{"id":40348,"date":"2023-12-13T20:50:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T04:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=40348"},"modified":"2023-12-21T13:47:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T21:47:56","slug":"whats-my-favorite-orchid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/13\/whats-my-favorite-orchid\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s My Favorite Orchid?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What’s my favorite orchid? My answer to that question has always been “whatever’s in bloom right now.” Of course, there are special ones, but I can’t narrow it down to a single winner. Instead, I’ll invent a few categories to help out.<\/p>\n

\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Masdevallia<\/a>\"Dendrobium<\/a><\/p>\n

Favorite flowers<\/strong> – Masdevallias<\/a> are my favorites, but it was a tough call to choose just one. It’d be easy to pick Masdevallia coccinea<\/em><\/a> or Masdevallia veitchiana<\/em><\/a>, but I’m going to say it’s Masdevallia chaparensis<\/em><\/a>. My plant was a gift from a friend. Its charming spots look like they could belong to a purple jaguar.<\/p>\n

Favorite fragrance<\/strong> – Dendrobium<\/a> x delicatum<\/em> is an Australian hybrid. Its flowers aren’t big or colorful, but they have a rich, sweet honey perfume. Mine grows outdoors<\/a> all year, reliably blooming for a couple months each spring. I can often smell it from halfway across the garden.<\/p>\n

\"Dendrobium<\/a>\"Paphiopedilum<\/a>\"Paphiopedilum<\/a><\/p>\n

Favorite overall plant<\/strong> – Paphiopedilum venustum var. album<\/em><\/a> is a showstopper, boasting dramatic green<\/a> and white flowers. The beautifully mottled leaves<\/a> guarantee this Lady Slipper<\/a> is attractive even when out of bloom.<\/p>\n

Favorite for sentimental reasons<\/strong> – I don’t even remember when or where I got this big pink Cymbidium<\/a> hybrid. It must have been during the 1990’s. I don’t know its name. Dave and I repotted<\/a> this enormous plant a couple years ago into a 2-foot (61 cm) wide pot. Sometimes it stays in bloom for 11 months, only taking a short break before it begins again.<\/p>\n

\"Cymbidium<\/a>\"Cymbidium<\/a>\"Epidendrum<\/a><\/p>\n

Favorite for toughness<\/strong> – My big red Epidendrum<\/a> has flowered constantly outdoors for over 20 years, enduring heat waves, hail storms, powerful winds, cold spells, and raccoon mischief. Unusually, it readily grows from seed<\/a> in the garden. It may be Epidendrum x obrienianum<\/em>, but I’m not sure. I’ve shared its keikis<\/a> with many friends and neighbors over the decades.<\/p>\n

Favorite that I’ve lost<\/strong> – The original white Moth Orchid<\/a> that got me hooked on orchids was a gift from a friend who later died. It bloomed regularly for over 20 years, but I sadly lost it to a virus. Fortunately, I still have photos and memories.<\/p>\n

\"Epidendrum<\/a>\"Moth<\/a>\"Moth<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s my favorite orchid? My answer to that question has always been “whatever’s in bloom right now.” Of course, there are special ones, but I can’t narrow it down to a single winner. Instead, I’ll invent a few categories to help out. Favorite flowers – Masdevallias are my favorites, but it was a tough call […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,20,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fragrant-orchids","category-misc","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40348"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45074,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40348\/revisions\/45074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}