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You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small
But I see your true colors
Shining through...
--Cyndi Lauper
Normally this time of year I am posting color shots like crazy, but I was challenged on Facebook by Kristi Creed to post a B&W shot a day for 5 straight days. I accepted this challenge and decided to start this series (earlier today) with a few autumn shots from Dolly Sods Wilderness.
I am not one to usually toot my horn, but I am really proud of this shot. I am slowly getting my MoJo back with processing some shots in B&W while using only ACR and Adobe PS. I threw the book at this one and was able to make the autumn colors really pop.
Thanks for looking and reading. I will catch up in full with comments on your shots come Sunday. It will be a full day of shooting tomorrow~ whoo hoo!!
Photo Credit 1: By Paul Hermans (Own work) , via Wikimedia Commons
Over the last few years, I have seen a rise in the popularity of Phalaenopsis as house plants. For good reason, too. Their needs are simple and are very hearty in a typical household environment. Phalaenopsis Orchids come in an array of beautiful colors that can bring a festive splash or flora in your home. How do I know? Because I have one in my little orchid collection.
With the love of these little plants increasing, there is an ever-growing community of orchid lovers on the internet. If you love orchids as I do, I want to share eight unbelievable things you probably never knew about orchids.
1. Ice Orchids Are Mini Phalaenopsis
Yes, you heard me correctly. Ice orchids are just miniature hybrid versions of the Phalaenopsis species of orchid.
Don't get me wrong. These mini phals are beautiful, dainty, and are delightful to have in any collection. I just don't want you to be misled by false hype.
2. They Have a Life Cycle
Like most plants and animals on the planet, these little beauties have a life cycle. Since the Phalaenopsis can be grown year-round as a houseplant, their cycle is not seasonal.
First, new leaves will grow from the base of the plant. Next, a stem with a node that looks like a mitten will grow. These are called flower spikes, but the orchid will usually only throw one spike per cycle.
As the spike continues to grow, more nodes will form along the new growth. From these nodes, buds will start to form. Healthy buds will swell in size and burst into bloom. A well cared for ice orchid can bloom for up to 3 months at a time.
Finally, after the last flower shrivels and falls, the plant will go back to a semi-dormant stage as it gathers energy and nutrition to start the cycle over again.
3. Using Ice to Water your Orchid is Harmful
As a general rule, orchids do not care for cold, nor they like having their feet wet. Ice orchids are a marketing gimmick. Watering your orchids with ice can be harmful, especially is it touches their leaves and roots.
Orchids like good drainage, and plenty or air. The ice orchids that you get in grocery stores and super stores like Wal-Mart are likely in either soil or moss. These hold too much moisture without enough air. The orchid is, in a sense, drowning.
It is best just to mist and water your ice orchid just as you would any other Phalaenopsis. Just make sure you repot it into the proper pot with orchid bark after it finishes blooming.
Photo Credit 2 By No machine-readable author provided. Kugamazog~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid
4. They are known as the Moth Orchid
No, really. It is true. The genus Phalaenopsis is a Greek generic name. It is likely that it refers to the word Phalaena, which is the family of a kind of moth. If you get a chance to see some pictures of the Phalaena moths while they are flying, you might see a resemblance to some species of Phalaenopsis.
5. Phalaenopsis Orchids can be Stubborn
Many new orchid fanatics get their plants from supermarkets or big box stores. A great deal of these orchids has been forced into bloom so they will be shown to buyers. If you started out that way, as I know I did, it was a significant effort to learn their habits.
Even with the best care: repotting, orchid medium, the right light, moisture, and temperature, they can still take a couple of years to bloom again. The shock of the forced bloom makes it take that much longer to recover enough to grow and bloom again for you.
Photo Credit 3: By Guillaume Paumier (Own work) , via Wikimedia Commons
6. They can get Stressed Out!
When you bring a new plant home, or transition them into a different medium, they can get just as stressed as we do. They just display it in a differently. Sometimes the leaves will get soft, but not mushy. It may look a little wilted. The best advice for this is just to be patient, and care for it properly, and it will heal itself. Phalaenopsis are pretty resilient with proper treatment.
