Blooms of Year 2009

Flowering Corner #1

As 2009 is coming closer to the end, I've also started to have a short recollection of my paph growing experience to wrap up the year. It seemed just like yesterday that that I had my Paph Virgo because it had never stopped flowering since the time I bought it in 2005.

The blossoming of Paph Virgo also marked my blossoming interest in paphs. Since then I have collected numerous Paphs and this experience has yielded many fruitful blooms though some paphs were rather slow to even flower after 4 years despite the growth of plentiful new sprouts and leaves. This is rather bewildering to me.

Bruno #1

 

I started 2009 on a happy note; my first 2009 bloom came rather in time for the New Year in early January. The New Year baby was from spicerianum (or rather babies as there were a few flowers from the 3 pots of paphs)! Without much of a time lapse, 2 pots of Paph Bruno added to my flora collection with 3 flowers if my memory did not fail me.

Bruno #2

March was the fabulous blossoming month for most of my Paphs - mystic Ilse, In-Charm Cloud, niveum and bellatulum, etc while the months of April and May were filled with Virgo, leucochilum and niveum. This season of "Spring" (usually this is the season of explosive blooms from flowering plants isn't it?) lasted from January till August as during the 3 months (June-August) my collection was filled with almost blooms from 80% of my leucochilum and niveum alba! The bedrooms and kitchen were amazingly transformed into stunning sights anyone can expect from a HDB flat!

Flowering Corner #2

"The pleasure of being in crowds is a mysterious expression of sensual joy in the multiplication of Number" Charles Baudelaire

Think my paphs really live by the quote above as Bruno, spicerianium and leucochilum, Belle Luxe and Muriel Constance all budded together in September. This "crowding phenomenon" did not cease as very quickly when we went into final season of the year, my Bella Luxe gently opened its petals and pouch to welcome her neighours' striking & colorful blooms - paph exul x Pinocchio, 2 bellatulams in sweet November.

In-Charm #1

 

In-Charm #2

Year 2010 is filled with even greater anticipation with my current 21 buds and counting! The list is growing and so far we have - Wössner Favourite, Chouyi Yuki, Sugar Suite, bellatulum alba, bellatulum, godefroyae alba, Enzan land, Lalita alba, Exul, Baroness Byford.

This Christmas I'm filled with paphs of love, peace and joy. Sabrina Eickhoff and one more bellatulum also joined in this joyous season.

I am looking forward to sharing more of my love with you in 2010...do you?

===Some 2009 Blooms===

Concolor

Maudiea

niveum

primunilum

spicerianium

concolor #2

Muriel Constance

Mystic Ilse

hanganium

===leucochilums===

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

Quail Egg - Paph bellatulum

This is Don's another very pretty bloom of bellatulum with bold and dark purplish spots on its pure white background. I cannot help but laugh at how cute and similar it is to a QUAIL EGG! They both share dark dotted spots all over their skin and are rather curvy in shape. I am not surprised if Paph bellatulum may be well camouflaged in a basket of quail eggs and even be mistaken as one!This brachy requires a little more special attention in growing compared to "beginner's paphs - concolor, godefroyae, etc. Plump roots and succulent leaves are signs of a happy paph and with favorable growing conditions, they will produce frequent and pretty blooms just like a meaty and healthy quail laying good quality eggs.

I love bellatulum as much as I enjoy savouring every morsel of quail eggs (topped with caviar, creme fraiche and chives)! Yummy :)

Story about Lalita Alba

Community Living

Budding LA I

Budding LA II

Budding LA III

Our initial home was a flask and there were about 20 of us in one flask.

The flask was then broken when we were about 6 to 9 months old and my siblings and I were each given a new home we call our own - a small individual pot. Despite the physical separation from my siblings into new pots, we all share the same name/label and it's “Lalita alba”.

For the first 12 months, our homes were closely built in the same big tray. During the day, we enjoyed rays of warm light and by nightfall, we enjoyed the breezy wind that came from the fan. We would spent our days and nights chatting with one another next to the tinted window. The rays of light coming from the sun felt warm and nice as it fell on our skin through this tinted window. We also enjoy our showers on the alternate day basis which moisturized our roots and the “open” potting mix allowed us to develop a robust roots system. With the strong roots systems, we grew to have even wider and healthier leaves.However we were sad when we saw some of our siblings succumbing to failures in their immunity and roots system. Perhaps they were not able to adapt to living in their individual homes which is after all a very new environment from the flask.

