In the Garden

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What a lovely specimen of snakehood.

I hope it gets the rat that’s eating the hostas.

Nice snake! Nice photo.

We have black snakes too. They are constrictors. You can feel it when you pick one up. Even a little one has a lot of squeeze.

Cattleyas are much more showy and the blooms appear close to the fairly stubby plant. I don't think they ever appear in such profusion though - usually just one or two blooms.
The plant grows from pseudobulbs and while some might be elongated, I'm sure they don't form long "canes" as in your picture of the leaves.

A typical Cattleya growth:



Your single blooms do look like a partially opened Dendrobium, but AFAIK their blooms don't appear in a pendulous cluster like that and not on a distinct flower stalk - usually as two or three starting as a swelling from the underside of each leaf node, opposite the leaf.
The leaves certainly look like a Dendrobium though, growing out from alternate sides of a cane (the pseudobulb) like that and it while it would be possible for an unsupported cane to make a cascade of blooms, it would be clearly a cane with alternating leaf/bloom clusters and not a flower stalk.

Or maybe a Cymbidium - they're generally grown with the blooms supported to form an arched cascade, but if left to their own devices would look very much like those you show, and the blooms do look like yours.
Except - the leaves are quite wrong for Cymbidiums; they form as a thick clump of long thin leaves growing from the base of (very obvious) pseudobulbs.

Dendrobiums are pretty easy to get flowering but Cymbidiums are more fussy and rely on clearly defined cool resting periods. I've never had much luck with them and tended to get large displays of... leaves, probably because I only have a typical heated domestic growing environment.

I've discounted Phalenopsis because their blooms and leaves are very different. They also flower at the drop of a hat.

So... Sorry, I don't know what they are, and can only hint what they're not.


Apologies for the delay - I'm having problems with thread update alerts (none!) so I'm slowly backtracking the manual way.

Further thoughts: the Dendrobium I've been referring to is the Dendrobium nobile but there is another variety that does produce a cascade of blooms like yours. The Cane-like growth is the same but a cascade of blooms is produced on a single stalk at the top of the plant - like so:





The nobile type produces blooms as I'd described earlier:




So yeah, yours is a Dendrobium.

Thank you, Cornflake. I appreciate your input. Here's a photo with the flowers more open. This is about as open as they get.

[url=]Dendrobium?[/url]

I agree it is most likely a Dendrobium. I've seen Cymbidiums and they have an aspect that is more half-way between Phals and Cattleyas. They don't grow well here because they like it a bit cooler. I think.

Here are a few more garden picks:

Pineapples are filling out. Usually I freeze them (many become ripe at the same time.), but this year I am going back to the old fashioned canning. I'm tired of losing food to the hurricanes.

[url=]Pineapple[/url]

These are native Rain Lilies. As expected, they bloom in spring after heavy rains.

[url=]Rain Lilies[/url]

A little blooming of Epidendrum radicans.

[url=]Epidendrum radicans[/url]

∆ aww that frog is adoreable.

Wow Blazingstar you have a lot of neat plants. I wish I could.grow.pineapples.where.I live.

Have you ever made.pineapple apricot jam? It's pretty.tasty. I had no idea you could freeze.pinapples. Going to have to try that.

Garden greens and another snek.

Nice looking greens! Your garden must be healthy to have the snakes and frogs.

Apricots are a temperate fruit, so I would not have them to make jam with. I think pineapples are too sweet for jam. I also dry pineapple.

Dried pineapple is delicious.

Ahh I didn't realize.It was.a.temperate fruit. I've never had a large garden so haven't done a lot of research into fruit trees. Though I would love.to have some.

Unfortunately I'm limited to gardening in pots. Going to be planting some.herbs soon though I'm excited.

I have tons of amphibians and snakes, I garden organically so it’s a healthy ecosystem with all sorts of creatures thriving.
This year there are tons of chipmunks in the yard.Adorable at the bird feeder.
We need rain, my rainwater barrels are almost empty and some are full of tadpoles so I can’t use them.
So far pests have been minimal.No cabbage loopers, yet.One potato beetle which was tossed to the hens.Good crop of Lady Bugs.
On the plus side I don’t need to mow or weed eat as much because it’s not growing back fast.
First Day Lilly of season and the ground orchid is blooming. So delicate and a lovely pale pink.
Harvesting lettuce, spinach, beet greens, arugula, cilantro,Chinese cabbage and the kale is almost large enough to eat.
I never got to hill my taters properly, at that time it was raining and it’s too late now.
A few ripe alpine strawberries, small but exquisite taste.They hold their fruit off the ground so no rot or slug damage.
Wild grapes are blooming and the perfume is wonderful, especially in the evening.Elderberry starting to bloom.

From the wild woods.Chicken of the woods.

If I could get help getting away from my captor (not calling her my sister any more) I can garden again. It's the only thing I've wanted to do my entire life.

That sounds like an awful situation.
Hope you can enjoy gardening again soon.