It’s been almost a month since my seedling was planted from seed, and it’s growing so slowly😅

@@ckri6138 hey! I'm 98% sure that I planted mine in the fall/winter of 2022. The years are getting mixed up in my head these days haha. So the plant in the video should be about one to one and half years old. I've read it flowers in its first year and that definitely did not happen to me! However, it's in a tiny pot and living in the NYC area so not the best living condition either. But since this video, only 6-7 months later, it's at least three times larger now! I think in my experience, even for some of the more "infamously invasive" species, like A. saligna, A. mearnsii, they usually take their time to established their roots first (several months to one growing season). Then they take off. I guess that's the case in many tree species. May I ask where you are located?

Thank you!

Thanks! Cheers!

Thank you! What's the one with the round bark?

Thanks for your kind words!

Thanks! I've only had it for several months so I can't say for sure, but from what I read they could flower on leafless pseudobulbs one more time as well. I guess we'll find out later this fall/winter!

Absolutely!

Plus the continuous supply of flowers on this wonderful sequential bloomer!

I vaguely remember them being comparable if not just a little shorter than Brassavola. Cheers!

Thank you! I usually find the need for humidity and space for many standard vandas a limiting factor for me. Plus, this little vanda/neo is so cute and fragrant!

Haha I love it! Thanks for your comment! Cheers!

I guess it's more the color than the scent that gave them the name :) - Catasetinae group in general always smell more chemical/medicinal than floral to me, and I love it!

Thank you! It might be recency bias but I think this is my most photogenic one just yet! I love it so much more than I expected 😊

That is usually a good assumption 😃 but lucky you having several of them on your property!

I actually bought this one before it got some of the new growth and it's still in the pot it came with, so I can't take full credit for everything :). They potted it in coarse bark and charcoal mostly. I do have one other C. ensifolium (two new growths on two pseudobulbs) and one C. goeringii (four new growths on three pseudobulbs) that I got earlier in March (I think?) bareroot. I have them in just a mixture of bark, gravel, and some those clay ball things (leftover from Cattleya when I mounted my Catts.) I've also seen people using finer barks or some other material (I found ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YDhcNei0Ziw.html informative). IMO they actually aren't too picky (knock on wood) as long as the watering works well with the substrate (finer bark with less frequent watering, coarser material with more watering in plastic pots, etc). Also, the variety matters a lot. The one in this video is known to be easy to grow new pseudobulbs and flower spikes, so that probably also played a big role. I'm still waiting for my C. goeringii to show some flower spike though, which it's seeming less likely until next year...

Ah good to know! Thank you Sue!

Good to know! Thank you!

Thank you! Now I feel better about getting them so much sun! Last night, the scent suddenly got much less sweet and more perfumy for some reason! Very cool!

Thank you! Sounds good! So far it seems warmth, bright indirect sun, and nicely moist but not damp potting media really helps! This cultivar really doesn't seem too picky

Which species/variety did you get? You got this! They are so versatile, and I'm surprised they aren't more popular as house plants!

The bulbos are indeed a genus with many peculiar smelling flowers! Sorry that nodosa smells like low grade cosmetics to you! I actually really like it but yeah scent can be perceived so differently! I also really like subulifolia, smells like a refreshing and nicer version of nodosa to me.

Yep, and they probably grow into much better specimens than the one in this video from Southern California!

I have a few of these. The one flowering in the video grew the pseudobulb in winter. Right now in early May in the northern hemisphere, two are not growing pseudobulbs (but growing roots), and two are growing new peusobulbs . Nature is fully of surprises! 😅

@@thegardeningbotanist I'm also in the north - mine grew a pseudobulb + double leaf, but no new roots. Now its not doing anything. No leaf growth - nothing.

@@Emilio-sq6gb double leaves probably means it was happy! They seem to grow roots after their pseudobulbs have matured. I worry when my orchids seem to be doing nothing but I'm gradually realizing how seasonal some of these species are! Lueddemanniana is a tough species. If there's no rot or anything, hopefully it's just resting and preparing for its next pseudobulb :)

Thank you! That's so interesting about your cucullata!

@@thegardeningbotanist heehee, I dunno if I'd call it interesting. Sorry if I was direct this morning, suffering from a headache atm. I can highly recommend the cucullata but in the states sometimes you get sold the apendicullata which has not got the same beautiful fragrance apparently so it can be variable whether people like the smell or not. I love the smell on mine. My didierii is actually flowering too but hasn't opened yet so will be first time smelling it for me soon too.

