Andre's Kusamono

Lo and behold.......



32 Blooms with 45-50 flowers per string....

Love and light

now THAT is gorgeous

Wow Andre, that is superb. Our seasons are 6 months out of phase, all my Dendrochilums bloomed in our late winter early spring.

Yours is wonderful. I love that you have blooms all the way around. Mine older specimens still end up being one sided, flowers all ending up on one half of the pot. Very nice. I bet you take time when repotting to position new growths for symmetrical bloom, yes?

Well done and very attractive. In a public display, this would be my focal point, forget trying to pair it with a tree. Though it might go well along side a 2 meter tall bamboo planting. Got any of your black bamboo in pots?

and I do want to compliment you on the Dendrochilum wenzelii, It looks happy and healthy. Mine expired. I am experimenting with quarts pebbles, or crushed granite - sifted to remove fines - as media for a few orchids that seem to rot in my usual choices of media. Normally I use a fir bark-charcoal-perlite mix for most, long fiber NZ Sphagnum for the ones that want to stay wet. Right now I have Neofinettia in crushed granite - turkey grit from the local farm supply store. It is more coarse than poultry grit. So far so good.

I'll have to try a Dendrochilum in grit too. Good idea.

Thanks Leo, and Thanks Kevin

Ja I do plant my Dendrochilums in quarts pebbles. In the small pots bark doesnt firm the plant down. Otherwise all other orchids only in Bark.

But Neofinettia needs to be mounted... likes the roots in the air like Vandas. -me experimented and me found.

Leo ,Placing the plants the right way in the pot is imperative, otherwise they grow out. As you would know.

Love and Light

Andre Beaurain wrote:
This is a Promenaea, planted in a broken Fairy Castle that I made 100 years ago....   This plant flowers on and off during the year, at no consequence of the weather.  I use this as an Accent and as Kusamono.  It stands 17cm high.

Spring 2014



Love Light and Awakening

Senecio articulatus....  If you Google this plant youll get images of plants with very long internodes.  This is not the way they look in nature.   One day by accident,  whilst sitting on top of a Koppie in the Little Karoo I looked down ..and there right in front of my feet, between layers of slate that  is standing on end, where these perfect round pearls.  Tightly packed.  I then realize why every plant in collections is overgrown, is because of overwatering.  When you water this plant. you actually just show it the watering can and then you take it away again.... hihihi  This plant is 5 yrs old...



Tillandsia ionatha, Haaskos and Scull...



Chonophytum just before going into its summer slumber...it completely dries up, and form a covering husk with air as a protection against the heat.....



Love Light and Awakening

Hi Andre

I've just discovered this thread and read it from start to finish.

I love your sense of fun and the beautiful plants.

Andre
The Promenaea is fabulous, I used to have one as kusamono, but had to move it to a larger pot to let it grow on a bit, so the plant-pot combo no longer exists. This one is Promenaea Partridge. Definitely one of the better genus with easy to grow candidates for kusamono.



your Chonophytum and Senico are quite nice.

Seahorse or pipefish?

Thanks for sharing your photos.

Ray

(Sorry, I was looking at the first page)

milly.a wrote:Hi Andre

I've just discovered this thread and read it from start to finish.

I love your sense of fun and the beautiful plants.

You Honour me Madame.

Thank you. Welcome a fellow Kapie! Dont you just love living in the Cape?

Love Light and Awakening

Leo dammit Leo.....

where am I gonna find this plant now... Promenaea partrige, is it a species?  

My Promenaea is a Hybrid, Im sure this must be one of the parents, you can see it!

Yours is      b e a u t i f u l      Leo !   Get rid of those slugs...   I just placed a Carnivorous snail in our Hothouse.  Natalina cafra got it from a petshop in Kwazulu Natal.  He pops slugs like a milkshake, in one suck.  Snails he suck up from the inside out.....   Very productive little thing....

Ray.... I can see that you are still on the first page.... another drifter ill of a country....  poor fellow.   But bless you mate for checking me out my friend.  
Now you can turn over to the next page.....and then maybe you can ask somebody in which country you are living in.  Your neighbours will know Im sure.  If not ask the local Petrol station, they have road maps.   hi hi hi hihi hihihihihh hihihihihihih ihihi
                                   
                                                      oooooo Im so pure  

And again shes in the house... Cherry Babe with her scent that reminds me of a sweetie shop...



And two miniature Orchids One mounted on Vitis vinifera and one mounted on Cork.. enjoy...

Andre Beaurain wrote:And again shes in the house... Cherry Babe with her scent that reminds me of a sweetie shop...

Impressive!
You have moved your Oncidium inside, but unfortunately I have been a little late to move my D. farmeri inside thus I have lost almost one third of the plant. Frostbite...
D. nobile on the contrary was not at least affected.

The orchid on the grape vine I believe is Podangis dactyloceras, a delightful miniature orchid native to evergreen forests (rain available year round as opposed to wet-dry deciduous forests) from elevations below 2000 meters (meaning warmer temperatures) Cameroon & Ghana on the east end of its range through to Uganda on the west end of its range. It is a fairly adaptable and widespread species. It does well in bright shade, full sun all day would burn it up. Have you checked it for fragrance - especially at night? The family it is in is famous for delicious, delicate night time fragrances. You have grown it wonderfully well. Nice to see. It is not common at all in USA orchid collections, though it is around. One of the better miniature orchids for growing in a home.

The orchid on cork is a favorite of mine, Leptotes bicolor. It also is a mini, a growth is almost always less than 4 inches tall (10 cm). Leptotes bicolor hails from Brazil and Paraguay. It grows similar to Podangis, except they can take a bit more sun. I really love this species, I attached a picture of mine from last year. Mine won't bloom until May. If you keep it on the dry side while in bloom, flowers can last almost a month. Mine has a light floral fragrance in the late morning, early afternoon. Fragrance disappears as the sun fades.

Cherry Baby, the correct name for this hybrid is Oncidium Sharry Baby, named after the song. I love the fragrance, but it grows too large for my light garden. Yours is a beast, nicely grown.

Leptotes bicolor - an old photo from May 2010 on a 1 inch by 1 inch chunk of cork bark.