Lovely surprise 😍Dendrobium Stardust Firebird [2]

Saturday, 13th of May 2023 [66]

Would you look at that! 13th again. Plus 66th full lenght post of mine’s. Looking at those numbers one could think it would be a challenging day 😂

On the contrary, it’s a lovely, sunny day and the first one this year that I sit outside and sweat without even moving my finger. Ok, ok… I’m moving my fingers on the phone keyboard, but you know what I mean!

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This beautiful day calls for a beautiful post me thinks. So let me share with you a surprise I encountered a few weeks ago. Some time in April, from my usual sitting place in the kitchen I looked at my tiny Dendrobium Firebird Stardust and I noticed a very weird leaf.

Not that I immediately moved off my chair to check it out. No, no. I observed it for a few days in a row before one day I decided to take a closer look at it and realised it wasn’t a leaf, but rather a flower bud!

That spooked me out to be honest, cause only a few days earlier I moaned to @ewkaw how badly I do with all my Dendrobiums, how many I killed and that they almost never bloom for me.

Ok, I was also a little excited to write this post and show Ewka this tiny miracle.

It was 3rd of May, when this cutie decided to open its one and only flower. Probably the best thing that happened to me this weird birth month of mine.

Of course I jumped at it to capture it before the petals even fully opened.

It kinda makes me laugh. Tiny little flower at the end of a bent pseudobulb. It’s really really tricky to capture it nicely.

Trust me, I tried from so many angles!

And since today is a lovely, sunny day, it got an extra photo session in full sun in my garden.

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But let me tell you the story of this cute little keiki. Years ago I had a blog dedicated to orchids. It wasn’t a big success as such, but it was a time when I lived in Netherlands and my orchid obsession was at its peak. I’d spend most days reading and watching everything I could find about orchids and like here on Hive, trying to document their stories on my blog.

The best thing that happened during that time was that I met another orchid freak - Sarah - and we exchanged contacts to keep in touch with our orchid journeys. At some point we also sent each other parcels of side bulbs and keiki’s that we had. This Dendrobium was one of those orchids!

And the pot it lives in? Also a gift! From my friend, Tina, for one of my birthdays. I remember laughing and rolling my eyes when I opened it, cause I was trying to declutter my house at the time and here is more clutter 😂

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A very cute clutter I must add and I grew to love these cute pots that live on my kitchen windowsill. But tell me… is it just me or does the pot lady change her facial impression depending on the angle I capture her at?

Like here she looks just like a madam.

Shoot from the bottom makes her look a bit scary and aloof, like she can’t even be bothered to look at you.

Shoot from the top on the other hand makes her look a little innocent and shy. Is it just me or is she changing?

Anyway… back to the orchid. Seeing that I have it since circa 2018/2019 it really didn’t grow much. One would think in almost 5 years it had enough time to grow to a full size Dendrobium, but with my little care and attention I am really surprised that not only it is still #alive but it even gave me the first flower in years!

It lives in this tiny pot with semi hydroponic setup. The location I gave it, on my sunny kitchen windowsill, where I can see it often and water as and when I see the need, probably saved it from the destiny of my other dens - death.

This little bloom gave me hope that maybe I can grow Dens if I put my mind to it. I’ll do my best to fertilise it well during this growing season and who knows, maybe I’ll eventually see some blooms on it again. Fingers crossed 🤞

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This end the second post from my orchid stories series. I’ll be adding the links to the previous ones at the bottom of each.

Coelogyne Intermedia [1]

Until next time 💙

Camera:	iPhone11
Photographer:	@fantagira