teach Bracey and Armacost his revolutionary techniques of growing orchids from seed on sterile agar (LAT, Jun. 19, 1927, L3). The article also discussed how Bracey and Armacost hoped to develop a “perpetual Cattleya.” Dream on, kids.
Before World War II, Ben Bracey trained renown orchid breeders Oscar and William Kirsch, Joe Ozella, and Joe Hampton. In 1952, he founded his own company and created the famed Lc. Bonanza -- an orchid Robert Atkinson described as "one of the greatest orchids of all time" (LAT, 17 Apr. 1966, pg. 18).
[Sidney Bracey is shown in the photo above and Ben Bracey is shown working in his lab below on the left.]
Brother Sidney was no slouch, either. In 1937, Sidney Bracey wrote an article for the Los Angeles Times (“Confessions of an Orchid Grower” Dec. 12, L16) outlining seed propagation methods. The article features two women. Is this Louise Bracey? Or could this be Betty Bracey?
In 1952, Sidney Bracey wrote another article for the Times discussing his Lc. ‘Los Angeles,’ named in recognition of the anniversary of the founding of Los Angeles. He wrote: “its production evolves from thousands of years spent by nature perfecting yellow-toned species and the world famous natural hybrid Cattleya hardyana” (Aug. 31, F25). I haven't found any contemporary references to the Lc. 'Los Angeles.' What happened?
Lan Lan and I have many more questions about S.J. Bracey and his family, but anyone who names their kid Vanda can’t be half bad.
Griffin likes to wander during watering time, inspecting the health of the plant babies and making sure everything is okay. Here, she sniffs a C. bowringiana. Next, she’ll check on the Dendrobium ‘Berry Oda’ AM/AOS (Den. kingianum x Den. ‘Mini Pearl’), a fragrant miniature with dreamy pink flowers. It’s the thirstiest one in my collection and it's about a week from blooming. One day, maybe it will look like this, but only if Griffin gives it plenty of light and a solid temperature drop during the winter evening.
This aerial shot shows all of the frogs out to play. You'll notice that we've added a fifth. Horst is an European Fire-Bellied Toad (the others are Asian Fire-Bellied Toads). Horst appears to be integrating into the commune nicely. In the upper right corner, you can see the flowers of the Bulbophyllum flavescens, which made an appearance during the last Frog Friday. It has fewer than ten flowers, but it's still pretty exciting. I'm having a hard time adjusting my camera settings so I can focus on the flowers. Until I figure it out, you can take a look at this photo from Orchidspecies.com for a closeup. My Bulbophyllum flavescens gives me hope that the other miniatures are doing okay and -- like the fresh presence of Horst -- it's another fun and exotic element of the vivarium.