These 12 months passed very quickly. Many of us grew stronger and bigger leaves and it was time for us to upgrade to a roomier house - a bigger pot. We are now delighted with our new house which measures approximately 3'' (depth) x 2'' (width) and we were relocated to a brighter area which provides more sun rays for our wider leaves. We love staying longer in this new and roomier house and we were fed high quality vitamin on weekly basis. In this yet another new environment, our encouragement to one another never ceases. We must be there for one another, to provide support so that we all can be stronger and courageous in accepting all these changes. Most importantly we must persevere in our survival!

Another 6 months passed and we realized that some of us had reached an optimal stage of maturity. Some of us even had new sprouts growing from our side which is a good sign because that shows we are healthy and are ready to bloom anytime soon.

Today, we noticed 3 of our siblings budding. We have no slightest clue on how our flowers will turn out to be but we will share with you once they blossomed.

Nursing my bellatulum back to health

"Hello? Mr. A? I heard you have some bellatulums this week...can I pop by today to purchase them please?...oh last one left huh??? I better come down now, please wait for me OK?" This was the conversation I had with Mr. A 2 weeks ago. The ecstatic feeling of being able to have my 1st bellatulum drove me to the nursery by cab during the peak hour (the cab fare came up to $50 bux)! Hurriedly paid for the last bellatulum and a concolor before going back home.

When I returned home, I was sadden by the weak constitution of the paph. I know is not easy to grow this brachy due to its intricate cultivation requirements - large amount of diffused light, superb ventilation to prevent the roots from rotting and a good pot mix with some limestone grit. Daily without fail, I will take it out to my corridor to sun it for 2-3 hours before bringing it back to the kitchen for continuous breeze to promote airy ventilation. I've also repotted it with an open pot mix as A's moss pot is bad for its roots. I saw many mushy and damaged roots when I was repotting it. My heart really sank at the sight of the bad roots and for the 1st time, I felt like giving up...

Trying to nurse this paph back to health has been met with many disappointments....For the past 2 weeks, there are no signs of improvements but only deterioration.

Despite these setbacks, God gave me a huge consolation: A very sweet looking concolor!

-the Editor

My Name is Bella

Pictures of Budding Bella

Hi, let me introduce myself. I am Bella.

I came to Singapore in June 2008 with my current owner. I was about 6 months old then.

It was interesting yet challenging learning how to adapt to the new environment, weather, watering system and high humidity in Singapore. It took me a good period of 3 months just to start getting used to all the changes but I am glad my owner understood my needs and made adjustments to my living conditions to make it more comfortable for my living.

I stayed in shady places and I am happy to enjoy light breeze most of the time in my owner’s place. My owner never failed in giving me adequate portion of vitamins and supplements weekly to build up my strength to grow new leaves and increase my immunity against illnesses. He also took extra care to drive away mealy bugs and spider mites that like to bite me! With all his care and efforts, a new shoot sprout out from my side (my sibling – Bella II ) 6 months after my arrival into this garden city. Bella II accompanied me for the next one year. I am much bigger and stronger now, and so is my sibling. We would want to thank our owner for all the tender, loving care he has shown to us during this 1.5 years. What’s the best way to thank our owner? Yes, we would like to show our gratitude by giving him many nice special blooms!

Just this month, I started to prepare a bloom for him. A small little “furry leaf” came out from my crown and deep inside this “furry leaf” lies one of the most beautiful bud. My flower bud is still quite petite perhaps it will take another month before my owner will be able to see it being my first bloom. Nevertheless, I promise I will thank my owner with a beautiful flower and I am certain sure my owner will share this joyous news of my first pretty bloom with all of you!

I am proud to say I am now 2 years old and Bella II just turned one. Oh BTW did I tell you my full name is bellatulum alba?

Paphiopedilum rothschildianum - World's most expensive paph? (www.richtimes.com/2009)

Paphiopedilum rothschildianum is considered to be the aristocrat of the paphiopedilums at a cost of USD $5000 per stem. Is highly prized because of its rarity - apparently it can take as long as 15 years to bloom from seedling and is a wild species. This price tag has been claimed as the most expensive for any orchids in the world though there are information that differs.

