Zygopetalums blooming again!

So after splitting the original plant into 3 because it was very root bound, two of the new plants immediately produced spikes from the new growth.  The first has now opened and as expected, the colour is a little less intense than the previous one.  I am also surprised that it seem the petals/sepals are also large in size.

It's very hard to do the beauty of the orchid justice because the shade of purple is infuriatingly difficult to capture accurately (it's more blue than in the photos) and the flowers seem to be rather haphazardly angled!  Also, the texture of the lip - like velvet - is not clear from the photos.  Here are a few of the best ones from the many I took!

This shows off the variegation on the petals

Dendrobium Unicum flowering

The first flower has opened!  The lip is slightly asymmetrical but otherwise it is so gorgeous - the bright orange colour, the very fine-lined lip and it's sculptural form.  So thrilled about this plant especially because I didn't think it would actually survive after buying it - see previous post here!  It also lost a few of the buds along the way so I was wondering if any would reach full maturity.

The flower seems to be growing upside down, which makes me think that I should mount it hanging downwards

Vandeaeous orchids experiment

I have known for a long time that Vanda orchids grow with their roots totally exposed and trailing out of the baskets... but it took actually buying a gorgeous, full sized Vanda, to then motivate me to read up about them and understand them better.  It turns out that there are different types of Vandas - strap-leaf, terete and semi-terete.  Here are some useful resources:

• General information - American Orchid Society
• Types of Vandas and their different requirements

The gorgeous Vanda Somsri Glory

Dendrobium Unicum Spike development

So the spikes have grown but sadly I think it was in the direct sun too much and so some of the flower buds from each spike dried up. :(. Thankfully it seems that there are a few of the buds which are continuing to develop.  Hopefully at least one will actually flower! It's quite hard to tell if the buds are dying or just changing colour towards the orange of the flower.

Spoils from the Flower Market

May 2015.  Asked my family to let me buy my own presents (orchids, naturally!) this year so I finally had a shopping trip to the Prince Edward Flower Market to get my stash!  Here's what I got:

Dendrobium Spatulata or Antelope Dendrobium

I love the unique colours and shapes of this dendrobium!  I had seen this species in the Singapore Botanical Gardens orchid garden before - the unique twisted petals are so unusual.  I particularly like this one too because of the purplish details on the lip and I like the combination of colours with the greyish brown on the petals.  Very special.  Got it at a reduced price too because the flowers were beginning to drop... a great buy overall - now to hopefully keep it alive!