Headspace: Orchids

Resurrection

2005-02-20T13:56:00.000+08:00

Resilence

2004-11-06T16:40:00.000+08:00

Not all doom and gloom

2004-10-18T23:22:00.000+08:00

as part of Orchids.

2004-09-13T21:47:00.000+08:00

Lup San has an excellent website on East Asia orchids: http://members.tripod.com/asia_flora

Two weeks ago I had a fight with my mum over the orchids. It was a complicated a long fight which involved my parking the orchids at my aunts for three weeks now. The two catts, all the mini dens are now at my aunt's, with the exception of the two new ones next to me. I miss seeing them grow.

2004-08-18T17:23:00.000+08:00

The day before I was at my aunt's and I took opportunity to observe her plants and their environment. She puts the orchids along her corridor. Contrary to what I believed, her area gets only white diffused light - no direct sun at all. (It is freqently cloudy where she lives.) There is also the occassional breeze that I think the orchids fancy. Then everything fell into place. I saw the light, so to speak. Inspired, I came home and rearranged my work space and my bedroom. The work table has now a planting box that fits four small size dens - these plants were previously under a flourescent tube in the dining room - and the bedroom has the cattleyas and a new tall den I bought. As I was working, I noted that one of the mini dens seem to be trying to flower: there is a tiny knob in between one of the leaves. I cross my fingers.

2004-07-20T20:46:00.000+08:00

At the office, there is someone who is mad about African Violets and had been putting pots of them over all the office window ledges. This person left after seven years with the organisation. She did not venture out of the center, neither did she advance to other departments within the center. My unverified suspicion is that because the office has fantastic sun and good tempreture and humidity for her plants, she feels that if she looses this place, her plants would have to return to the darkness of the flat. Like me. I've recently transported the phal home and in its place, brought one of the mini dens to the office. They use to occupy a space on my table but now I've hidden them in the small space between the blinds and the glass windows. The sun is full in the day yet the tempreture isn't too warm (I hope). At night, they get the neccessary darkness to rest.

This could be the solution to the problem I'm having with the lack of good location for my cattleyas. A week ago, I received a letter of complaint from the property manager of my town council. The letter insinuated I haven't been considerate and am a pest to society for having a metal bracket on the parapet wall that might fall and break the head of a blameless soul. I feel so wronged! The metal bracket has no detachable parts that could possibly drop off. My plants could fall over but only in a typhoon. It's just too troublesome to have to figure out another place because I despair all over again about the lack of sunlight in my home.

2004-07-01T00:27:00.000+08:00

I read somewhere that Hawaiians tie phals to tree barks and leave them to grow. Inspired, I stripped the phal at home of rotting rots and sodden moss and found one good root. (I guess this is the reason for the baby leaves.) It now lies bare assed in a glass bowl and gets a spritz twice a day, or whenever it looks thirsty. There's one at the office that is still alive after three weeks but I'm not going to take chances. I hope to tie it on something and hang it way down the end of the blinds. The light at the office is wonderful, just that the place is a trifle dusty

2004-06-28T22:32:00.000+08:00

Sunday, I went out and bought 3 mini dens. They are the only ones small enough to fit under the flourescent table lamp, which is not as tall as I imagined after I measured it with tape. The plants are a little too tall but properlly angled, they fit okay under the light. One den has a little inflourescent that is now turning towards the tube. Best of all, in the day, if I draw the curtains, they will catch some sunlight. My father surprised me. I kept the light on the whole of last night and he said nothing, only that he had noticed them [the orchids] reaching towards the light. Excellent!

June is my lucky month. The mini den at work is growing a baby and there is another bump on the unifoliate cattlya. I think they like the heat.

2004-06-26T03:23:00.000+08:00

I have been closely observing the unifoliate cattlya and another den. The den is going to growing a cane. I'm suspecting the cattlya too but it's being sneaky: it does nothing for a few days and then grows a little. The other cattlya that has a tiny plant is growing so slowly I am beginning to think it's not going to grow at all.

Doing my work at another workstation earlier today, I noticed that a colleague is extremely mad about african violets. She has a really pretty purple one. She says they are fool proof. I thought about trying them and then realise I can never get them to bloom in my dark corridor.

My father has installed in the study a lovely bright flourescent lamp for his reading. HA HA HA HA HA! The fool! The orchids will take over that room sooner than he realises.

2004-06-17T19:40:00.000+08:00

I have decided, for father's day, to buy my father a plant he can go ahead to kill if he so wish. A hardier plant, I think, would be good but no more dens from Far East Flora: they all come with crawlies. I'm thinking of getting some more mini dens to keep them indoors in a planter.

