orchid photography

Harvest Moon

Equinox Greetings from San Diego.

Night-fragrant orchids like Neofinetia (Vanda) falcata make excellent moon viewing company, as do the neighborhood bats. I've been lucky to see barn owls fly across it and great horned owls backlit by it as well.

Fuukiran Moon. Fall, 2021.

Fuukiran Moon. Fall, 2021.

Speaking of night-fragrant orchids, this Brassavola cucullata flower has a crab spider in it. This is a pretty frequent occurrence for me (not 100% on the species of spider yet). They must have some success catching insects attempting to pollinate it. I’ve read some rather unflattering descriptions of its fragrance, but I’m a fan of citrusy everything. This plant is now an old friend I acquired in person at Miller’s Tropicals of Texas more years ago than I care to contemplate.

Brassavola cucullata and crab spider
A great horned owl peeks over the mountains.

A great horned owl “eye” peeks over the mountains.

Angraecum sororium

Two years after bringing home Angraecum sororium from a plant sale in Westminster, CA, it's opened the first of its four buds. This species in native to Madagascar and is wonderfully night-fragrant like most Angraecoids. Along with succulents, I've been growing orchids for over twenty years now. I’ve learned enough along the way for it to be a rewarding hobby.

Angraecum sororium
You can’t go wrong with reading books written by experts in their respective fields if you want to get better at something. There’s no one size fits all approach to orchid culture even within a genus.

You can’t go wrong with reading books written by experts in their respective fields if you want to get better at something. There’s no one size fits all approach to orchid culture even within a genus.

I’m breaking my general rule of ruthlessly editing and instead showing this flower in another light. Both photographs are pleasing to me for different reasons. This is the one I uploaded to Pixels.com. Please shoot me a message if you’re interested in a print of the other one.