I got a trip to Istanbul, where I saw showy 2 and 3 spike phals in a florist shop with a $250 price tag. Guess amateur orchid fever hasn't hit Turkey yet.

A new camera to replace the one that I disabled while tending to my plants. The new one is an improved version of the previous model.

I look forward to improved images in 2008!

--Stitz--

I got a $50 gift certificate to my favorite garden center here in town. I plan on buying at least one orchid with it if not more. I can not wait. christina

Did you bring it home with you hollyt?

I could use some more clay pots too mehitabel if you want to share some.

What kind of camera Stitz? and yes to improved images if you learn to SHARE them with us.

I got three more books off my wish list besides the phal book I gifted myself. How about this for a Christmas gift - another water storage tank for my rain water. It sure beats a lump of coal :>) I now have the capacity to store 450 gal. of rain water.

One of my gifts to my husband was a gift certificate to Chadwicks for any cattleya he wants (and hope it's on my list too).

Brooke

I got a promise of a bday trip to a local place, meehans miniatures. Not orchid related but if their website is any indication they have some cool stuff:)

Left the $250 phal behind, but bought a 2-spiker at a nursery for a hostess gift (cost about $45 for a plant that Whole Foods would sell for $20-25). Saw a few cheaper ones at their Ikea, but they were really pathetic---like Home Depot stragglers. We were in Budapest a few years ago, which has a much colder climate than Istanbul, and saw quite a few more orchids at florists and Ikea. Istanbul has a very warm summer and moderate winter, more conducive to growing, but only the very high end florists had nice plants, and only phals at that.

Hubby got a Very Nice Nikon and enrollment in an orchid photography seminar, so I'm hoping for some good photos to post.

Hey, Brooke, the wonderfulness of the gift is in the eye of the receiver. If you wanted a 450 gal water storage tank, who am I argue with you? :D

And I can't think why I didn't think of getting my DH an orchid for Christmas? Brilliant! :P A catt from Chadwick's would be a very nice gift indeed.

Stitz and Holly, looking forward to new pictures in 08!

Trips to garden centers, Terp and Christina? Priceless!

I got a RO unit. Pretty exciting huh?

LOL, pcan. Thrilling to orchid fiends, just like clay pots and water storage tanks are.

But the question is: did you get your DH an orchid? That's when we know you're really done for :)

I got him a HUGE BLC Chia Lin 'New City' and I mean HUGE!!
He has very very nice like, ask me to take care of it for him. I am thinking about it.

Yes, I got just what I asked for -- (4) 85 watt, 5000K cfl's. I tried them in the silver reflectors from Lowe's. They do stick out a lot which is not an aesthetic problem, IMO, but, I feel that so much light is scattered off to the sides because the reflector is not long enough. What are other opinions out there about this? I feel these great bulbs would be better served if they were placed in a more appropriate reflector. I do need to invest in reflectors for these bulbs, and before I go out and purchase the Lowe's silver ones, I'd like to hear what some of you suggest. If I don't get any answers because of the title of this thread, I will post this question on a new thread. Happy New Year everyone! Liz

hollyt my husband is a Nikon type guy. He already had all the lens for the SLR Nikon so the switch to a Nikon digital was a given. A couple of years ago he got the D200 and only lets me look at it:>) I have to use the D100 for my picture attempts. He has attended two Nikon seminars and found it invaluable. If your hubby is serious about photography, it would make a great gift and beautiful orchid pictures for you!

pcan I am hoping the increased rainwater storage will keep me from having to add an RO unit. If we have another summer of drought, my b'day present will probably be an RO unit!

Liz I have some figures hidden in this computer somewhere showing the fc's using a 42 watt CFL with and without a reflector to direct the light. I will start another thread rather than bog down this one with numbers. By the way, great orchid Christmas present - more light for the 'chids!

Brooke

No, thank goodness! I'm so glad friends and family have finally learned not to buy me a plant, pots, and that sort of thing. Anyone need any pots with attached, glazed saucers?

I did get a camera a couple of weeks ago as an early Christmas present to replace my old one with the failing light meter.

