Research Beginnings

My current research project for the Society for Creative Anachronism is to study and research the origins of orchids through history and how they were used in different cultures.  I realize that this research project is a vast undertaking, but I'm so fascinated with orchids, I yearn to know more and wish to share what I find with those who are interested.  I'm officially raising my nerd flag high!

 

There's no time like the present to start researching the history of orchids.

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Update: Patchouli in a Pickle Jar

An update to my previous post from November 13, 2024
Post link: https://rebeccaorchids.blogspot.com/2024/11/patchouli-in-pickle-jar.html

A dear friend messaged me this morning commenting on my Patchouli in a Pickle Jar post; she had been making perfume oil for many years.  I shared with her some updated photos of my Patchouli plant and I thought I'd share an update about the plant here too.

Looking back at my receipts, I found that I purchased the Patchouli plant on November 2, 2024.  Due to the growing requirements of the plant and how it likes high humidity, I knew I needed to plant it in something that would give it the environment it needed.  Also, it had appeared that the plant had been cold shocked, so it would need to heal through that as well (my fingers were crossed!)  I knew that it would eventually outgrow the pickle jar, but I had no idea that it would be this quick!!

Patchouli - photo taken November 26, 2024

Patchouli - photo taken November 26, 2024

Man, look at all that healthy growth!

Watering Day and other musings.

Me, organizing my Ikea greenhouse

Today was a good day to water some of my orchids.  I have eight orchids that are growing in spaghnum moss which require a more diligent watering schedule than my orchids that I have growing in orchid bark mix.  With us running the wood stove in the basement for supplemental heat, the air is a bit more dry than normal.  With my Phals and other orchids that are in the orchid bark mix, I try to water once every two weeks whereas the ones in spaghnum, I'm generally having to water once a week.  

While the orchids were in their one hour water soak, I took the opportunity to straighten up my Ikea greenhouse that I have in my office.  Right now, I can only fit five small orchids in it, so I'm looking at other "terrarirum" like environments to house more orchids with better humidity control.  One of the things I knew I needed to improve was air circulation inside the greenhouse.  I had a little fan inside, but despite being plugged in (can run without being plugged in), it would cut off after a certain time and that wasn't very ideal in the grand scheme of things.  Its a perfect little fan for your desk to move air (which is what I got it for back when I worked in the office).  I remembered I had a CPU style fan that plugged directly into an outlet that I had purchased back when I was aging cheddar in the wine cooler downstairs.  It took a bit to find it, since things have been in a constant state of flux downstairs with Josh's office and going through boxes of stuff and sorting/getting rid of things. Josh found the fan and I set to getting it setup in my little greenhouse.  In my Ikea greenhouse, I have 2 grow lights on the "roof" as well as a heating mat and temperature regulator probe. 

Patchouli in a Pickle Jar

 The other week, I went to our local garden center to see what they had on clearance and also to look at their house plants.  I finally found some Russian Sage and I found a few other things too that are beneficial for pollinators.  I had been wanting some Russian Sage for quite some time, but every time I went by or called they were sold out or just didn't have any in stock. 

While there, I saw some fruit trees that I would have liked to have purchased but the price point was a bit out of my range.  Ever since the persimmon tree at the farm was taken out by weather (it was really old and not producing hardly anything.  So scraggly that I was surprised it lasted as long) I have been wanting to get another one.  Persimmons were a big part of my child hood, so losing that tree was like losing a small part of myself with it.

On the clearance table, there were several things but I decided on picking up some culinary sage, some anise and patchouli. 

I Have A New Book on the Way!

Last week, I happened upon a book title that I thought would be beneficial for my research on orchids through time.  I promptly purchased the book "A History of the Orchid" by Merle A. Reinikka.  The book was first published in 1972 by the University of Miami Press and covers a general history of the discovery of orchids and their classification, cultivation and more.

I also have my eyes on a couple of other

Orchid Society!

Today I went to my first Orchid Society meeting and had a wonderful time!  I'm really starting to delve into orchids more, aside from just growing/collecting them and have really enjoyed learning about them.  I recently joined the American Orchid Society to access their literature and get some really neat magazines in the mail.  I reached out to my local Orchid Society and found out that they were super local to me (only about 15 minutes away).  I met a lot of really great people today and sat in on a talk presented by Tyler Currey on mounted orchids.  I have to admit, mounted orchids are very pretty but I'm not entirely sure that I have the capability to try that style yet. 

All of the orchids I have in my collection seem to be quite happy in the environs I have them in now, so maybe once I get a bit more adept and the resources to keep a mounted orchid happy, I'll try it.

During the talk today, the speaker expounded more upon different ways that orchids grow.  Epiphytes (grow on trees), terrestrial