@@tomfurmby88 no worries at all! Hope your headache gets better! A couple of years ago, I've only heard of cucullata, being the type species of the genus and all. Then it feels as if suddenly many people relabeled theirs as appendiculata. Even the AOS article on cucullata www.aos.org/orchid-care/brassavola-appendiculata renamed itself to appendiculata. I'm still not sure which one I have. Mine smells like semen to me (hope that's a PG word to say lol) when it first opens, but then it matures to more citrusy and much more pleasant. I made a video on mine a while ago, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-h3iStDKW0tI.html. Can you tell from the video if this is a cucullata or appendiculata? As a botanist, I was really hoping there being some identification key to orchids that's agreed upon by most people. Sometimes I still can't tell some unifoliate cattleya species apart if they aren't labeled. Especially if I'm just looking at a flower headshot online without knowing the flowering time or scent. I'm excited for your didieri! Hope you like the smell! I also heard good things about A. leonis but sounds like that one is harder to grow so didieir became my first Angraecum.

@@thegardeningbotanist ah yes it was you that said theirs smellt like semen. I had completely forgotten you already have one. Honestly that surprised me so much. Mine is like a warm soapy bubble bath but it might just be that some people have different perceptions. Sometimes the fragances improve or change over time too. I am just a hobby grower though so can't help about identfying the differences or if there are any. The leonis can be harder to grow. I've got the komodore and madagaskar one. Well maybe I should say harder to get to flower lol. Like I already mentioned in order to do well with orchids all you need to do is make sure the roots do well. 99% of the species I have bought have been sold to me with terrible roots. IE roots I would have to thoroughly disinfect and clean which is something nobody tells beginners... You can grow orchids with bad roots but if you do the same would happen to you as to nina from ninja orchids. She grows orchids but she never disinfects her roots. Often when she oes a repot video half her old roots have rotted away... in lecca. Roots are highly unikely to rot in lecca. A beginner would not know this. So if you know that the roots should not have rotted like happens in all her repot videos, you would know they rotted not because of the media but because of bugs eating the roots. Microscopic bugs you will never see. It took me a while to figure this out. But many people do not want to hear any of this and prefer to just grow orchids with none of the effort involved. It's not that much effort to disinfect roots. One can even use physan 20 to do it. Just not everyone does and inadvertantly brings in lots of problems into their grow area which cause problems one would otherwise completely avoid. That is why some people struggle with certain species more than anything else. IT has nothing to do with their media, the temperatures or often overfertilizing is blamed too (root salts - these are never caused by overfertilziing as beginners are often told). Anyway orchid growers do not like giving out their secrets, it takes them years to figure out how to win awards. On beginner forums people are often lied to on purpose as a result. It is up to us growers to figure out how the experts do it ourselves most of the time.

@@tomfurmby88 a warm soapy bubble bath sure sounds nice! Where did you get your cucullata if you don't mind my asking? I agree that the roots are probably the most important part of an orchid (or any plant)! Well, perhaps not as much for Tillandsia air plants other than anchoring lol. Speaking of secrets, I do notice that some commercial growers offer plants with much much better roots than others. Those end up to be the ones I go to more. I also heard water quality plays a big role from some people online. Some advocates for reverse osmosis water but I've never (or have the capacity) to try it out. Isn't it amazing that these plants handle so many adverse environmental factors in nature, but do just fine (they probably look less pristine though)!

Yeah! I was also hoping to see more patterns inside the lip, kind of like guiding pollinators where to go like in some other flowers. I guess this implies some orchids don't share the same pollinators as other plants, which makes sense. I do find the flowers shine brighter under UVA compared to the leaves too!

Indeed! Look up the indigo ones :) I love those

also watch a lecture on phalaenopsis by phil hamilton on the channel "vicky's likes". You will learn all that an expert phal grower knows, not the amateur stuff you read online.

@@tomfurmby88 ah interesting information, thanks for the comment! I also found this article on AOS website www.aos.org/AOS/media/Content-Images/PDFs/GrowingtheBestPhalsPart_3.pdf informative. Cheers!

I usually don't love green flowers but these are just out of this world! They are so vibrant and refreshing!

Thanks for the suggestion! That's a great idea! I didn't think of that! The test kits were kind of expensive when I thought about testing some of my other plants a while back. I think some nurseries are better in virus testing than others, like one of my favorites in South Jersey (Waldor). Wouldn't it be nice if there is a focus on virus resistant hybrid/species breeding!

@@thegardeningbotanist Yeah, I really wish the other nurseries were better at testing as well, but I guess it all breaks down to the extra expenses and the money that those companies don't want to spend. Virus-resistant hybrids and specoes sounds like an absolute dream! Having one less problem growing my favorite plants 🌞

@@thanushannagendran803 One day if I open my own breeding program! A guy can dream haha

Thank you!

