Those would all be fine choices. He's got his species list back up on his website but I don't see any Ang hybrids mentioned. But as I said before, he almost certainly will bring some. I can't remember for sure if it was Lemford White but i think so. His website lists florulentum which has truly one of the most glorious fragrances of any living thing. They're not so easy to bloom however. Pretty easy to grow though. If he brings one, you should get it for sure. Magdalenae is more of a cool/intermediate grower, but if he's got them growing in SC, they're probably acclimated. So if he brings that, buy it. He's likely to have at least one member of the perrierangraecum section of Angraecum, which are all quite similar in culture, growth habit, flower size and appearence (that's why they're all in the same section...duh). So if he has: didieri, elephantinum, compactum, obesum, or equitans, get one. I would get one of the latter three if possible because you can get didieri anywhere and you can get elephantinum from CalOrchids. As for Aerangis.....I bet he brings biloba. They're fairly sturdy as Aerangis go. He might bring fastuosa which would be sorely tempting...after all, the beauty and fragrance is nearly unrivaled and the plant is cute and small. But, it is pretty easy to kill. I'd say that you should avoid Aerangis species that have small, thin roots, in general. But then again, you have to break some eggs to make a fritatta, right? I mean, ask yourself...how does he know its easy to kill? Cuz I've killed it. :( Maybe that's the moral to this story. In order to really figure out how to grow Angs or orchids in general, you have to be willing to roll the dice sometimes and just try one that you like. Often one finds out that one cannot grow something that one likes, or at least can't grow it for more than a month! But often one finds that one CAN grow things that one wouldn't expect to be able to grow. So, in closing, i don't know what to tell you or what you should do, besides the obvious, which is GET MORE ANGS! :) -MB

How big is it? How hot? What kind of light is it getting? Intermediate light ABOVE Phal light is the min. The more light the better. Medusae prefer to be mounted on tree fern or on wood/spag. Heck I'd throw some spag in a tree fern pot. Roots need to almost dry out before watering again but never let the roots completely dry. my guess- your mix is too dry and you have some dead roots. Probably needs more light. Like I said before, Medusae is tricky. Mike

Badalotus, is that not what you called yourself then? Nice to hear from you. You are so right, if the SM is handled right it can last 5 years but most of us don't handle it right. The plants are beginning to make their pleasure, or displeasure known. The one in water made a new leaf and is now starting the next new leaf. This means it's finished with the previous new leaf which was a grand total of 2" long. Should have been 8". My grade on the report card then is a D-, which is better than an F. It's alive and we'll see how much the leaf length increases as time goes by. Some have new leaves 1/2 the size of the last one others are doing better. It's early, next spring will tell. I'm living in Lakewood now and am mostly interested in cloud forest plants, going to San Francisco tomorrow for the Pleurothallis Alliance meeting which is taking place at the Hawk Hills greenhouse in Pacfica. I know I'll survive the trip, my bank account on the other hand, will be on life support after John Leathers unloads his latest crosses on me. How can one say no to such a deal! Nick

I thought of that but was a little afraid to have the bark in continuous water. So I'm using LECA pellets for the water part. I was also afraid to use seedling orchiata and made a mixture of the the 3 smallest grades of orchiata, lava rock and a little coconut. As long as they are wet enough, it will all probably work. My long term goal is to have a preparation where nothing is needed for 5 to 7 years. If they grow over the edge, either make divisions, hang them up or elevate them on an upside down pot and let them dangle. Because of the long term goal, I used larger bark. Really don't have any long term experience with it. In some of the plants I potted 3 to 4 years ago, the bark is still hard with sharp edges so it does seem to last. I'm just trying to wean myself from massive use of sphagnum moss. SM is still my media of choice for young plants who are trying to get established. Once established, they do well in orchiata as long as they get watered often enough. I can say this with confidence for the cloud forest plants. A number of Pleuros, Dracula, Masdies, Scaphosepalums etc etc are doing real well in bark. This is my first foray into the Bulbos as for them I've always used SM. No more, let's see what happens. Some one said that Bulbos like to be crowded. I have not made that experience so have blatantly overpotted them. I hope that was not a mistake. Again, what's true for young plants trying to get established may not hold true for powerful, large plants who will adapt to anything. Again, switching over to the cold GH, I have a large Pleuro who has been in an 16" shallow basket with orchiata for close to a year now. It moved there from a 8" net pot so has 4" of clear space on all sides. Had about 40 flower spikes this spring and has made over 40 new leaves since then. Going like crazy, no signs of resenting the gross over potting. I'm sure it won't be long before it will fill that basket to the edge. I'm just hoping the Bulbos will respond in a similar way. All this really goes back to my effort to limit the time spent repotting. I got all the Catts, Onc, Encyclias, Dendrobiums etc in situations where I don't need to repot them but until orchiata came along could not get rid of the SM for the Pleuro alliance and the Bulbos. Pine bark resents being watered daily. Now I hopefully solved that final barrier to a peaceful hobby where watering, fertilizing, dividing, photographing takes priority over months of repotting. Nick