Find the new pseudobulbs!

I brought the Miltonia home on one of the coldest days of this past winter. Then I proceeded to spend a week away from home in California. When I came back, I saw some of the leaves showed signs of frost bite.

Even though I've kept oncidium type orchids and they're growing happily for me, this was my first one that was specifically a Miltonia. I hoped I was giving it enough water. The roots looked okay, though I always hope it will grow more roots.

Last week while I was watering it, I noticed new growth!

I new that as summer approached, we would enter the new growing season. I was expecting to see some root development first.

But I can't complain about new pseudobulbs! If all goes well, these new pseudobulbs will give me new flowers!

And so it goes, the orchid experiment. As I keep a new type of orchid alive, I allow myself to acquire more. But to be allowed to acquire another Miltonia, this one needs to send up new spikes.

South window oncidiums

The oncidiums all live in a south facing window. They apear to be happy there!

Miltonia repotting and a rosemary update

Rosemary is growing! When I water it, I water with fertilizer. I saw a recipe that involved grilled shrimp and rosemary skewers. I don't have enough branches to do that yet, but ONE DAY!

I was quite worried about the Miltonia since I was pretty sure it was potted in regular gardening soil. What did I find when I pulled it out of the pot?

Yes, gardening soil. I spent the couple of hours trying to untangle the roots and removing the soil swearing at the people who potted this. Thankfully, the roots look half way decent and a Miltonia can stand a lot of water. But still, DIRT!

Orchid roots need air to breathe. Dirt holds moisture quite well and will usually suffocate the roots. At least, the roots were just sitting on top of the soil. I repotted it so that there's a layer of bark at the bottom and then surrounded it with moss. Hope it will be okay.

I think the leaves also suffered some cold damage when I had it too close to the window. I trimmed those leaves down and applied some cinnamon powder to where I cut.

New newest - a Miltonia

And by new, I mean that it literally entered my house today. It is freezing cold here and I had popped into a Safeway to warm up. I looked around to see what they had for orchids and found this white NOID Miltonia. The leaves and flowers look good. The roots that I could see look good, so it came home with me, even if it is below freezing right now! I placed the pot in a plastic bag and put a second plastic bag over the leaves and flowers and held it close to my body while walking outside, hoping that it would keep the heat in.

I really want to repot it but there are buds on it and I'm a little afraid to touch it right now so I gave it some water and I'll have to find a good pot for it. The decorative pot it came in is glittery and flimsy.

New NOID Miltonia

Flower close up