Newbie saying hello

[meanie]

Strange world! I've come across this forum as a result of my brothers divorce. Let me explain - I've just spent four hours composing an email to his solicitor, and found myself wide awake. So, rather than go to bed and not sleep I googled Pleione and happened across this place.
I'm no expert, but I know what I like, and it tends to be different a lot of the time. So along with my more common favourites (perennial Lobelias, Aconitums and selected Campanulas), my other favourites include Sollya heterophylla, Clerodendrum ugandense, Fuchsia perscandens and Orchids. Up until last year my orchids consisted of poorly grown noids, but having decided to give Habenaria radiatta a go I decided to try these noids outdoors too. Just Phals, but the results were amazing! The Habenaria bloomed, and my "success" continued through the winter with rebloom after rebloom. Cattleyas, Cymbidiums and a hard cane Dendrobium all joined in the fun, so a few weeks ago I bought some Pleione formosana - talk about instant orchid gratification! From packet to bloom in about a month. So now I'm hooked, which is why I've signed up.
I can't promise to help much, as I'm very much here to learn.
As my other interest is now photographing my blooms, I'll close with a few links to some of my plants on Flickr.


Edit by maggi Sorry, the  following links no longer work

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/4636838956/in/set-72157623970680010/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/4800518246/in/set-72157623278656473/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/5055719544/in/set-72157623278656473/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/5095069408/in/set-72157623278656473/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/4685326657/in/set-72157623278656473/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35724365@N05/5072493769/in/set-72157623278656473/

Thanks for looking!

[daveyp1970]

Welcome Meanie can't wait to see the rest.There are threads here to cover what ever plant its fantastic.

edit by maggi : Sorry, most of DaveyP's  imageshack links no longer work

[Maggi Young]

Hi Meanie, welcome to the Forum.
Unfortunate circumstances have brought you here but you'll have a lot of fun now... and there are any number of expert growers  (and just plain old experts! )to share advice.
Super photos, thanks for the links.

[Houseslippers]

Lovely photos, Meanie, and welcome from a fellow learner. I'm wondering where you - it reads like you have very favourable growing conditions.

[angie]

Hi Meanie

Welcome, it's a great place to learn and have fun and offcourse meet people. Lovely pictures 

Angie

[meanie]

Thank you for your responses.

Houseslippers, I'm in West Oxfordshire. The Sollya and Clerodendrum live in my conservatory over the winter, the rest outside apart from the Habenaria, which was dormant in the garage.
I note that you're into Paphs - here's a shot of one of my Paphiopedilum blooms that I cut in half.......



 Edit by Maggi: photo resized to preferred Forum size... max. pixels 760 wide.

[Maren]

Hi,
that is an amazing picture. The only very slight consideration is that it is rather big and one has to keep scrolling to get the full benefit.

Please keep on posting, but make the pictures a little smaller. I believe the recommended size is 500 kb; that makes a comfortable blow-up. 

[meanie]

Thanks Maren. Point noted, although that file was only 376kb
I'll do a resize next time.......

[Maggi Young]

Thanks Maren. Point noted, although that file was only 376kb
I'll do a resize next time.......

Meanie, pixel size is more important athan KB size really. You will see from th your photo above, resized by me, that it is less that 90KB in size but still shows well on  being enlarged by the click and will "blow up"  quite well to a fair old size more and still keep its detail.

[meanie]

Maggi - I use Irfan View (free download for those who're interested) for resizing and cropping which is very easy. 800x1000 looks about right.

[Houseslippers]

Hi Meanie

Allan Burdis in his talk at the RHS slipper orchid symposium last weekend also showed slides of bisected paph flowers. He called his talk something like - Paphs - the inside view. Now what species would your flower be?

[meanie]

This was not a species, but a hybrid - Pinnocchio. I've added the photo below.

I do however also own one of the parents of P.pinnocchio, Paphiopedilum glaucophyllum.

If you're interested in Paphs, this is a good page to bookmark.....
http://www.slipperorchids.info/paphprimaries/index.html

[Houseslippers]

Meanie - Ah, Paphiopedilum Pinocchio - mine is also in flower now, and is the first plant I've managed to flower myself (as against getting it in bud), so I've got a very soft spot for it. I do like the sequential multiflorals! I hope you don't mind me showing my flower below - it's not quite fully expanded yet.

Yes, I also love the site you give. A really great site ... and sometimes frustrating because it doesn't show all the registered primary hybrids when I'm looking on eBay or nursery lists.

[meanie]

I'm happy for anyone to add anything to my posts!
Yes, it's a prolific bloomer isn't it. Mine bloomed from May through to late November and then just stopped! Nothing dropped or grew, until mid January when the bud just carried on growing again until it bloomed. Most odd....
I think that the site may be a little out of date really, but interesting anyway.