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.

Garrett, Looking up Haworthia marginata var mariatii showed two different pictures on Google. One with white tubercles (one side only) and the other like the book describes smooth both sides and whitish skin, while pumila has white tubercles on both sides. Both are in different groupings in Pilbeam's Book on Haworthias. Pilbeam discussed the big trouble ID'ing with so much interbreeding in the hobby. With each other plus with Aloes and Gasteria. You see the almost same plants with just the least little difference and then someone puts in in a new class. I currently have about a dozen Hawothias that need ID'ing. Waiting for them to get some size and age to tell them apart. I am pretty sure now with Conny's help that this is the correct ID but will keep it open for discussion. Conny, I purchased my limifolia variegata from 'Out of Africa'. Cost & trouble of shipping overseas is always a problem. If not, I would try to get you one. We trade a lot here in the States.

X - I totally agree!! Hopefully I can convince the Gibbaeum above to flower this winter still. The purple blooms are so pretty. Didymaotus flower is quite cool. I know it's a monospecific genus, but it really does look like a Pleiospilos crossed with an Antigibbaeum!