7. Orchids can Reproduce Asexually
Orchids, like other plants, can produce seeds through sexual breeding, but did you know that orchids can reproduce asexually, too? With no help from its human caretakers or wild pollinators, orchids can make babies on their spikes. The baby plants are called keikis.
A keiki is an exact clone of the parent plant. This is common in Phalaenopsis orchids, as well as Dendrobiums, and Epidendrums. These babies can be removed once you see it growing roots of its own, and placed into its home.
This video from the American Orchid Society shows you just how easy it is to repot a keiki.
Photo Credit 4: Public Domain--fb207 ( pixabay.com/en/orchid-phalaenopsis-rosa-green-525197/ )
8. Phalaenopsis is the Perfect Orchid for Beginners
As you start on your journey of orchid-husbandry, it is recommended to read all you can. When you are prepared to obtain your first plant, getting a Phalaenopsis is a good choice. They are not as temperamental as other orchids and do very well in the typical household. There are hundreds of varieties and hybridizations in any combination of colors you could ever want.
I have been an orchid addict for a long time. My personal collection is small but satisfying. I have a couple of Phalaenopsis myself, including one of the Just Add Ice orchids. We all live quite happily with the vanilla and Brassia orchids, as well as a couple of bromeliads. They are my children with leaves. Come to the orchid side. We are waiting for you. nikisessentials.com/8-unbelievable-things-you-probably-ne...
True Value, Shop Rite Hardware and Paint Supply, Silas Deane Hwy Wethersfield, CT, Pics by Mike Mozart , AKA MiMo on Instagram instagram.com/MikeMozart
The Lygaeidae are a family in the Hemiptera (true bugs), with some 60 genera in six subfamilies. The family includes the insects commonly known as milkweed bugs, and also some of those known as seed bugs. The family used to be vastly larger, as numerous former subfamilies have been removed and given independent family status, including Artheneidae, Blissidae, Cryptorhamphidae, Cymidae, Geocoridae, Heterogastridae, Ninidae, Oxycarenidae, Pachygronthidae, and Rhyparochromidae, which together constituted well over half of the former family. Many of the species feed on seeds, although some feed on sap (mucivory), and a few, such as the wekiu bug, feed on insects.
The bizarre and mysterious beetle-like Psamminae were formerly often placed in the Piesmatidae, but this is almost certainly incorrect. Their true affiliations, however, are not entirely resolved to satisfaction.
Source: Wikipedia
I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
Cyndi Lauper
A true cosmopolitan, the Painted Lady actually spends winter in the north of Africa and summer in the north of Europe, e.g. Sweden! Each generation migrates around 1000 kilometres when they go north. They start when the north of Africa gets too hot in april, and fly through Europe. They fly at different heights from the ground, up to more than 1000 meters, in search for favourable winds. And after the summer in the north of Europe they migrate back to the north of Africa! The wings of this butterfly are intact and then it has hatched nearby - if they are broken at the edge, on the other hand, the butterfly has flown far.
One of the 140 butterfly species that appear in the Nordic countries. Latin: Vanessa cardui. Swedish: Tistelfjäril.
The Painted Lady has a migratory behaviour also in the United States.
True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself.
Henry Miller
Here is another Album I got today from Bill the music man, I already had this song True Colors on another album and today I finally found The True Colors album, I have been searching, and finally came across it and only $5. It is now in my growing Vinyl collection.
The Elder Scrolls Skyrim // 2880 x 1620 // True Vision ENB (tweaked) // SweetFX // .ini tweaks // Flora Overhaul // 2K Textures // Immersive Hud
In this everlasting twilight
Home is just a sad abstraction.
Just beyond the troubled skyways
Young men dream of fire and star shine.
I've been dreaming of my own green world
Far across the reach of space time.
~Becker and Fagen
If you want, look here for the "making of" .
Thank you Ralph for the wonderful photowalks and your interesting tips!