Thank you! I put all my vines in one big-ish pot, regardless of them liking it moist or dry. When I had them in their individual pots I noticed some species (e.g. Hardenbergia violacea) really dry out the soil much faster than others (e.g. jasmine). So by putting them together, I can offer a bigger pot for their roots to wonder, and I don't worry about the soil remain wet for long. The soil stays moist to the drier side most of the time. The actual answer on its care😅: I have my T. cordata by a SE facing window and it's really growing a lot when it's warm and sunny. If you have it by itself, I think it would like it nicely moist but not dripping wet. I think in general, Hoya prefers it (much) drier. Both probably likes higher ambient humidity but I don't think that's a deal breaker. I wouldn't classify it as easy to bloom if you are growing it indoors. I think like many tropical/subtropical vines, they like to reach a certain size before they decide to put out flowers. I had mine for about 1.5 years and it's about 20 ft tall. I was not expecting it to flower at all. I have heard they grow and flower a lot in Florida and Hawaii outdoors. One other comment regarding (dis)similarity to Hoya - I heard many folks say being root bound encourages Hoya to flower. I don't have much experience with Hoya first hand but that statement is probably true. I don't think being root bound or not makes as big of an impact to Telosma. As a matter of fact, because Hoya is generally more epiphytic while Telosma being terrestrial, I would recommend not to put your Telosma in a tiny (like 4-inch) pot. For the plant with elongated leaves, do you mean the Hardenbergia violacea? It's an Aussie native and super tough and versatile! The flower buds on mine aborted through the winter for some reason, but the plant is growing strong vegetatively. They have purple (most of the time) flowers in the winter/early spring.

@@thegardeningbotanist Thank you for this thorough answer, I really appreciate it! I just googled Hardenbergia violacea, and yes that's the one I meant! The Telosma cordata is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm also an addict when it comes to fragrant flowers, but I might have to reconsider getting it since I'm based in Norway haha, but I might try it out! Just have to figure out where to buy it!

@@thanushannagendran803 oh yeah sourcing the plants we want isn't always easy! I got mine at Logee's in Connecticut. Hardenbergia isn't really fragrant but cool tough plants. I love fragrant plants too! Some common options I'm sure you already have/thought about like jasmine, Hoya, Gardenia are pretty easy to find. If you have space I also love Brunfelsia (but not all species are fragrant), some citrus, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, Osmanthus fragrans, Brugmansia, and Cestrum nocturnum (they smell much stronger when the humidity is high in my experience). If you have patience Daphne is a cool group of plants that are a bit cold hardy, a bit shade tolerant, and smells wonderful, but super slow growing (and expensive to get a big one!)... I also like the plants with fragrant foliage like eucalypts and the ones in the Lamiaceae family. And of course, many orchids! Some really cold hardy plants like lily of the valley, and some bulbs are cool in the yard too. Sorry for the unsolicited recommendations😄

@@thegardeningbotanist Damn ya'll are so lucky in the US having so easy access to orchids and different kinds of plants in general hahah! I do know some of the plants you're mentioning, but some of them are new to me! I don't have too much space, but I will def look into it :) I don't have Epiphyllum oxypetalum because I have an impression they are so hard to get into flowering (maybe I'm wrong), but I do have some few epi hybrid cuttings I just bought! Maybe the flowers will have some fragrance as well. Also have a maturing pseudobulb on my Brassavola/Rhychovola David Sander, so hopefully there will be buds! 🤞🏽

@@thanushannagendran803 Most of the time access is relatively easier (sometimes expensive!), but on many occasions I also find sourcing Australian plants difficult or almost impossible. I think being root bound encourages Epiphyllum oxypetalum to flower, and they do need to reach a certain size. But the flowers don't last very long (famously lasting only one night) so it's not always worth the effort of growing and staking the droopy plant. I had one that got taller than me and just ended up breaking when I transported it... So perhaps you dodged a bullet there :). David Sander is a wonderful hybrid! I have both of its parents but not David Sander itself. You'll have to tell me what it smells like!

Wow even for a division! That is crazy. I made the mistake of getting a seedling (the biggest pseudobulb+leaf being about 3'' tall) back in Jan. I later even got a flask of them from an orchid show in Feb! Then I came my senses and got the ones in this video. I try to practice my patience but I'm not there yet to deal with deflasking an already slow species!😅 I wonder whether they are also this slow in their native habitat. It can't be easy to make these tough leaves and pseudo bulbs though, I'll give them that. I also got glauca and Aristocrat. Can't wait to have some first hand experience in growing and comparing their growth rate side by side.

It is quite breath taking! @youtube - did you hear that feedback? haha

Thanks for the comment! I completely agree that it's really hard to keep that humidity level inside apartments. I spend so much time watering my mounts and they still dry out so fast... I haven't mounted this one yet (was waiting for the new growth to start pushing out roots), but maybe I'll leave this one potted, and do a comparison between potted and mounted longer term. Or maybe my dream of having a greenhouse would come true soon 😃 By the way, is that a Ports of Paradise on your profile pic? Ports of Paradise is probably one of my favorite hybrids if not the favorite! Love it.

