Pacific Orchid Exposition 2007

Two weeks ago, I took a Friday off of work and took my Mom to the Pacific Orchid Exposition. This was the first Orchid show I have ever been to, so I was overwhelmed with all the different varieties of Orchids. Me and my Mom had a wonderful time and ended up purchasing a few plants.

I just finished editing my photos from the show and uploaded 74 of them (for your viewing pleasure :) to my Flickr set called Pacific Orchid Exposition 2007.

Laeliocattleya Dennis Olivas 'Moon Shadow'   Dendrobium Spring Jewel 'Miki'

above: Laeliocattleya Dennis Olivas ‘Moon Shadow’ & Dendrobium Spring Jewel ‘Miki’
below: Macodes petola & Masdevallia Copper Angel ‘Highland’ AM/AOS

Macodes petola   Masdevallia Copper Angel 'Highland' AM/AOS

More Orchid Shows…

For you (local Bay Area) Orchids lovers who missed San Francisco Orchid Society’s Pacific Orchid Expo… or just want to go to more Orchid shows and sales, there will be a numerous more more this month.

The Penninsula Orchid Society has a page with various Upcoming Events.

Seed Organization + Sowing Nightshades at Night

Last night… I organized my seed packets and collect seeds from some dried seed pods. Here are the remains of the cracked Porcupine Tomato seedpods.

Dried Porcupine Tomatoes

This afternoon… As I was taking a break from work, I was being teased by some Passion Fruits. I wanted so much to pick one from the vine, but it was about 10 foot off the ground…

Earlier this evening… When I got home from work, I was surprised by a yellow flower from the Elkhorn Plant that I purchased just a few days ago. Here it is wide open, but the flower closes back at night.

Crabby's Flower

Before going to bed… I sowed 4 more members of the Nighshade family:

Sweet 100 Tomato
Solanum pyracanthum (Porcupine Tomato)
Orange Ornamental Pepper from Virginia
Scarlet Chinese Eggplant

Crabby + Sowing

After work, I stopped by Home Depot to get some Sphagnum Moss so I can repot my Jewel Orchids. I stopped by the succulent area and this one caught my eye. I had to get it!

Meet the newest member of my succulent family: Crabby

Meet Crabby

The label reads: Family: Aizoaceae / Genus: Mimicry Collection / Common Name: Mimicry.

I believe Mimicry is a generic term for plants that blend in with their surroundings like Split Rock, Lithops, etc… so I don’t think this is the true botanical name… Google, here I come

I also did some late night seed sowing. I planted the following:

Tomato ‘Great White’
Tomato ‘Brandywine OTV’
Tomato ‘Roma’
Tomato ‘Ace 55VF’
Tomato ‘Fireball’
Pepper ‘Thai Dragon’ from gypsy_soul (Thank you!)
Eggplant ‘Japanese Long Purple’

I also placed the following seed (collected from the garden last year) between moist paper towel to see if they were viable:

Allium Christopii
Orange Ornamental Peppers from Virginia
Majestic Purple Millet

[Update] I searched Google and found a page on a GardenWeb Forum which had an image so the same exact plant. With further investigation, I’ve determined that this plant is Rhombophyllum dolabriforme or Elkhorn Plant.

Cuttings + Peanuts Sprout

Sunday, Feb 26, 2007:

Today, I hung out with a friend of mine. We watched a movie (don’t laugh, Norbits), had Sushi for dinner, did a little bit of grocery shopping, then went to his place to watch the Oscars.

Powdery White Sedum
I found this piece of Sedum Kalanchoe on the floor of the grocery store. It probably accidentally broke off as someone was going through the plant pots. It has really pretty powdery white/gray/blue leaves.

What’s funny is that later as I was in line to pay for my food. Someone dropped a bottle of salsa near the area where I found this. A store employee completely swept and mopped the area. If I didn’t "save" this piece, I’m sure it would have ended up in a dustpan with broken glass and salsa.

