Archive for the 'Problems' Category

Orchid Post Mortem: Sophronitis

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

A gardener friend once told me that if I’m not killing plants, I’m not learning anything. I do try to avoid fatalities in my learning process, but they still happen sometimes. This beautiful bloom is from last year, when my little Sophronitis cernua was doing well. This Cattleya relative is native to Brazil. I’ve kept […]

Orchid of the Day: Dockrillia

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

This Dockrillia striolata flower opened today. This orchid is a small Dendrobium relative from Australia. It was a pleasant surprise this morning, because I’ve had this orchid for 6 years, but it’s never bloomed for me. I’m not sure what I finally did right to help it bloom. Yes, that’s a fat aphid in the […]

Orchid mush

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

A friend of mine asked me about her Phal. She’s had it blooming in her living room for months, and suddenly this week the flowers all drooped and fell off. Then the bottom leaves turned to mush. I didn’t even need to see the plant to make a diagnosis — poor drainage. It turned out […]