Given a choice of USD $5000 to either buy a stem of paph Rothschild or a basic Hermès Birkin that is approximately USD $5000, which will you choose? I'll choose Hermès Birkin. Not only because the production of one bag takes only 48 hours, it has a relatively short waiting list of 2 years (compared to the paph) and I can tote it around at anytime, anywhere with no fear of the bag wilting on me. Perhaps I can carry it off as well as Victoria Beckham (see above pix of VB carrying a ostrich purple birkin). I must admit I'm such a victim to fashion!

-Editor (:p with a tongue in cheek expression!)

Finally a Belle Luxe called mine...

Don finally relented to giving me one of his 3 Belle Luxe tonight :) and I am filled with so much excitement and anticipation in receiving it. Belle Luxe is the first paph that I set my sight on and after getting to know my love’s family, friends, likes and dislikes I’m finally getting an opportunity to move on to the 2nd stage –having an exclusivity to it!!! Some of my friends have shared with me that the initial period is parallel to a honeymoon phase of a relationship where infatuation conquers all inconveniences of taking care of this paph however subsequently as novelty wears off it will lead to stagnation or even dying of interest. I’m not quite certain if things will turn out in this manner but let me enjoy every single moment of growing (with) this interest of mine. After all is my “first paph love”.

My Belle Luxe (Taken ages after it flowered)

An "Ugly" paph?

The appreciation of art, nature, music and practically all objects on this earth are very much subjected to controversial discussions. Such discussions arise mainly because of comparisons. I've been asking myself if indeed I can find an ugly looking paph and write a contrasting entry to my earlier ones. Out of curiosity, I googled "ugly paph" and found the following discussion in a forum (http://www.rv-orchidworks.com/orchidtalk/paphiopedilum-phragmipedium-cypripedium-bloom/17155-ugliest-paph.html) and the topic was on the appearance on the paph above and discussing on how different and ugly it is. Candidly speaking, it is not as pretty as the other paphs I've seen earlier but haven't we been somewhat influenced by the pre-set standards and comparisons on how a good looking paph should be with all the published horticulture articles and reading references?

Let us use a little of our imagination here that the above paph was the first paph species to be discovered. Adjectives describing the above paph will mostly likely be instantaneously changed to the more positive family of descriptions stating the above as "rare & original". I'm hoping for an agreement on this though (and I'm happy to see a few comments of appreciation of the above paph in the forum).

Isn't it ironic that some people subject themselves to the conformity of standardized measurement of value when they try so hard to be unparalleled in other aspects of life - work, appearances, wealth and fame?

***I was just thinking aloud on the subjectivity of beauty as I wrote this entry with no intention to discriminate or degrade any personal views and comments.

How to repot Paphs - From YouTube

For beginners like myself, this video is pretty useful.

URL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlHzP1LB6mM

Don's got a more economical alternative for pot - party cups (10 for $2). Just need to make some holes to facilitate water drainage.

Just one more interesting way to create holes in the cups in the following steps:

1. Buy a ice pick look alike handicraft tool from Daiso

2. Heat up the tool (metal surface)over a flame

3. Poke the party cups lightly and the end product is a simple pot

Enjoy~

The Editor

Beginner's paph growing disaster!!! (Editor's story)

I was gazing at the paph spicerianium given to me by BGCI (Botanic Garden Conservation International). "What's the name of this plant? Looks so different...first time seeing a green flower!!" Very quickly I brushed it off and brought the plant back as a form of respect to the Baroness. It was quite a tough plant considering it had survived for almost a year under my hands with vicious attacks by spidermite! I tried to give it TLC (tender loving care) and I watered it DAILY...Yes, DAILY! A big big taboo to paph's growth.

It was by chance that I got to know that Don's a grower of paph for many years and decided that this given paph deserves better and passed it to him to salvage its fate. Only then did I know the paph's named spicerianium and is a species. However there is one lesson that I've learnt from this episode that is "never never give up"! I am a self-acclaimed tough cookie and decided to pick up paph knowledge and the skills of growing them. Currently I have 2 concolors and 1 bellatulum.

I'm glad I did not give up on paphs just as spicerianium did not give up and die in my hands. That pot of paph spicerianium under Don's care is nick named tough cookie...and is currently growing well.

Spice's 1st win at 01 Nov 2009 OSSEA Monthly Table Meeting

Best Overall, 3rd placing: Spicerianium

This is one paph that was said to be discovered along the Assam-Bhutan borders while there are also articles and journals to prove otherwise - the the discovery of this paph was made by a lady named Sarah Spicer, thereby naming it Spicerianium. Isn't it wonderful to be able to leave a legacy for yourself/family in this manner? I'm sure the Spicer family tells this story with glory, I will if I were them!