Sedum 'Frosty Morn'?
Once I got home. I potted the powdery white Sedum cutting, as well as another Sedum cutting I found along the sideway I walk from work. This one is white with white edges. I think it is Sedum ‘Frosty Morn’.

Unknown Cutting
I also potted an unknown foliage plant that was in my friend Jay’s Valentine’s Day bouquet of flowers.

Peanut Update (2 Days old)
The Peanut seeds I planted 2 days ago are not sprouting roots.

Saturday Gardening (A Lot of Gardening Done)

(Click any of the thumbnail images below to view a larger image on Flickr)

Unknown Hedge Cutting
I started this morning by taking my Mom to get a blood test at Kaiser. Near the hospital’s door, I noticed a hedge with pretty yellow flowers which measured 1.5 inches in diameter. I don’t know what this hedge is, but my Mom says it reminds her of a Jasmine. I thought I would take a cutting to see if I can root it.

Once we got home, I immediately went to the garden and started planting.

I planted two flowers, Plains Bicolor Coreopsis and Gold Dust Alyssum, in six-pack pots.

Homemade Cactus Mix
I decided to repot some Cactus and Succulents so I made some Home-made Cactus Mix.

Repotted Cactus and Succulents
I repotted three Succulents I purchased from a November SFBG (San Francisco Botanical Garden) Sale and a Cactus purchased from the 99ยข store.

Repotting Cactus and Succulent More Repotted Cactus and Succulent
I also took apart a pot of Cactus and Succulents that my brother got a while back… one of the plants died and the remaining ones seemed to be overcrowded. Since he was taking care of it, I took the liberty of repotting them.

Grooming and Weeding Hanging Pots
As I was potting and repotting, my Mom groomed and weeded some of her hanging baskets.

My Oldest Cactus Unknown Succulent Euphorbia pugniformis fa. cristata Climbing Aloe
I also took photos of my various Cactus and Succulents and noticed that the base of one of my tall Cactus has rotted and dried up.

Potted Cactus Side Growth
Luckily the tips and side growth were okay, so I cut them off and potted them up. I’m hope that they root and grow to replace it’s mother plant.

Garden Progress:

Some of the veggie seeds I sowed about a week ago is starting to sprout: Simpson Elite Lettuce, Grand Rapids Lettuce, Kailaan, Chin Chiang Cabbage

Recent blooms: Azaleas, Asian Plum, Peach, Daffodils, Starflower, Cymbidium Orchids

Still in bloom: Hardenbergia, Hyacinth, Christmas Cactus, Jade Plant, Borage, Magnolia

About to bloom: Sparaxis, Forsythia, Tulips

Emerging growth: Clematis, Baby’s Breath, Wisteria, Grapes, Hydrangea, Kiwi, Fig, Pomegranate, Banana

Late Night Gardening

Before going to bed last night, I did a little late night gardening.

Ginger
Ginger: Last year, I tried planting Ginger… and they grew… a little, then died. I found some Ginger sprouting in our pantry, so I’m going to try to grow them again this year.

Peanut Seeds
Peanuts: I also remembered that we had a bag of raw Peanuts, that we bought from the Filipino grocery store. We either cook these in the microwave or make Boiled Peanuts. I’m going to see if these peanuts will sprout.

Coleus Tilt-a-Whirl Seedling
Coleus ‘Tilt-a-Whirl’ Seedlings: I re-discovered two poor neglected Tilt-a-Whirl seedlings that I planted about a year ago, but somehow lost. They were never repotted and were still in the little plastic drinking cup that they were planted in. I finally separated them and repotted them into new potting soil. I hope they survive… heck, they survived almost a year in that little drinking cup…

Mealybugs!!!

A few of my overwintering Coleus are infested with Mealybugs. Since I wasn’t that busy at work today, I took some time to brush off all the Mealybugs I could find. I’ll examine them in a few day to make sure they don’t return.

Before and After:

My #1 Enemy: Mealybugs!!!   Mealybugs (After)