Thank you! And I just saw a gigantic one last weekend at a commercial grower's! Each pseudo-bulb was perhaps one and a half feet long, and they were really thick and topped with 5-7 blooms per spike! I had no idea intermedia could get to that size!

Thank you. I'm excited to bring you guys along with my plant journey 😄

Yeah right?! There is only one other diversicolor I know of in the states. Here's a link to it trees.stanford.edu/ENCYC/EUCdiv.htm I visited this one a couple of years back, but it was sort by a private property so I just quickly drove past it. Didn't want to seem creepy haha. I grew one from seed several years ago but that was in a 5-gallon pot. I think these two in the states don't get as much rain as they would in their native habitat so they seem more stout than in WA. Great tree and species. Love them

Thank you! Hope it'll get better as it grows more and gets more mature!

This plant was in Santa Cruz, California

I have seen and grown them, but it was actually in their native habitat where they were kept in check by the natural predators. I haven't been where the most of them are in the US, although I did spot one once in NYC. It's too much of a robust vine to grow in my humble pots at my apartment haha

@@thegardeningbotanist Thanks👍

@@thegardeningbotanist The impression I got from a few VIDEOS that its out OF control in US, but Japanese love to cook it for vegan jelly thickener

@@EasyEarPiano Yeah I also got the same impression for them in the south. If one day I ended up visiting the south I'll try to remember to make a video of it :)

@@thegardeningbotanist Fabulous👍Do you know anyone who live there who could do it for you?

Thanks for the comment! I'm actually in the US (NYC area) so a different east coast haha! Some of these trees aren't in their most typical best shape either (this particular one can get taller and grow straighter). However, from what I've learned and heard, humidity and drainage are the most critical, and of course perhaps fungal diseases if present. Some WA species just don't do well out east (especially on the coast) and there's not much you can do beyond supplementing the soil :/

Thank you! This individual at Huntington isn't the best specimen of this species. It can be a handsome mallee or even tree that's taller than me but still under 20-ish ft for a small garden!

That's awesome!! I'm jealous haha. Happy new year!

Thanks Jordan! I just got more orchids this holiday season! I told myself it's a Christmas/New Year's present and I like that excuse ;)

It's hard to name a favorite, I love them all haha! I know you mentioned alba was used as a generic term, but E. alba is actually a warming-growing species from the northern parts of Western Australia and Northern Territory, and extending into Timor I think. I'm also not sure how well ghost gums (a group where Corymbia aparrerinja belongs) survives the cold, or how strongly "eucalyptus" their leaves smell. The tree in your video gives out a E. leucoxylon vibe but I really can't say for sure without a flower, fruit, or juvenile leaf pic. I saw in one video you mentioned it went down to around -5.5 C. That's warmer than I thought it would be for Ireland! Maybe E. mannifera would be of interest to you. If minus 5 C is usually the coldest you got, there are quite a few species from SE Australia might work. Milligan Seeds in New Zealand has a good collection of cold hardy eucalypts although I don't have 1st hand experience growing their seeds.

@@thegardeningbotanist I understand loving them all 😍Especially after seeing Eucalyptus Purple Patch. Your videos are great. I've put together a few pictures of my suspected Eucalyptus Alba and made a small video to help identify it. I purchased the seeds from a Californian grower who sells them on eBay as "cold hardy Eucalyptus Alba". What do you think? ru-vid.comEXA2Fu5FIGM?feature=share

@@thegardeningbotanist I'm just back from Fraser Island (K'gari) where I got to see Eucalyptus growing along the beach, and some captivating Scribbly Gums and orange Angophora Costata. I can share the pictures if you're interested. I've also uploaded a video to my RU-vid channel showing my young tree to help identify if it actually is Eucalyptus Alba.

@@Julian-Eire I'm jealous haha! I'd love to see some pics! Feel free to email me at gardeningwithoutayard@gmail.com. I love the smooth bark of scribbly gums and A. costata. I actually have one E. racemosa growing in a pot at my apartment right now but I don't think it'll ever get big enough in that pot... I was trying to find the video of the young tree but I'm not sure if I can find it. Feel free to share the link.

@@thegardeningbotanist the Scribbly Gums I saw had a beautiful yellow mottling from the newly revealed bark which looked great against the greyish white older bark. I had trouble identifying them because there weren't any borers creating the scribbles. Good on you for growing one! I tried many in Ireland that I missed from home, but they succumbed to the cold, damp winters. I'll try and post the link to the video short below because RU-vid deleted my last message because it had a link.

Sometimes plants in cultivation gets larger than their wild counterparts. Also depends on the definition of big :)