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More Sydney springtime flowerers
Here's some more spring flowerers.
This is an oncidium. OK, I know it dosent look real pretty, but its much nicer in the flesh then it is in the photo. I took the photo in haste on my phone just before going away for a holiday and now its gone off a bit so I cant retake it.
There are two things that are outstanding about this plant. The first is that I've had this plant for 17 years and this is the first time its flowered. Why I put up with it sitting there not flowering for 17 years I dont know. Maybe because it is so undemanding, at least for vegetative growth, though obviously it needs very particular conditions to provoke flowering.
The other thing thats outstanding about it is the size of the flower spikes. This one plant has 6 flower spikes and they average 1600 mm long. The flowers are all along the length of the main spike, on short secondary spikes, or sometimes on tertiary spikes (short spikes growing off the secondary spikes). At least 600 flowers in total, though I'm not about to count them.
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And this next one is a 'nobile type dendrobium'. There are thousands of cultivars of the soft-cane dendrobium with the latin name Dendrobium nobile - all basically pink or white flowered with a darker throat. I've owned lots over the years and until recently all of them have failed fairly quickly. Quickly in orchid terms is relative, it usually takes at least a couple of years for a mistreated orchid to die completely.
Its always seemed strange that mine fail as most people report reasonable success with them in Sydney conditions. Anyway, I've finally cracked growing them in our environment and I think it mainly comes down to providing lots of air circulation (though you still need to provide good shelter from cold winter winds).
There is nothing pretty about them when they are not flowering so I guess that puts most people off them. This one is a young plant with a small flower spike.
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The Brassias should be next. I can see they are setting themselves up for a very impressive display.
cheers
Arron