Mother's Day present - Oncidium

May 2014.  A lovely mother's day gift from the boys - no idea what it is called - probably an Oncidium?

Very pleased to see it now is starting some new growth...

Myrmecophila (Schomburgkia) tibicinis

May 2014.  New shoots emerging at last!

Alicera "Evening Colours"

May 2014.  New shoots appearing at last - I was worried that the plant was not doing well as the older shoots were changing colour... I hope this will survive!

Coconut Containers

April 2014. 

Inspired by a candle container made from a coconut she'll,  I decided to try using the idea as a pot.

The first coconut I got was from the supermarket and it had the whole husk on still so stripping it all off was hard work!  However I did also then try to use the remaining husks after drying as potting mix for the orchids... Thus was not very successful, perhaps because I didn't chop it up small enough.

Drying out the coconut was also a long process.   I did this in the oven on a very low heat  because we don't get sufficient sun to do the process adequately on the balcony...

The result was a very "rough and ready" look with some of the husk still left on the side of the shell.

A bad photo of the original coconut shell pot from Oct 2013

Cutting the shell was a bit of a challenge though because I didn't have a strong enough saw.. But I managed to hack 2 holes,  top and bottom,  in it so that it would also drain well...

Later on,  I discovered a place which sold coconut drinks in shells which were already de-husked... Bingo!  That took away a lot of hard work.  And the shells have a much cleaner finish!   Adding to that,  I also finally got around to buying a decent saw so I was finally able to cut the shells more neatly.

The results are in the photo... I also recut the older shell so that the opening was larger as I realised that it the potting material did not dry out properly otherwise.  The top part of the shell is also used as a stand so that the shell doesn't roll on its side.

Potinara (Morning Call-Chianhao Beauty) "Little Princess"

March 2014.  Sadly the flower stalk did not develop further but ultimately dried up... perhaps due to a rather windy balcony!

March 2014 - Flower stalk emerging

Useful websites

A list of useful websites which I have come across while trying to research what orchids I have...