Stacy

Yes, I did get an orchid gift for Christmas. I got MONEY!!! And I am working on two orchid orders right now. They won't get turned in until next week because first, it's so difficult to make up your mind which ones you want and, second, it takes time to research each plant to make sure it will like the conditions where I plan to grow it. This is a true labor of love ... and addiction.

I got a Canon SLR EOS/Rebel XTi (10 M-px, or however you write that) :)

Damn! How I've forgotten about SLR photography with my little mostly automatic 4 M-px digital camera!! My test shots have been crap!

So, where are those seminars? ;)

Carolyn

Sounds like some of you gave Santa a hernia! ;~)
I got a lump of coal, but it was stolen later!
I'm renegotiating with him for some venison!

Carolyn, I bought one of those for myself last year.
Going from my Kodak to it was a bit of a shock to the system.
But, I wouldn't have it any other way.
What you now need are some good lenses.
As I'm sure you know!

With me, it was one step forward and a dozen or so steps back! ;~)
I'm still lost about half the time and it's been a year.

Scott

My sweetie gave me The Manual of Cultivated Orchid Species (Bechtel, Cribb, Launert). I'll admit to some heavy hinting, but it was solicited. It's beautiful.

The book reminds me of my much loved and used A California Flora (Munz), but with a larger format and Bigger print.
My kind of book!

Sweetcicely

Well, with Norito of Paphanatics in town in mid-December I got myself some nice Paphs for Christmas. Then ordered plants from Zephyrus, a Macodes to replace the one forgotten in a corner this summer, a Paph. lowii, a nice white and fragrant Miltonia cross (why do I do this to myself, I know I have difficulty getting them to rebloom, but I love the flowers...) and a cute little Phal, which came in bud with a twin as a bonus plant.

Oh, and then Christmas actually rolled around and my family finally got the message -- I got cash, which will likely be spent on Masdevallias and other cooler growers, since our orchid society speaker in January is Mario Ferrusi of Marsh Hollow Orchids.

I'm spoiled, absolutely spoiled rotten, but I'm not complaining!

Julie (no kids to feed, no SO who'll jump when he sees how much was spent on orchids, not even a goldfish to distract me from my orchids)

No orchid stuff - I bought a bunch of plants at Parkside's Thanksgiving sale and will buy more at the Philly Flower show, but I did get 5 huge antique iron urns for the garden from my husband. He does know the way to my heart. :)

Okey dokey. Just turned in my modest orchid order to Andy's. It's taken me since Christmas night to make my selections. The greenhouse is very packed, so they had to be miniature or very compact orchid species. Then, I had to research the growing conditions for all of my long list, turn it into a short list of only four plants, and then convince myself that these are absolutely the plants I want. Those four changed about six times during the past week. And tonight, finally, I turned the order in. Too late to change my mind now.

Andy plans to do his shipping on Jan 2nd (weather permitting), so you all have time to choose that special plant for the New Year. Of course, we all know that one will never be enough...

Wow - lucky people! :) I didn't get any orchids and as a result feel sad...so in order to cheer myself up, I'm going to give myself a late christmas/birthday present and buy an aer. kirkii. Oh I do LOVE myself sometimes!

Quite right, too, Calvin. You absolutely need cheering up and only a new orchid can possibly help :)

Happy unbirthday!

While visiting relatives, thoroughly enjoyed a visit to Bird's Botanicals in The Caves, underground, in Kansas City, KS. Absolutely fascinating how David has figured exactly what lights, etc., in several environments (different rooms, and still expanding to new underground rooms) with absolutely no natural light. Guess you basement growers do the same!

No vandaceous or phal-type dendrobiums as his temps only reach the high 60s, but his Phals and many types I can't grow are fabulous. He gets his temp drop at night by opening vents to the surface, and having his cool growers in that end of a huge cavern. The phals are at the far end so just a slight chilling drifts over to them.

There is a "secret room" where he has some vigorously growing ghost orchids and other really exotic things he plays with.

Brought back a few to Miami, hoping I have chosen wisely and can continue to support them in the slat house or patio:
1) Lovely kingianum --- Den.Class'WOC' Mc. ---in bloom
2) Healthy Ionopsis sp. --- in spike
3) Den. aberrans --- in spike

If you are ever in Kansas City, call ahead for the day of the week David is "in" and you will have a treat!

