I said in my August post that I was anticipating being able to photograph a flower spike.
I have, but not from the orchid I thought!!
A lot has happened in ‘Orchid world’ during the last couple of months which I have failed to capture due to starting a new job. However, I am back with it now and am ready to share the progress!
The showstopper has been Big Ben who now has a flower spike which I have had to very carefully stake without the aid of suitable orchid clips!
I had wrongly assumed that what was growing out of Big Ben had been an aerial root and hadn’t really been paying a lot of attention to it. However, on closer inspection, I think that this is my first flower spike ever! Wow!
Lets hope so anyway otherwise I am going to end up with the weirdest ever aerial root!
Also on Big Ben a new leaf has started to emerge. When I first bought the orchid I thought, because he had flowered, that the plant would enter a period of rest. However, it seems that he’s not done yet! I’m thinking that the addition of Big Ben’s own guardian Buddha has done the trick!
…and so onto Ratana, the other ‘big’ orchid! She is also not done yet and I’m hopeful that what is emerging from her is also a flower spike! We will see!
I’m pleased to report that what I thought was a disease in the plant has never developed into anything and Ratana seems to be thriving although she seems to want to ‘list’ in her pot and no amount of re-positioning seems to stop her from lying slightly over to one side!
There has been steady development in the two miniature orchids but no sign of flower spikes at the moment.
Julie, who I think really needs re-potting, is continuing to grow new leaves and some more aerial roots. I am loathed to re-pot her at this stage as I am hopeful she will send up a flower spike as she had a good rest in the summer.
Sandra, who you can see in the picture of both of the miniature orchids, is still healthy but hasn’t grown very much since the last post. She has still only the one aerial root which is still shooting off in all directions.
So, thats all the news for now! I will try harder to capture all the developments in the next month or so!