Cycnodes

On leave again today. Decided to give myself "long weekends" to burn off the balance leave I have to clear by end of the month. Also took the opportunity to bring the 2 kittens for castration.

Well one of the plus point that I am on leave today is that I get to enjoy the fragrance of the Cycnodes Wine Delight and Cycnodes Jumbo Puff which I'll miss if I have to go to work today as they were fragrant only in the morning. Bought the Wine Delight from Woon Leng and the Jumbo Puff from a Taiwan vendor during last Orchid Show. Both have not disppointed me so far with periodic blooms. Some of the Wine Delight even gave 2 spikes each season. Will try to post some pics later after the rain.

NOG Tour 17-Sep-05

It's time for the monthly Free Guided NOG tour again this coming Saturday. Tours depart from the Singapore Botanic Gardens Visitors Centre at 9am, 10a,, 11pm and 4pm. Registration starts 15 minutes before departure. As the Guides are all Volunteers, there is no charge but you have to pay the regular entrance fees to the NOG - S$5 per adult, Students and Senior Citizens S$1, Children below 12 free. This happens every 3rd Saturday of the month. Come along!

Rain Rain Go Away

On leave today but can't do much. Why do schools give so much homework during school vacation? Do Principals and Teachers uses a different dictionary which has a totally different meaning for Vacation? C'mon, these are the only times where I could take leave and plan for some outing with the whole family! Especially during these times where the bosses say go on leave or they will be forfeited by .. Got to save the company some money u know.

Originally plan to do some gardening but it rained and there's water everywhere. Still when the rain slows to a trickle, went out and make a round about my plants and to smell the Colmarie and lawrenciae ... wonderful. Some of the flowers of the Colmarie are starting to fade but the fragrance is still there.

The various Den hybrids are doing OK. Buds all intact and spike getting longer. I shall blast them again when rain stops with the cocktail again just to be sure. The Vanda lamellata has faded. How I wish they would last as long as the antelope Dens. But wait. Did I see a spike behind there and it sure is. Barely has the last flower fade, the lamellata has given me a new spike wow! Yeah...

Moving on, the 3 budding Cynoches are doing well. Soon there'll be wonderful fragrance in the morning. Was told that back home where these came from, the fragrance is collected by male bees to make pheromone to attract mates. As the bees are active only in the morning, these flowers smell only in the morning. Since we do not have the bees in Singapore, will my cynoches stop making fragrance eventually... Or will some clever local bee discover the usefulness and help keep the flowers producing fragrance ...

Coming back to the front, the Epi do not seem to be doing too well. These guys seem to be having trouble with the bugs. Must include them in the bombardment later to ensure the buds survive.

Well the rain has stopped and weather forecast say there's no more rain till 3am, let's go give the bugs a hard time. Who ask them to come to my orchids..

Dendrobium Season

After I resume the routine with the chemicals my dendrobiums were doing extremely well this seasons. Most of the hybrids were flowering - Den. Cheat Chai, Den Fair Twist x Lasanthevak, Den C K Ai Oka x canniculatum, Den Tay Swee Keng, Den Baby Pink, Den Dawn Marie, Den Thai Twist, Den Patria & Den Siah Koko. It's wonderful to see the flowers make it instead of becoming bug food.

Besides Dens, one of my Rhynchovanda Colmarie also flowered. The flowers are dark purple and appears to shine. What I like best is its fragrance. I have 2 of these but only this give flowers regularly. Got to move the other but unfortunately, there's no place beside this as it's current neighbors are flowering too - Dar. Fuchs Cream Puff x Asctm. miniatum below

and this Aerides lawrenciae; another wonderfully frangrant plant.

Besides orchids, my other free time has been occupied by these 2 kittens. They were born on 16-Mar in my Red Ginger pot by a stray that roams the neighborhood. The mother moved them after I took them out as I don't want the litter to get drenched by my watering system. The mother promptly took them away but appear in my garden 2 weeks later.

Thought I could hold on to them to get the mother to send her to be sterilized but she took flight and didn't come back.