Jan

I stopped at Whole Foods to see if they had any of the purple vuyls left, and sadly, no. So I bought a dark purple phal Leopard Prince hybrid as consolation.

I got a $25 check from a garden friend to go towards a new orchid to go in the garden angel terra cotta pot she had sent me.
Another orchid find I got for myself was when I went to my local Hobby Lobby to catch some after Christmas sales. I came upon some teadrop shaped glass ornaments with a 2 inch round opening. Im always on the look for anything I can turn into a terrarium. The ornaments had a ballerina in them. I put on a pan of water and turned off the burner once it started rolling. I then sat the ornaments one by one in the water to loosen the glue holding the ballerina in place. It worked like a charm! Now I have 2 window terrariums. I'll put a mini orchid in each.,,,,Debbie

Hi, deb. I'm impressed by your ingenuity. Using boiling water to unstick that ballerina like that wasn't just resourceful, but bold and imaginative. Veddy clever.

Thanks for the heads-up, Debbie. I'm off to Hobby Lobby tomorrow morning. There's got to be some orchid that will do well in these.

A person can also put a small piece of clear cling saran wrap over the opening to make it so humidity can build up inside.
I plan to try a Lepanthes calodictyon in one of mine. I have a couple growing well in another terrarium situation. I plan to put some damp spagnum in the bottom of the teardrop. The Lepanthes is on a small inch square mount. I'll set the mount on top of the moss and put the cling wrap over the opening.
I'm always glad to share ideas in case others might find them useful.,,,,Debbie

I broke my teardrop [sniff]. And I don't have Hobby Lobby. [sniff, sniff]

Carolyn, if I find a bunch of them at Hobby Lobby, how many do you want? I'll send them to you.

CJ, How sweet! 1 would do it, 2 if you thought that they would be easy to ship.

My pleuros really liked these-

TIA if you have luck!
Carolyn

Well I've got it the other way around. I like to GIVE orchids as presents around the holidays. They're all divisions or keiki raised or back-bulbed that I got from my collection. I don't like having doubles so when a division flowers, I wrap it in some cellophane and instant holiday gift! Keeps my collection a manageable size and my friends/family love them.

Calvin, you're adorable! Are you a December baby? Although I received 3 orchids as presents, I didn't buy any for myself...I can be so inconsiderate ... I must rectify this...

I got a gigantic cymbidium from my DB!! It has 4 big spikes. Yee!

I have 2 that I got on the cheap, out of bloom, and have never managed to bloom them. Hopefully this one will inspire them.

Hehe thanks mehitabel : )

Steph I am a december baby which makes december absolutely fantastic for me, what with xmas and all! Last year I got 100 bucks to spend at Clouds orchids, and it was fantastic. I wanted to go again this year but a snow storm got in the way. You are definitely too inconsiderate to yourself - I think some self love should be in order :)

(happy birthday and happy 2008 btw!)

Calvin,
Wasn't your birthday around Dec 11? :) Happy Birthday!

I got 2, $25 gift certificates to differnt garden centers from my DD and DMI, for local garden centers. I also got a $100 gift certificate (from my boss - she's awesome) to my favorite orchid greenhouse (Orchids by Acker, in Madison). . . . and we usually take a day off of work to go orchid shopping!

Happy New Year everyone!

Susan

Happy (belated) birthday Calvin!! $100 orchid dollars is very nice purchasing power!

I'm a December baby too...since I'm 2 days after Christmas I can justify spending a bit more by combining my Christmas and b-day presents =D.

Susan, I agree, you have an awesome boss!

No orchid stuff yet, but we're not through w/ gatherings and gift-giving. If no one comes through w/ a gift certificate, I'll get some goodies to me from me.

CJ, what did you order? Today, I narrowed my Andy's order from 26 plants to 4 - all small or tiny.

You folks who got cameras - lucky people. Supposedly, my point and shoot digital can be set manually. Maybe the instructions would help...

Debbie, your tiny terrarium sounds interesting. Have you grown in the ornaments before? Do you get enough air circulation? Andy's got an eensie beensie Den w/ 1/8" flowers that would be perfect in one of those.

