Welcome to my first blog post. If you know me, you know that I have an obsession- Orchids, specifically Phalaenopsis species and primary hybrids. These are but a few of the unique and exotic plants that nature has bestowed upon us- well atleast the species. Primary hybrids are a cross between two species, some do rarely occur in the wild, others are man-made. Today I would like to share some of the orchids I have been growing and have recently bloomed.

These beauties smell delicious :) The top two are the same specie, Phalaenopsis violacea, which smells like cinnamon bubble gum. The bottom is a primary hybrid called Phalaenopsis Penang Girl, one of it's parents is the indigo, or blue Phalaenopsis violacea, and the other is Phalaenopsis venosa, which I'll included a photo of below. Phal. Penang Girl fragrance reminds me of incense...

Phal. venosa smells smokey, and my partner has even described it as savory. 

I've been growing Phalaenopsis orchids for about 3 years now, and find it very rewarding. Part of the fun is that growing is a constant learning experience! A new venture I have recently started is hybridizing. Below are some of my recent crosses:

 Pollinated 3/30/12- This cross is a sibling cross between the two Phalaenopsis violacea shown in the first photo, in which you can see the green flower pod on the right side. Since I have used them to breed, I should go ahead and give them a name so that I can differentiate between the plants if I want to make future crosses. On a plant label this cross would look like this : Phalaenopsis violacea ('Mister' x 'Lady'). The flower on the left in the diptych is the pod parent, the pollen parent is on the right. It is generally believed that the pod parent influences genetics more strongly than the pollen, so I can expect progeny that are both magenta and indigo. And of course these will have the wonderful cinnamon bubble gum fragrance of Phal. violacea.

Pollinated 3/30/12- This cross is the reverse of the cross mentioned above, Phalaenopsis violacea ('Lady' x 'Mister'). The pollen parent ('Mister') has an indigo parent in it's lineage. So I'm using the indigo as the pod parent in hopes to get more indigo colored Phal. violacea, but expect several magentas as well. 

**As of 9/10/12 both pods have been harvested and sent off to a lab for flasking!**

Phal Samera 'Mija' x Phal Penang Girl 'Très' 

Pollinated 7/8/2012-  Both parents in this cross are primary hybrids, both with one common parent- indigo colored Phalaenopsis violacea. Using Phalaenopsis Samera 'Mija' as the pod parent could potentially yield a rare indigo, but either way this cross is bound to be interesting and it will be extremely fragrant. The size ratio between the two images is about right for all these crosses.

So now I have pollinated several of the orchids, and have some 'chids coming into bloom in the coming weeks. All I have to do now is wait and hope that all the pods make it to maturity and yield many seeds. And then there is the challenge of raising seeds from flask, but that's a whole other adventure!