Three of my four orchids are getting ready to bloom. In fact, one is already blooming - an Oncidium I got at least 4 years ago at an orchid show. The dang thing hasn't bloomed since, so last year I did some research and found out that Oncidiums need more light than Phals (two of the others I grow that bloom faithfully every year). They all sit on a high shelf in my kitchen, in a north window. Well, I really didn't have another high light place I could put the Oncidium, so it's still on that shelf. But last summer, I decided to repot it into the hydroton. It must have liked it!

Aren't they pretty?! Yellow with red is one of my favorite combinations. I wonder if the flowers last as long as the Phals?

The Phals both have their flower spikes developing. Some years they start earlier than this, but I can count on the blooms lasting at least 4 months, longer if I'm careful not to let them get too dry. I'll post back with photos when they start to open. I know I've put up photos of them in past years, but that's ok - I don't think it's possible to have "too many" flowers to look at!

My other orchid is a Tolumnia. It's a teeny thing in a 1.5" pot. I almost lost it last summer, put it outside, actually in a cache tray that held rain water most of the summer. Figured it would die, but it didn't - came back to looking good status. Brought it in when fall came and it's been by my kitchen sink ever since. It doesn't seem to want to rebloom for me, but hey - maybe the time will come! Here's what the little plant looks like, and the blooms that were on it when I bought it...

The tiny plant isn't much to look at, but those flowers such knocked my socks off! (BTW, that pot the plant is in is an outer pot - the little 1.5" clay pot is down inside there!)

It's 50 degrees right now, and it apparently rained overnight. It's supposed to get close to the record high today - mid to upper 60's (I think they said 67 is the record for today...) Then we're going to have a cold front move in and they're talking about a mix and rain and snow on Sunday. Well, it's too early for spring to really be here - I think we all know that! But I love it when we get a tast! (I've got a window open right behind me and Lucy and the kitties are LOVING it!)

Well, off to get some housework done before I go to work...