Paphiopedilum callosum x holdenii

It won't be long before it opens , we shall look forward to seeing it in bloom :o)

A Bonus! :0)) I have been tempted to buy plants from Thailand but thought they wouldn't make the trip in good health.

Just googled it - that is a stunner!

I know Amy....I am sooo excited!

Pimpernel,
Yes, a big bonus.....I knew it was blooming size but I didn't think it would be this close to flowering!!
I've been tempted many many times but this time.......I figured well, I will order once and give it a try......oh I am soooo happy that I did.

Let's hope I get the flower I ordered Meanie....I think I will be happy even if it's not.

The good news is that being a mottled leaf variety it'll take warmer temps than the plain leafed types.

That's good, it will survive our 39's and 40's then.

That is a bit much for good growth - I said warmer, not WARM!!

How many fans (clusters of leaf growth) does it have?

I'm going to move it further away from the window and the hot sun when I move my African Violets. It's going to have to suffer along with us.

It looks like it has four fans...one of them small.

Four fans is good - each fan blooms just the once and then dies over the course of the next year.

What kind of light does your plant receive?

My mottled leaved ones are in filtered sun (a window sill with a net curtain), and the plain leaved ones in the cooler conservatory with shade.

OK...thanks.

Nice one Alexandra :)))))))))

Thank you Paul, I can't wait to see the flower!!!

:))))))))))))))

Changed your avatar again....;o)))

yes but not again til Feb now ;))))))

I see, you're changing it once a month now...;o)

yep ;)))))

Its to do with the moon , Alex !
Love your new baby , full of promise .

Ah...so when it's a full moon and the Wolves are out.....Paul changes his Avatar. ;o)

Thanks Driad I love my new baby too.....I walk up to it a few times a day....check to see if it likes the light, the temp and so on....

yes lol

It's very beautiful! I can't believe it's not available at your local nursery, though!

I really really wish one day you can take a trip over to Corfu...
Abundance of beauty but lacking in.....(I will not even start).

At least we are very friendly people....or so they say.

I really wish I could take a trip to Corfu, also! :>)

That's too bad the you don't a huge selection of plants. Maybe it has to do with the lack of demand or low population.

I think I'm just very, very spoiled! We can pretty much get any plant we want here in San Diego...at any time of the year.

Yes you are definitely spoiled!!!

I can't deny it! :>)

......and you always need to get the last word in. lol.. ;o)))

Of course! :>)

I know better than to answer but lol...lol...;o)))

lol! :>)

Now children !
Alex , we came to Corfu a year past October . I thought that it was beautiful on the west coast and loved the wildness of it all , but many places looked in need of t l c ; we did have very rainy weather though .

Driad:

We're pretty old children! lol! :>)

σε ζηλεύω εσένα.

Driad, October can be very rainy or it can be amazingly dry and warm. We always want rain in October....(need it after the long hot dry summer).
I agree with you 100%, a lot of places need tlc.

I'm thinking about moving somewhere near Delonix,,,,much much warmer there now. ;o)))

Delonix,

Old is a s old as you feel....WE are very young. ;o)))

I can imagine it's very cold were Bik lives. He's on the North East part of Greece.

Bik,

Giati???

Poso krio einai eki pou eisai esi??? Poli fantazome.

arketo,
exei ftasei mexri -8
diskola diatiro tetia fita. mono terrestrial orchids

σε ζηλεύω για τα ωραία φυτά που έχεις.

Afta ta fita ta exo mesa sto spiti mou.
Eftase kai edo toso....pola apo ta tropical fita mou ston kipo den ta vlepo kai poli kala. Ta kalipsa me sakoules kia glastres... Krima pou eixame poli zesto fthinopolo.

Mhn zilevis, ta mazebo siga siga...

You would love to be here now. The weather is very warm and tomorrow will be hot.

OOOhhh, I would love some hot weather now.

Well , girls ,I'm off to Fuerte Venture on Saturday in serch of some warmth , so I hope that its not too windy !
Is Bik Ok Alex ?

Oh lucky you. Enjoy!

Yes, Bik is fine....cold like most of us here.

