Neofinetia falcata

This is actually my son's plant, though I have a number of different Neofinetias as well.  He does grow it in my plant case and so I suppose that justifies its inclusion here.  He purchased the plant at one of our society auctions and it has flourished.  It is just finishing blooming with two flower spikes, ten flowers and is sending up several new fans of leaves as well.

For those who do not know, Neofinetia falcata is native to Japan and has been extensively inter-breed by them producing all sorts of interesting variations of leaves, roots and flowers, including flowers that are not just plain white like the wild species.  This plant, to our surprise, showed some pink color especially in the long spurs, but does not seem as fragrant as some clones.

This plant is 10 cm tall and the fans equally wide.  The flowers have spurs that are very long and the whole flower is 7 cm from top to bottom.  It is growing in a mesh basket on a mound of live sphagnum, the way many expert growers of this species recommend.  We try to give it a drier rest in the winter when the temperatures are somewhat cooler also.

Schoenorchis seidenfadenii

Schoenorchis seidenfadenii is tiny but charming orchid related to the huge Vandas.  It grows in a little fan of thick fleshy leaves and produces an abundance of tiny pinkish flowers in the spring.  The individual flowers are less than 1 cm in size but are born on densely flowered sprays.  It is native to Thailand and Vietnam and is best grown mounted.  It is supposed to be warm growing, but I have it with my cool growing plants where it does very well, growing and blooming reliably.