Beyond identifying in very general terms which orchids Caro has (a Phalanopsis type, an Oncidium type, et cetera), there is-- practically speaking -- zero chance on obtaining accurate/reliable IDs on her orchids even after they bloom. There are simply FAR too many look alike hybrids out there. Now there are a couple for which identification will be fairly easy -- only because you still have tags for them, Caro. Pot.Burana Beauty 'Burana' (single quotes not double) is a Cattleya type. Pot. = Potinara ... an artificial genus created by hybridization of members within the Laelia subtribe -- Cattleyas are one of the members of that subtribe. (I don't know if in taxonomic circles if "Potinara" is even still considered valid. Recent upheavals in taxonomy has resulted in may plants getting shuffled into different classification categories.) In any event, the flowers of that particular hybrid are yellow with a red "flare" running down the middle of the lip and the two petals. (The outer 3 "petals" are properly termed "sepals." Blame the botanists for that. heh) The only other orchid for which you will be able to get a concrete ID is the Epi.Green Hornet ... although the "Epi" is highly doubtful as far as I know. (I'll bore you with that in a minute. ) Green Hornet, as you suspected, would be your Oncidium type orchid. Now to mess with your head. Epi = Epidendrum. Unfortunately, referring to your Green Hornet, that genus name is definitely wrong -- at least based on current taxonomy. One of the two parents of that hybrid was once upon a time known as Encyclia (or Epidendrum ... the two genera are closely related) cochleata. Later, due to "significant" taxological differences, it was moved to Prostheca and became Prostheca cochleata. However, this was found to simply been a synonym for an earler name -- Anacheilium. By taxonomy rules, an earlier name always takes precedence. So currently, that parent is known as Anacheilium cochleatum. The other parent is also, if I am correct, an Anacheilium. Therefore the correct name for your plant is likely Anacheilium Green Hornet. And even if I am incorrect about the 2nd parent, there is still no way that Epidendrum is correct. Have a headache yet? heh Rodden, your AV would be considered a "standard" AV. Standards -- depending upon genetics and cultural conditions -- can be up to 2ft across.

If pics dont work, please visit this thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3497714#post3497714 Ok big blog post. I just finished a huge post over at my aquarium journal thread, please check it out and comment, link in my sig. So when I was in US, I bought Lava rock and pea gravel. Big bags. I also bought a bag of cacti and suc soil. Since all succulent soil on the market suck, it was up to me to make a good mix. Ive used the cacti and succulent soil before and it becomes a piece of foam thats rock hard. Its terrible. I know because I transferred my plants here and there today. Ok so the lava rock was too big. I wanted to make it the size of pea gravel but it was just too much work. The reason you need all material of the same size is because water tends to make a layer over the odd sized stuff. So water would drain around the gravel but pond up over the big lava rock. Atleast thats what I think I read elsewhere. So I spent about 2 hours or so hammering lava rock. Made a mess of the balcony. I coundnt hammer hard enough or else my neighbours would knock at my door. The plastic container is huge but even then I couldnt condense my other hens and chicks. I wanted to reduce the pot/container use but couldnt. I also made the same soil mix for my Sago Palm. I love that plant. Bought it for $1.50 because it was "damaged". The leaves are yellow as you can see. Im assuming it was over watered. Dont worry baby you're in the right hands now :) So it begins [IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/2w6ylvb.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i42.tinypic.com/2n3ke9.jpg[/IMG] The mess [IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/2v2axro.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/9qhfk8.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/2qxqh4k.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/2r5yyp5.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i44.tinypic.com/5ww1ex.jpg[/IMG] Final [IMG]http://i41.tinypic.com/1zzgluf.jpg[/IMG] I couldnt set the top layer becuase there are too man small succulents everywhere. So setting it would be hard. Not to mention I ran out of the soil bag. So maybe next week I might get more and top it up. I still have to move around a few soil pots.

I decided to repot them all into a better mix and better groups last Friday, I didn't want to water them in to a mix that wasn't good to I did a more thorough root cleaning and a better foundation. The jades have their own home now. The semp will spend the winter all alone in a very frosty south window in the basement. I don't know what else to do with it and not sure if it can go outside in my zone over the winter or if I wld have enough time to harden off it off. If it should perish....I plan to redeem myself with a succulent rock garden in it memory. We bought a house last year with a south facing yard and have tons of landscaping rocks on 3 sides and an island of them in the back. We both really, really, don't like all these rocks, but where can we put them all?? Is it a blessing in disguise? After reading so much in the forum I feel like I know you all a little, everyone is so nice and helpful, so I will share another picture of what I have in store for my gardening future. I have so many ideas! My DH is a farmboy in the city so we will have some fun. Mr. B says hi! All the leaves dropped in a week, we had some drought then some snow. I got a fire pit and tree skirts as wedding present from DH. He did it while I was away for the weekend. How do you say, "Thank you, I love you so much and I hate tree skirts? You don't, everyone worked so hard and filled it full of flowers! I hope to use some of that labor for helping in the garden when we get one. Did I mention it faces south? All I will do all winter is research, plan, discuss. 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, etc. I hope to share my progression either here or somewhere on these forums, this IS where the experts are at!

I'll take a shot at it for you, but I warn that I'm normally wrong. This looks like a nice little mix for a starting collection or fund raiser as you mentioned. And the price seems really good as well. Luckily the plants weren't damaged much and can all recover. Also, individual photos that are numbered would make this MUCH easier as you'll soon see. The darkest rosette one looks like Echeveria 'Black Prince' The one with the wavy leaf tips could be Adromischus crispatus The spiny looking Aloe may be Aloe juvenna There's a Faucaria of some sort, only species I'm familiar with is Faucaria tigrina The rosette with the small, smooth, plump leaves could be Anacampsaros rufescens .. if so the tips turn pink with sun. Haworthia reinwardtii I believe is the Haworthia you refer to. Fuzzy one might be Kalanchoe tomentosa though it's hard to tell with the dirt on it. A Titanopsis of some sort? As for all the rosette forming ones you may have a Pacheveria but besides that you'll have to wait for someone else, rosette formers make me want to cry when trying to ID them.