Hey Bestdank, do me a little favor tomorrow when you go to the property. Measure the length & the width of the Pseudobulbs (in centimeters if possible) and take note of any old flower spikes that may still be there (they spikes may have been nearly totally broken away, but look for any small dried up old flower spikes). Take note of whether they are coming from the base of the orchid of from the top of the pseudobulbs. Also, take a close look at the pseudobulbs, are they slight wrinkled/ shriveled, or are they nice & plump. Also, are the Pseudobulbs tall & oval shapes or short and fat/ round. I have poured thru my book & based on your geographical location & the size (or at least the size as I perceive it to be from the photo) of the leaves & pseudobulbs, I think it could a Polystachya Concreta. It stands out for one BIG reason; it likes to grow LOW on oak trees & has short round pseudobulbs. It is one of the only native epiphytes that has such a short, narrow leaf on adult plants. The Second orchid I have found is Prostechea boothiana. It is also low growing on trees, short, narrow leaves. The thing that is not quite convincing to me is that it has short some what flattened pseudobulbs (like an oncidium) which are slightly wrinkled. There is one other plant that has the right pseudobulbs (short, round, very fat looking). But the plant lacks the short narrow leaves that yours has, in fact its leaves look very much like that of your Encyclia Tampensis. Encyclia rufa has been found in that general area. I'm looking forward to seeing the next set of pictures =0). -Ray-

Shell Ginger Here is a link that might be useful: Alpinia zerumbet

Hi guys! Yes, here in downtown Phoenix we had those 2 days last week that got down to freezing(but certainly not a hard frost...maybe in the 32-33 range at dawn is my guess), but I was able to cover the entire tree since it's still fairly short, and I put the C9 christmas lights(or C7, I always get them mixed up) around the base, underneath the sheets. It doesn't show any signs of frost damage, fortunately. So, yes, either it's bad drainage, chlorosis, or it's just normal stress and time for it to lose its leaves for the winter! I'm hoping for the last on that list! True, AJBB, I probably should've planted it earlier (or later) to give it a better chance, but the cold weather really seemed to sneak up on us this year! Hopefully he will survive. :) I'm assuming that once it does drop its leaves, I shouldn't bother watering it, but should probably still cover it if it gets close to freezing, no? Thanks for your quick responses, AJBB and raimeiken!

I am jumping back IN!! Ha ha... FIRST, I am going to say, Haworthia is a hard genus to get correctly identified. Many times you need to know where the plant originated, and most folks will never know that! So, we're taking educated guesses! (Note the spelling of this plant, Rhamel, is not "hawthoria"..YES, you can call me the Spelling Police! Also, the word you have as shure is spelled sure. and~this is not an argument, but rather me pointing out some facts.) I do not believe Karen's plant is H. mirabilis v paradoxa, as Howard suggested. He may have later withdrawn that, but I'm confused -would have to go back & look. I do think that Haworthia retusa var. turgida is a possibility (turgida has now been placed within the retusa group). Colleen's plant does look similar to Karen's & in the old days, I would've called that H. turgida v. longibracteata. There is another, like Colleen's, called H. retusa 'Fouchei'. The one in my book looks like hers, but online, do not. Go figure! Colleen, nice explanations/observations. =) Richard's variegated plant, Haworthia retusa 'Grey Ghost' looks close as well, but I don't think it's a match to Karen's (BTW, acuminata is a variety of pygmaea). Have we determined yet if the leaves have cilia on the edges, Karen? I'd like to see a closer pic of the plant. For now, I'd say closest match is H. retusa var. turgida. Back to muddle through some other stuff! :P I'm sure I missed some points or comments I thought of a while ago, but it's too late now! I have to get a move on before I get stuck!