Four years

So it has now been four years since I have been observing this patch of helmet orchids (Corysanthes diemenica).  The first time I saw it in 2011 was probably the best year.  This year was not brilliant but it looked fairly good.  2013 was probably when I saw the least number of orchids flowering.

In 2011 I saw the most flowers in this patch.

In 2012, there were not many flowers out and is probably the least number of flowers I’ve seen at this patch.

In 2013, there were not many flowers but a lot of leaves were up.

So 2014 put in a fairly decent display.  A lot of the plants that were up were flowering.

And here is a picture of the little helmet orchids (taken on my phone) when the sun decided to come out!

Greenhoods

I haven’t written for a while due to a very busy schedule and unfortunately have not been able  to see many orchids.  It’s very nice to see that I’ve reached 400 followers – which is a lot of people – thank you!  Yesterday, if you were following me on Twitter (@OrchidNotes) it would have been pretty easy to see that I was out orchid hunting.  The major find was the Diplodium robustum.

There was this lovely patch of orchids with over a couple hundre of orchids in flower and many more plants in leaf.  It was a very spectacular display.

Two flowers with the rest in the background

A cluster of flowers

A bud on the left and a flower on the right

Looking into the flower and being able to see the labellum and column

All these pictures were taken on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S4).  When I arrived home all the pictures I had taken are automatically uploaded to Google Images.  What was a surprise was that Google went through my pictures and picked the following as my best pictures from the day and then edited them for me!

It was fun to get out and see these wonderful orchids.  Have you been seeing any orchids recently?