Onc. Heaven scent rebloom!

This is my first rebloom from a newly spiked plant, which makes this exciting!

I have gotten one email asking what was my method for coaxing my H.R. Redolence to spike, and it actually made me scratch my head and laugh before I answered it. The email made me noticed that I did NOTHING SPECIAL!  I provided it with lots and lots of light, watered once a week, and didn't even fertilize once since it was practically dying from what I now believe was root decay. 

The blooms are scented like last year, a very sweet vanilla-chocolate-cakey aroma. The color is a bit different: more bright of a red compared to last years purplish-brick color.

I'm simply delighted :)

BL. Yellow Bird in bloom.

     Yes, this Yellow Bird is half purple! It was a bit of a surprise, since the images I googled of Yellow Birds show bright, buttery yellow blooms. Im excited regardless.

     There has also been some nice growth progress on the two baby pseudobulbs. There is a leaf emerging from one PB now, and the other has doubled in size.

B. Little Star in full bloom.

  

     B. Little Star was bought at the same time as the BL. Yellow Bird I posted about earlier. They were both in spike/bud but the Little Star has bloomed first!

     There are 2 blooms, an inch across in size, and both a nice bright white color. They are suposed to be scened, but I cannot comment on that due to a cold and stuffy nose.

Say hello to my red carpet :)

Phal "Ikea" in full bloom.

Close up of Phal. NoID "Ikea".

   
     These poor cellphone photos do no justice to how richly colored the blossoms are! Imagine a bright, buttery crayon-yellow with deep wine-colored spots. Its surprising how washed out the color is in the photos.

     It has taken about 1 month for all the buds to open, totaling 5 blooms. This isn't bad considering that in the span of purchase to bud, the phal was repotted twice and exposed to undesirable cold during Hurricane Sandy. The two new leafs continue to grow, but look like they are growing long and thin - a classic sign that it lacks sufficient light. I have been looking online for plant racks that I can place infront of my window, but I think I will hold off on my decision until September.

Full view of the phal and a wrinkly bed sheet.

I will be moving my plants with me to my new college in september, and plan on buying either a rack or a terrarium to house them. It will be much easier to heat, light and keep adequate humidity in a terrarium, but for all i know, I may only have enough room for a small rack by the window.

Possibly elongated leaves. Lack of light?

Surprise! I have blooms!

     I wasn't planning on introducing this phal. just yet, but the fact that it bloomed makes me very excited!

     This is phal. hybrid I named "Ikea", after the store it was purchased in the fall. It is also my most recently purchased (still living) specimen.

Right after purchase, fall 2012, in bloom - Excuse the mess :)

     It was in bloom when purchased and I immediately replanted it into a larger container with bark because the roots looked like they had no desire to be in that moss. The leaves were covered in leaf shine which I removed using baby shampoo.

     I initially thought this was 3 plants in one container, but I soon did a few google searches and realized it was one plant with 2 basal keikis! I do believe the mom might be terminal - While the 2 keikis have spikes, and are recently producing roots and new leaves, the mom sits slumped with limp leaves and shows no activity.

A crown-shot. A new leaf on each keiki, mom to the right.

      Finally, I am excited for this phal. to bloom because of its bright yellow flowers (my favorite color)! I wasn't expecting it to open just yet but it surprised me in the morning when I was misting. Im a bit worried, too, because my humidity had been fluctuating like crazy. The last thing I want is bud blast.

New bloom up close. 

Blooming orchid amongst friends.

     I will update again when in full bloom.