Blog
Oncidium Aka Baby ‘Raspberry Chocolate’
Oncidium Aka Baby is the next generation of fragrant Oncidiums coming from the original ‘Chocolate Orchid’ (Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’). Where Aka Baby is a major improvement over its parents Oncidioda Jimbo and Oncidium Sharry Baby is its clean foliage, compact spike and higher flower density. Anyone that has grown Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’ will know about the black spots that form on it’s leaves under normal growing conditions. The other problem to some people is the very tall flower spikes that can top 1500mm...
read moreOncidium Twinkle ‘Fragrant Fantasy’
Oncidium Twinkle is one of the greatest miniature Oncidiums of all time. Easy to grow, compact growth, profuse flowering, relatively disease free, and in a range of colours. It is also in my mind one of the most frustrating Oncidiums of all time. Pretty much all cultivars of Twinkle start forming flower spikes in January, which sit there for a whole 5 to 6 months promising you what a wonderful flower display they’ll put on, but not opening until the middle of June and into July or even August. You need a pinch of patience to watch...
read moreBeallara (syn Aliceara) Tropic Tom ‘Honker’
Honker is one of the three cultivars of Beallara (syn Aliceara) Tropic Tom that were produced commercially. Each cultivar has it’s own strengths and weaknesses, for Honker it wins in the full flower and the best colour but suffers a bit in flower count and single spike habit. Where as the other two cultivars (Pale Face and Kinky) tend to have bland flower colour during the warmer months, only achieving their best colours during the cooler months, Honker just has that nice dark rich flower colour year round. The Tropic Tom range is...
read moreDecember 2015
Well here we are at the end of another year, where did it go! We were so busy we missed it. First off I’d like to thank everyone that brought our orchids over the last year, both for supporting us and our retailers. That support enables us to source new varieties for you to grow and enjoy, improve our nursery to increase our plant quality, expand our greenhouses so that we may grow all those new varieties, and to keep our staff happy and comfortable in their jobs. That support has enabled us to start work on a new staff rest area in...
read moreBrassada Orange Delight ‘Hilo Sunrise’
This lovely little spider orchid in orange has a quirky flowering habit. Although the individual flowers don’t last very long, maybe a week or two, the flower spike can last up to six to eight weeks. As you can see in the photos the flowers come out progressively along the spike, so as the first flowers are opening the spike is still growing and putting on flower buds at the tip of the spike. The flowers will then slowly open along the spike with the older flowers dying off behind them. You don’t get that full flowering effect...
read moreMiltoniopsis Lillian Nakamoto ‘Tanto’
This is one of the best Miltoniopsis for beginners and also one of the more unusual ones for its flowering. After growing Tanto for the last 6 years I’ve found it to be one of the most tolerant Miltoniopsis for the summer period in South East Queensland. This plant will happily keep growing during December and January before its main flowering season from late January through to April or May. Now those of you that grow Miltoniopsis will straight away notice that this flowering season is very different from the majority of Miltoniopsis, which...
read moreMiltonia spectabilis
Miltonia spectabilis is a significant species that is in the background of nearly 1000 Oncidium Intergeneric hybrids, including some of the newer breeding lines that will dominate the future of Oncidium Intergenerics. From the flowering perspective it’s quite a contradiction, usually only having one flower (occasionally 2) per spike and one spike per bulb growth, but what a singularly impressive flower it is. A single specimen will normally grow and flower all new bulbs at the same time, thus putting on quite a show. The photo of my...
read moreZygotoria Midnight Blue ‘Cardinal’s Roost’
In essence Zygotoria Midnight Blue ‘Cardinal’s Roost’ is similar to Zygonisia Cynosure ‘Blue Birds’, in that the growth and foliage is similar and they both flower out of the new growth before it matures. Where Cardinal’s Roost differs is that it’s a smaller growing orchid and tends to flower quite profusely in our small 105mm pots. One of my clients is constantly amazed at how her plant just seems to be flowering whenever she looks in her greenhouse. I tend to agree as my large specimen never...
read moreZygonisia Cynosure ‘Blue Birds’
This orchid is pretty much as close as you’ll ever get to a blue orchid. Actually one of it’s parents is Aganisia cyanea which is commonly called the Blue Orchid. Zygonisia Cynosure ‘Blue Birds’ is also one of the few orchids we grow that has a patent on it, so you’ll see on the tag US 12/942,793 which refers to the US patent. One of the great things I love about Blue Birds is the multiple spiking that occurs on each new growth. Young plants will put up 1 spike with a new grow, but mature plants will commonly...
read moreSouthern Spotted Velvet Gecko- Junior
Well if you think Tyrell is cute, then his offspring are even cuter. The baby Southern Spotted Velvet Geckos are darker in colour with quite bright spots. I found this one in the box that contains my boot cleaning gear. As you can see from the photos how small the baby is when compared to the tin of Dubbin boot polish, maybe just over an inch in length, or around 30mm. They grow quite quickly, so by September or October of this year this baby will be big enough to shed his immature colours and take on the mature pattern of an adult...
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