Keeping It Short, Simple, and Sweet--Seriously--'Orchid' You Not!

Winter makes me long-winded. It must have something to do with those cold blasts of air sweeping out of the north and taking my breath away. I'm sorry! This short post will make amends, I hope. At the Gardening Friends of the Big Bend meeting last week, SAM and I had our first encounter with an orchid enthusiast. Mr. Jodie Shumaker of Florida Star Nursery and Supply Company in Marianna, Florida, presented a program that made me sit up and take notes. I'm pretty sure SAM enjoyed it too. What's not to enjoy about Red Velvet Cheesecake, among other snacks?



Wilsonara Lisa's Delight 'Rayna' Orchid

 As noted on a simple pad of paper, here are some of the things I learned (I hope I heard what was said and then read my chicken scratch correctly!):

• Orchids have a lip or landing platform that attracts specific pollinators
• There are only 4 pollen capsules per blossom but 25,000 pollen grains in each one
• 100,000 seeds may form per seed pod and are carried by wind
• Most orchids are epiphytic, meaning they live on other plants such as trees, often high above the ground
• Some of them are terrestrial (the vanilla plant being one of them)
• There is no food reserve stored in the seed as in most plants. A special fungus attacks the seed, sending its hyphae into the seed cell, which then acts like a guillotine, cutting the hyphae for its own consumption of the sugars and nutrients stored in the hyphae
• There are even subterranean species living underground
• A small clump of cells from the orchid's meristem can grow hundreds of plants, known as mericlones
• Many intergeneric crosses may be created, and the Royal Horticultural Society keeps a register of the patents
• It would be easy to get carried away with purchases when provided with as many choices as I had that evening. Good thing SAM was along. I bought one. That's it! Wilsonara Lisa's Delight 'Rayna' is a cross between Cochlioda, Odontoglossum, and Oncidium orchids

My Japanese blogging friend Sapphire (Through the Sapphire Sky) published a most interesting post last week to celebrate her upcoming blogiversary. She shared some of her favorite bloggers' sites, including mine! What a sweet thing to do. Seriously. She is kind, gentle, and modest. I love learning about Japanese art, culture, and just life in general through her eyes.

There is another special event taking place this weekend at the North Florida Research and Education Center. It's open to anyone with an interest in nature and gardening who lives in or might be passing through the Tallahassee area. A workshop on "Butterflies, Bees, and Bats" will be presented on Saturday morning. Here is a link with the specifics. I've heard there's to be a plant sale after the presentation. Do you think our porch at the apartment is full enough? Nah!

One more thing (I promise):  Mr. Hammons has provided a list of blogs where all of the clues to his mystery may be found. Click here for the list or click on the picture of the sailboat on my sidebar. Happy clue hunting and Valentine's Day!