Even more vandas on the patio in Southern CA Oct 09

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

I posted a while back about the status of the vandas I have growing outside. It's starting to cool down here and I'm going to test the theory that the V. coerulea hybrids will handle the So Cal winter. I've been watching the various vandas mature and bloom and even though I haven't gotten repeat bloom this year, they've all been politely following each other in blooming order like planes approaching an airport. The first blooms were from V. Tokyo blue, starting in early summer, followed by V. Manuvadee in August which is winding down now (it's the darker blue in the background in some of the pictures), and over the past few weeks my V. Motes Indigo has been coming into bloom. It looks like the final blooming of the year will be a V. Manuvadee/Mimi Palmer cross which is just now starting to develop color in its buds. A good five/six months of continous blooms.

I've always loved watching plants grow and develop and thought you folks might enjoy seeing how the Mote's Indigo has developed over the past six weeks or so. Picture heavy, as a warning

Early Sept:



Sept 20



Sept 27



Oct 2





Oct 3



Oct 4



Oct 5



Oct 6 morning




Oct 6 evening



Oct 7




Oct 8



Oct 9




Oct 10




Oct 11





and here's the V. Manuvadee/Mimi Palmer cross that is having it's first blooms for me.

Mid Sept:




Oct 2



Oct 7



Oct 8



Oct 11 Evening




And hopefully in three or four weeks, this will be what I get:

[peeweelovesbooks]

Gorgeous!!! simply stunning!

[orchidophile168]

congrats!!! i'm in the Bay Area and have V. coerulea and it's hybrids growing outside year round, so it's not impossible. i've mentioned that to some orchid growers and members at the local orchid society and have gotten some "are you crazy" looks. The plants do fine here, I just keep them drier during the winter. if i water, i usually mist the roots and avoid getting the leaves wet.

last winter, we had temps down to the mid-20s and the plants survived with no leaf damaged!!! let's say i was amazed myself. v. coerulea is definately tougher than we give credit for.

great growing and keep up the good work!

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

well thanks for the hopeful words from the Bay Area.... if you can keep a V. Coerulea hybrid going during winter, perhaps I can too. We just got that storm you've been under for a while now, gentle rain, no torrents, so maybe my v. coerulea hybrids will thrive, we'll see.

[orchidophile168]

Yea I know. At least there is a break from the rains (at least for a little bit). I think my only trouble with the Vandas is keeping water off the leaves (esp the crown) during the rains, even though they are under cover.

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

I hear ya' there, my V. manuvadee, which still has some flowers, developed some black spots at the growing tip, I pulled on the new branch, it came out, the younger branch inside too, both with black spots, that was six months ago, it's since bloomed, roots all over, but no new growing tip.. weird and depressing.. was expecting at the very least a kiki

[orchidophile168]

Yea. tell me about it. I also have a cross with V. sanderiana (euanthe) in it that I kep outside year round, and it did fine this past winter. I got as a rescue becuase it had a terminal spike (spike from the crown instead of in between the leaves) and they didnt want it anymore, so I rescued it. Since, then it has thrown out 3-4 keikis.

The roost are really long on that cross (about 3.5 feet long), and I've been tempted to cut the roots back. I've talked to a couple people in the local society and they said that cutting the roots back is ok, actually tehy found that it helps the plant grow more robust (but I'm too chicken to right now). I may experiment this upcoming spring tho, just becusae the roots are getting a bit long for the growing area.

Anyways, it should send out a couple keikis. Just give it time. When it does, just think about the number of spikes you could get!

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

damn, a hybrid with a lot of E. saunderia? impressive...

[smweaver]

Those are all beautiful blooms--and the plants look very robust as well. What kind of humidity do you experience in your area of Southern California? I'm not sure where I got this information from, but I think I once read somewhere long ago that the humidity levels in Southern California were (compared to, say, South Florida) fairly low. If that's the case, then it's even more impressive that you're finding success with high humidity loving plants like vandas in your location.

Steve

[Donald]

Gorgeous,absolutely gorgeous.