Hybrids

“青出于蓝, 更胜于蓝” describes an emergence of quality and excellence following a journey of transformation. This is also perhaps why one of reasons why I am inclined towards the appreciation and growth of many paph hybrids though some purists may be insistent that paphiopedilums remain true to their species origin. There is no clear definition to which is more superior – species or hybrids, in my humble opinion. However I find growing hybrids highly encouraging. Hybrids come across as an enhanced version of their parent species as they are cultivated to be more resilient to various terrestrial and climatic conditions which make them an essential for both beginners’ and experts’ collection of paphiopedilums.

Paph Virgo - My flourishing paph

Paph godefroyae (capsule) X Paph Psyche (bellatulum x niveum) = Paph Virgo

In astrology Virgo is one of the mutable signs, a subgroup of the zodiac. Mutable signs are the chameleons of each element, able to shift into many forms, and take on different personas (http://www.about.com/). This mutable sign is associated with change, versatility and adaptability. Virgos are said to have the characteristics of being able to adapt to new situations and environment easily.

The paph lover that came up with this hybrid is perhaps one who truly understands the universe for he has created an uncanny connection between this paph and the sign of Virgo. Is obvious that Paph Virgo has truly lived up to its astrological linkage by not only being a chameleon hybrid - evolving from the multiple forms of both species & hybrid, Paph Psyche but also being highly adaptable to my living room's condition. It flowered and still has been flourishing plus multiplying into many more paph Virgo after the time I brought it back one of the nurseries in Upper Thomson.

There is simply so much thoughts given even to the selection of a paph's name!

Editor's Love - Belle Luxe

Paph Belle Luxe (exul x bellatulum)

Editor: Don bought this paph from Thailand mid 2008 and I must admit that this is the paph that ignited my strong interest in wanting to acquire more knowledge on paphiopedilums and to grow them. I must admit that it was like a "Love at First Sight" due to the fact that my initial reason for liking this hybrid was merely skin deep - mainly due to its pinkish appearance after seeing the mere picture of it on Facebook (Needless to mention, you would have guessed my favorite color by now).

Perhaps an analogy that I could think of in illustrating my process of getting to know Paph Belle Luxe and eventually other paphiopedilums is very much akin to getting to know your "Love at First Sight"! Naturally when you are attracted to a person's physical appearance, you would want to progress by getting to know more of him/her and understand his/her background, family, friends, personality, likes, dislikes and the list goes on. This is the case for Belle Luxe. I began to find out more of its family (exul & bellatulum), their various living conditions, paph species, paphs hybrids and etc.

For 2 full weeks I cannot really fathom why its shape & color differs vastly from its parents until Don confirmed my thoughts in an earlier email that this hybrid bears little resemblance to its parents. The display of individuality & boldness in this hybrid is evident in its strong "arm-like" petals and yet at the same time it exudes an aura of femininity with its pinkish tone plus a sense of cheekiness (look at those freckles on its dorsal)! It may not be an expensive hybrid but it certainly has the great finesse as one.

Perhaps you may wonder how a tiny plant can stir so much emotion within me.

Just remember: "The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself" Henry Miller.

PS: Belle Luxe awarded Best Paph Hybrid, 01 Nov 2009 OSSEA Monthly Table Meeting

Paph Spicerianium 2x Blue Ribbon 3rd Overall

Blue Ribbon 3rd Overall

(6th Dec 2009 OSSEA Monthly Table Meeting, Singapore Botanic Gardens)

This is my 2nd Paph spicerianium that was awarded 3rd prize. I'm delighted by the affinity this species has with the overall award. This picture (Editor: Yes, is taken by myself - photography amateur!) does not do any justice to the paph. The pure white dorsal contributes a sharp contrast to its cute small green pouch. It is also because of this astonishing contrast that allows this species to display such uniqueness which many still admire till this day despite plentiful of hybrids.

Best Paph Hybrid, 6th Dec 2009 OSSEA Monthly Table Meeting

Best Paph Hybrid: exul x Pinocchio

Paph exul x Pinocchio stood out as the Best Paph Hybrid that day. The color of the flower is amazingly striking despite its petite size. This hybrid could well perhaps be an unregistered hybrid as the registered name could not be found with the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) since I had them 3 years ago.

Editor's comment: If Paphs have medicinal values like other plants, Paph exul x Pinocchio would be the best medicine for brightening up a gloomy day...