Phaelenopsis Orchids

March 22

I am thankful for phaelenopsis orchids and orchids in general. I began growing orchids in 2006. In 2006, my wife Bebe and I made a trip to Natchez Mississippi where an orchid grower was going out of buisiness and we were able to get quite a few wonderful orchids. I had twenty to thirty plants at one time, but now, sadly, I killed most of them and only about 3 still produce flowers. The phaelenopsis orchids are the ones I have the most luck with. Even I have a hard time killing them. It's a different story for other orchids such as the Cattelyas.

When I first began collecting orchids, I met a man named Ervin Granier, a retired chemist from St. Gabriel, Louisiana, who bred and hybridized orchids. He showed me his greenhouses and the thousands of wonderful orchids he had growing there. His focus was the breeding of blue Cattleya orchids, which do not grow naturally in the wild, and for which he won many awards. Unfortunately, Ervin passed away in December, 2011.

 March 22b        

Ervin Granier

March 22c

One of Granier's Blue Cattleyas

Today's feature photo is of a phaelonospis orchid at my house, which I took on Sunday, that is now in full bloom. I like to give my orchids names; this particular one is named after my niece, Sabrina Michelle. I had forgotten, but in looking at my old photos, it turns out that the Sabrina Michelle orchid has been around since 2006. Other phaelenopsis orchids that have bit the dust included ones that I had named Legally Blonde, Mandy Moore, Molly Ringwold, and Barbara Jeanne, after my wife. I also named a plant of another orchid variety after my daughter - Gloria Elizabeth.

orchid names

so i have an orchid

named sabrina michelle

i had one named after a movie

and for two movie belles

these flowers are so feminine

i don’t want to seem like a snob

but if i had an ugly male looking orchid

i would then surely name it bob.

(with my apologies to anyone named Bob - any similarity of the description to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental!)

© rt tulley