New surprises

Those of you who have known me for a while will know that I have been on the search for Bonatea speciosa for a long time now. At the beginning of the year I started putting out my feelers, looking for anyone in Australia who might have some Boantea speciosa plants that they might consider parting with. I found such a person and made a new orchid friend in the process. I waited for several months before finally receiving a beautiful plant that had several tubers. The tubers that were seperate from the main plant I potted up separately. I lost one, but the remaining three are doing well and adjusting to my local conditons.

Bonatea speciosa

In a seperate interesting event, my Spiranthes odorata set seeds after flowering earlier in the year and I put it aside to dry out a little before repotting. I put it next to a large pot of vegetables and seeds must have blown into that pot. In the next three months I has several Spiranthese odorata seedlings popping up in that pot, under the vegetables. The potting mix that I had used for the vegetables must have contained a mycorrhyia that was compatible as a symbiont for germinating the seeds. I have since moved these seedlings into their own comminuty pot and they are growing rapidly.

Spiranthes odorata seedlings