Alexandramou:

Today the high temp here was a beautiful 84ºF/29ºC., just perfect! :>)

I heard some disturbing news up at the school this morning....they were saying next week is going to be really cold!!! Patience, the news said up 'till the 5th of February then back to normal.
Delonix, when I complain about our lovely heatwaves this summer....just remind me of this winter.

It saw on the Weather Channel website the temp is going to get as low as 21ºF/-6ºC. (for 3 or 4 nights) in Kerkyra. That's extremely cold! That's enough cold to kill many tender plants!

I moved all the tender plants I was able to lift inside today...

I can't believe this weather!!! This better be the last cold spell for this year!!!

I hope the cold weather moves on by very quickly!
I'll send some of our warm weather your way. You'll never believe how warm it still is here, at 11:30 p.m., 66ºF/19ºC.

I remember doing the same thing in December of 1990, when I lived in the San Francisco Bay. I had only one morning of 22ºC/-5.5ºC. (which was the coldest temp ever recorded in Hayward) and two other morning lows of 28ºF/-2ºC and 4 or 5 more morning of freezing temps. It was an absolute disaster to my plants. The huge devastating part of the whole "biggest freeze" was the daytime temps never got above 39ºF/3.9ºC., which is extremely rare for cities around the San Francisco Bay Area.

Wow....at least here it goes up to the teens during the days (so far at least). It's the night time temperatures that are bad.

Enjoy your warmth Delonix.

That's why the freeze of 1990 was the worst freeze ever recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area. Because the normal highs in the coldest part of the year are always around 59ºF/15ºC. or higher.

I'm definitely enjoying the warmth, it's already 70ºF/21ºC at 9:20 a.m.

Just saw the forecast for next week.....very cold and you won't believe this.....on Tuesday we're suppose to have day temperature of 8!!!
I'm going back to the garden tomorrow and cover some more plants.....I really can't believe this!!! I've never had to cover plants!

21C at 9:20 a.m. I will never complain again.

It appears you're having your freeze of the century! I know it's a horrible feeling especially when you have lots of tropical plants to protect. :>(

The whole week here is going to be warm to hot depending on which part of San Diego County ones lives. It's not too unusual for us to have such winter heatwaves. Although, most of the U.S. has had a very mild winter so far. Hopefully, it's not the calm before the storm!

I was on line last night looking for ways to keep my plants from freezing. Mulching, which I have done, covering, which I have done as well. Next step, they recommend watering the soil (not the leaves) to keep the heat in the soil!
Back down to the garden after lunch to water the garden......
I will probably move my two big garden ferns inside today as well.

I hope the weather stays mild for you guys. Enjoy it....go take picture so we can enjoy it as well. Your doggie needs another walk... ;o)

The steps taken above are common practices. However, the watering of the soil can be a very tricky one...many tropical plants despise being wet and cold. It can cause rot. I'm always very concerned about this step...it depends a lot on the plant's susceptibility to rot. Plumeria is one good example of a plant that most likely would rot if watered during very cold weather.

For the foreseeable future the weather here is going to be warm to hot. It appears we're in late spring, already. lol! :>)

It appears that we are still in early winter!

I went down to the garden today and dug out my Duranta erecta 'Sapphire Showers'. I put it in a big pot with soil and in it went to the unheated room. (it felt sooo warm in there after being outside)

I bet it looks like a winter wonderland there. Did you get any photos of the snow?

I hope all your plants make it through this horrible cold spell!

The snow didn't stick!

It's really bad out there now.....very strong winds and rain. We had a small power cut about a half hour ago. Today was the coldest day so far but no frost.

Wow! I bet it was pretty with snow all around the higher elevations, though.

It most likely feels colder because of the wind chill.

The temperature should go up to 14C today. I haven't been out of the house yet! You would be running back to CA if you were here now!

You're most likely correct. lol! :>)

If that happend in Corfu imagine what would be happened in Xanthi (-8)

There are parts of Corfu that had -8C. This is a very bad winter for all of Greece, even here.
You must be freezing up there in Xanthi.....brrrr