December blooms and the return of a furry assistant

I wanted to wait a little longer for another orchid to open, but it might take a few weeks, and by that time some of these would be gone. So she is not in the photos. Her loss :p

Four orchids this time, which is not a bad number for December. The thing with orchids is, though, that many do not have a specific blooming time. They grow new canes or buds and bloom when they mature. It can happen a few times a year.

Other ones (like the most popular, Phalaenopsis or Dendrobium Nobile) only bloom between winter and spring. In a normal environment, that is. Because greenhouses can make them bloom at any time of the year with the selected fertilizer, the right light, and the right temperature.

It is actually cool to see the biggest orchid flower in my collection (the white one) and the smallest one (the bottom dark pink one).

This is Cattleya Little Lemon Drops x Cattleytonia Why Not. A weed of an orchid! She received a larger pot this year and is almost in need of another size up already. It grows in three or four directions and blooms as it pleases :)

And this is the one with the biggest flowers: Beallara Tahoma Glacier. I would love to see her grow a few flower spikes eventually, but it always grows just one pseudobulb that produces one spike only. I have had it for some years now, and I guess the place is not ideal for her.

See how big it is? Even Suzi, who decided to show up, is amazed :)





She just wanted to hijack the sunny spot I picked. Now that it is much colder, she likes to sit in the sun, and I like to shoot in the sun too. So it is a bit of a battle sometimes. In summer she doesn't care so much about it, so her funny highness is not in the photos.

This little thing is Oncidium Twinkle and I have two of those in this colour. Bought as one plant, but when I decided to repot it, it turned out to be two separate plants.
And now, the missing one is another Twinkle - a yellow one. Huge spike on it, but still not in bloom.

Besides being adorable, it has an amazing smell too :)





Please admire the background here :)
She got her sun after all.

And last but not least - Paphiopedilum pinocchio. A single spike again, but the second bud is almost opening, and there is a high chance there will be more buds on the same spike. And it can bloom like this for months.
No fragrance, but it is a hybrid, and those usually do not smell.





Not much colour, but it is still adorable with all the tiny hairs on the petals.

By the way... The furry master is 11 years old if I am not mistaken. Only until spring, when she will turn 12. It just came to me when Spotify decided to play this song next :)

Us3 - Eleven long years
year 1993