It's been hot. I inspect the plants daily, looking for signs of new growth. Today, I found a baby plant on the cattlya I missed - how could I? - and one of the dens is growing a fat cane. The mokara roots are thickening nicely but still no flowers. They seem to be concentrating on root than flower and leaves - why? The dead looking phal has little baby leaves that seem to be increasing in size. The office plant is also showing green tips on their roots.

2004-06-11T05:51:00.000+08:00

I've heard of orchids shooting up just before they die. I suspect the ones that got special attention from my father is racing to their greenhouse heaven: the den has little babies and the leathery phal have baby leaves.

Hmm. The den at the office looks a little depressed: it's not having any sun from where I'm sitting. The flourescent light is too weak to help.

2004-06-09T19:02:00.000+08:00

I'm glad I brought the orchids to the office because just about the only good thing that happened today was the rain watering the ones at home and the mini den blooming. Frankly, it's just amazing watching the bud slowly opening. It's my excuse for staying late to do some work.

2004-06-06T20:08:00.001+08:00

I got a birthday angpow from my aunt yesterday and so off to the plant retailer I went. My plan was to get two plants for the office. It is a defensive strategy: I'm defending my orchids from my father, and as a bonus, I'm trying to use it to dispell the 'sha qi' from my boss who sits diagonally across from me.

I almost blew it all on a phah. [A PHAH!, my brain screamed.] Out of whatever small puddle of discipline left in me, I walked right by and got a brown mini den with fantastic messy roots and leaves and a yellow phal. (The phal is just pure stubbornness: I refuse to believe they will die even in air conditioned environments. The den is an indulgence. While I'm not so keen about dens I love how they grow this way and that: they remind me of a rich rainforests.)

I'm crossing all my fingers for the yellow phal.

2004-06-02T23:45:00.000+08:00

I have lately stopped blogging about my orchids because I have heartlessly decided to let them die in my father's incapable purple thumbs. My father is an incompetent gardener of the worst kind: he refuses to acknowledge his incompetence and he argues with everyone about the right way to grow them. Due to his care, the spider orchid has grown brown and died; two phals are withering from root rot; the Mokara and Vanda has roots thin from poor fertiliser; a mini den and another mini cat became badly sun burnt. And because his eyesight is bad, he did not see the holes the adult weevils made. Still, with such proof - just in a month he insisted on caring for them - he refuses to acknowledge he's such a bad gardener: he blames everything else except himself for the ruination of the plants. I think planting shows up a person's personality in the worst way. In me, irresponsibility and in him, thick headedness.

2004-05-01T11:42:00.000+08:00

Thursday, I took out the radio clock from my room and plugged it in the balcony and kept the fan on to create a little breeze. I think they liked it. They look green and happy. I'm not nuts. This is true. When they are unhappy, moved too much or too hot, they look worn and tired out. My mother agrees with me that they seem happier last night and she isn't just saying it.

2004-04-29T13:18:00.000+08:00

Some good tips from a fellow orchid grower
- buy them from sungei tengah
- never overwater; in our weather, maybe once in 2 days
- always fertilize: go for Graviolta

Of the three I have accomplised the first and the last. The second is an enormous challenge to my family. The first oncidium has died from overwatering.

2004-04-26T01:13:00.000+08:00

I report with satisfaction I caught all but one of little buggers and promptly murdered them with a lot of soap. The adult weevil that made a hole at the edge of the leaves was doused with floor detergent for being such an enormous pest. I'm sure there are eggs in there. Dr Utai seemed to house a great number of weevils and some millipedes. I doused the potting mix liberally with insecticide and then sprayed water to dilute it. I hope that will keep the weevils ill and frightened until next week.

2004-04-25T22:41:00.000+08:00

When I saw four more leaves falling off on the baby oncidium cane I couldn't figure out why until tonight I saw the culprit - my pater - misting the leaves. He had redeemed himself yesterday by making a table to house my plants in the balcony but all at once he used up these brownie points. I, very crossly, told him the potential evils of misting the leaves: crown rot. And I suspect the reason for one of the soggy leaves on the phals is his doing. Now that the plants are in the house, my over-enthusiastic father has gone off his head. He leaves the window wide open and then accuses the painters of poisoning one of the dens with turpentine when he saw sunburn marks on the leaves. (The balcony, while gets all the morning light, becomes too hot in at noon time. )

Yesterday, soaking the plants in the tub, I noticed brown crawlies floating on the water. I flipped Taylors and Orthos but discovered no bug description. They look like rice weevils and seem to afflict the dens most. I'm terrified. I've got a gigantic den that hasn't been soaked. A check on google confirmed my suspicions: I saw chewed leaves on one of the dens. Grrr. It's WAR.