Whitecat8

WC, I know how hard it is to pare down the list! Fortunately, I had gotten an order from both Andy's and from Marni Turkel less than two months ago, so it was easier to crop it.

This is what he shipped yesterday FedEx overnight. They decided it was way too cold here to ship the usual 2-day:

Pleurothallis grobyi
Masdevallia erinacea (horrida)
Angraecum florulentum
Dryadella edwallii

And as a last minute add-on after seeing a wonderful photo at the other forum:

Barbosella handroi

I had bought an Ang floruletum from Oak Hill at the Redlands show two years ago, and it shortly dimped on me. Since the flowers are so wonderfully fragrant and the plant small in size (like a bunch of little reedstems), I have decided to try it again. I don't think it was getting enough air movement where I had it.

(dimp = died in my possession)

CJ, now I know what was missing in my orchid vocabulary -- the work dimping! Rather elegant phrase, I thought.

Thanks :P

It was coined about 7, 8 years ago by a poster on another forum. Assigning blame for an orchid's death is not always clear-cut and a lot of factors can contribute, especially with newly-imported bareroots. So whose fault is it if a plant decides to commit suicide? Rather than laying the guilt on so thickly, thought was given to a 'no-fault' type of expression -- and this is what came up DIMP.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new words - two in 24 hours. It carked when it dimp-ed. Hopefully some people won't understand the translation - I killed it.

Brooke

CJ - Dimped is good. I'd been saying died under my care, and Dumced doesn't roll off the tongue.

I'm getting the Masde horrida, too. Maybe my confidence over having the one Masde hybrid bloom is sending me straight into Dimpland. This one is soooooo ugly it's cute.

The little dryadella zebrina didn't make finalist.

Shoot. Andy's site isn't opening - I was gonna post the URL. Ah, now it's up.

Debbie - check out the tiny Den toressae for your teardrops: http://www.andysorchids.com/pictureframe.asp?pic=%20images/Species/3536med.jpg&PicId=3536&PicNam=Dendrobium%20-%20toressae

Happy Birthday to the December birthday folks. Two chances to get orchid stuff in one month. Or 2 perfect rationalizations to give it to yourself.

Whitecat8

Here is a link that might be useful: Masde erinacea (horrida)

Just got my plants! Always great from Andy's.

Back in October, I placed two orders with Andy. This is what I got back then and I believe still available now. They are warm to intermediate growers for the most part, with one or two leaning a bit more toward the cooler side of intermediate but which already have a reserved place on my air-conditioned kitchen windowsill for the summer just in case.

Ascocentrum christensonianum
Cattleyopsis cubensis - in spike now
Ceratocentron fesselii
Dendrobium torresae
Gastrochilus formosana -- in bloom now
Porpax sp.
Pteroceras semiteretifolia - in bloom now
Schoenorchis gemmata -- sequential bloomer, just finished (wish I'd have bought this one years ago!)
Trichoglottis pusilla - spike

Forgive any misspellings, I don't have them in front of me.

Whitecat8 Ive been growing in terrariums 7-8 yrs. now and I have them closed off to air. The only new air they get is when I open them to check a plant or to water. Watering is needed usually every 2-3 months this way. A couple I have going need a bit of water only once a year. My orchids and Hoya's I grow this way love it. I have 18 terrariums going at this time.
The teardrop ornaments have a 2 inch round opening so unless the opening is covered with saran wrap it would have air flow.
Ive eyed the Den. toressae several times and its def. on my "gotta have cause I can't live without" list! There's a few others on my list of course and as soon as Oklahoma sees Spring I'll be getting a nice order out to Andy. I mainly grow mini and micro mini orchids.
I met Andy at an orchid show in TX. and he is a very nice guy and full of info! It was nice to hand pick my orchids and see some he had just got in and hadn't put on his site yet.,,,,Debbie

Debbie - Your terrarium culture is fascinating. And it sure solves the periodic frustration w/ having to water regularly.

Is there anything online or published about how to set up and maintain one of the larger terrariums for orchids?

Thanks, Whitecat8