Cattleya maxima

More orchid history

Found this collection of biographical sketches of important people in orchid history.

Slowly but surely...

the C. maxima buds are growing, elevating and rotating.  Let's hope the flowers are worth the wait.

Another C. maxima with buds

This is a first blooming for this seedling of the clone 'Hercules'.  The next blooming will have more flowers.

Cattleya Quinquecolor

This plant bloomed in March and is now blooming again.

Cattleya maxima update

Here are the buds today compared to September 5.  We're maybe a week from blooming.  I have another maxima about to stick developing buds through the sheath.

Cattleya gaskelliana alba

I acquired this plant in 2008 using an Oak Hill Garden gift certificate given to me as a birthday present by my lovely wife.   First bloom seedling.  Four additional growths have sheaths.  This is supposed to bloom in Spring.  So is lueddemanniana.  Both species bloomed for me in the last month. 

Blc. Waianae Leopard 'Ching Hua'

C. maxima buds

Well, the first of the maximas will soon bloom.  Here are some buds on the lowland form.  If all of these buds mature (too early to count them) we should have a nice show.

ebay seller uses blog photo

Today while wasting a few minutes looking at ebay orchids I found this: an ebay seller using my photo of C. forbesii.

 This isn't very nice, but is it illegal?  Any lawyers out there?

Who was Frederick Boyle?

I have been unable to find out anything about this person, who was born in 1841.  He was obviously a man of some means who later in life became an orchid maniac (we understand completely...)

Apparently, all that is left of his orchidmania are two lengthy articles he wrote on orchids that are available at Project Gutenberg.  The first, About Orchids: A Chat, was published in 1893.  The second, The Woodlands Orchids, was published in 1901.

I had a blast reading these pieces.  Five things in general stand out.  First, Mr. Boyle had a greenhouse  and he loved his orchids - the greenhouses and collections described in The Woodland Orchids were owned by an acquaintance of his, one Mr. Measures.  Second, many wonderful plants collected in the jungles during the 19th century are now gone forever, as the clones have been lost and the plants almost extinguished in the wild for several species.  Third, there are some great stories of orchid collecting trips.  Fourth, the pieces are written in a wonderful chatty style - the author assumes you will find his tales to be most entertaining (which I did).  Finally, the racism common in that era comes through in the discussions of indigenous peoples.

Orchid fanatics will enjoy these works.