Note to self: The green orchid with the sun burn has fragrance. So does the unifoliate catt.

2004-04-21T08:32:00.000+08:00

For one of the Dens that hasn't been growing well, I pulled it out of the pot and discovered a bunch of dead mess. I chopped up the roots, hoping to find something I can save it was too dead. I cut up two canes and buried it in wet moss. I am hoping it would sprout keikis.

2004-04-12T11:00:00.000+08:00

Good friday: I went rack shopping and brought back two Cattlyas. A hairy yellow phah was for sale but was easily resisted: it wasn't very pretty. I had gone with my aunt. She wanted to buy more orchids. She picked up a few mini-dens, a mini oncidium, a red mokara and a golden shower. I rearranged the way I placed the plants. Pictures soon.

Oh! I found the names of my orchids! One's called Dr Utai.The other is Longlen

~

After a horrendous day at work, I returned home to find my Brassia blooming. A gorgeous sight! (Ji Mei, while usually have more variety of plants for sale, they are horrendous at labelling. For a long time I thought the Brassia was a Oncidium.)

2004-04-04T17:57:00.000+08:00

This morning I popped by my aunt's place to look at her orchids. She had told me over the phone her mokara and the den was blooming. My father was there and he whinged about the older dens not flowering, blaming my lack of experience indirectly. I am already cross with my father for over-watering the phals. I shot back at him, calling attention to the fact that it was he who made the phals sit in a soaking moss, and enquired if he had ever grown orchids, and if he did, surely he knew that orchids, if you are lucky, bloomed thrice a year, and some others bloomed once in three years. In the car later, I thought about putting a flourescent lamp to give them some light. I had toyed with the idea of raising them higher but the road construction made everything dusty and putting the plants higher might get them even dirtier. But where am I to get power for the light?
~
One of shoots was of me checking on the plants. This was easy. While the stranger is a curiosity, I find my plants more arresting. I pinched off the dead buds on the dens. I shook the older oncidium to check if it is firmly planted - it had been dropping leaves. Moving on to the mini cym, I saw new growth, which pleased me enormously.

2004-04-03T21:39:00.000+08:00

I am home early enough to potter around the orchids. The road construction outside is making the plants excessively dusty. (Why on earth is the LTA reconstructing a perfectly good road? Is the Singapore economy in such a bad shape that we must create jobs by digging up just anything?) Cleaning the plants and checking them for bugs, I noticed excessive wetness when I press the phal's potting mixture. I suspect my father, whose mantra is that plants must be watered daily, is killing my plants. My father is a good person and all, but, well, I may have to kill him if he persists.
~
While waiting at the bank counter, I noticed a good-looking phal at the side. It has small white flowers with brightly stained yellow lips. I've always thought the bank buys these plants. Now I realise I've never seen flowerless phals nor have I seen phals in in any other colour than white or purple on bank counters.

2004-03-28T17:45:00.000+08:00

My orchid blog recieved two links, one from a directory and the other from a Venezuelan collector who has beautiful pictures of his plants on his blog. There is an interview request email I just saw (and almost deleted thinking it was spam). This is possibly my entire five minutes of fame even though it wasn't very attractive to find the phase "HDB orchid growing manics" in the same email. (Presumeably, describing other HDB denizens the documentry maker wanted to meet, not me.) I'm deeply curious and will probably do it even though there is a chance I might appear to be a complete wacko.

2004-03-28T16:46:00.000+08:00

Previously when I return home I would quietly whisper to my plants "Hello darlings! All's well?" fearful that a neighbour might see and classify me kooky. Now I just go ahead and chat with them, tell them they look beautiful (or dusty) and the weather is a little dry, isn't it, so here's a bit more drink, and so on. I reckon my neighbour is mad enough not to call me mad. He plays The Beatles and other oldies all day long and struts around in red underwear.

My plants are shooting like mad. The UFO and the white tipped Den showed lovely young and green babies. Two days ago, I noticed the purple den growing a leaf on an old cane and the next day, it was gone. I suspect a careless sweeper at mischief!

In Shanghai I found my way to a flower market. The arrangements were not impressive - rather boring and without imagination. But the cymbidiums went by the boxes. They waste them by the ton on one arrangement. The chinese have a special fondness for cymbidiums and phals for indoor decorating. Quite a few times I spotted inside windows blue patterned ceremic pots containing a number of phals. Cyms would also be put before windows on stands. The cyms there do not seem to have a problem of messiness and overgrown only a look of abundance, even without flowers.

2004-02-21T10:13:00.000+08:00

Both dens have spider mites!