my phal has its first rebloom
 

I'm sure nobody here really cares since I'm not a regular on the
newsgroup, but I'm happy and I wanted to share.

The (mislabelled I'm sure) department store phal I bought this summer
has new blooms and a new leaf. Well one full new bloom that just
opened up today and three more buds. It also looks like it is starting
a fourth bud, but I'll have to wait and see if it fully matures. The
plant also has a new leaf. Needless to say I'm very pleased.

The flower isn't huge -- two inches at its widest point and about two
inches in height -- but I'm still very satisfied. The new leaf is
about one and a half inches long. I'm a bit concerned about it because
it seems to have a few red/burgundy spots on it. The four mature
leaves are pretty solid green, but I've decided that since it looks
healthy otherwise, I won't worry too much.

When I first posted here, the plant wasn't in bloom and I couldn't
offer a very good description of the flower. Now with it sitting in
front of me I can do slightly better. I'll try to apply the right
terms to the various parts of the flower, but I'm really new at this
so I'll apologise right now before I commit my inevitable errors.

The Sepals are very white, but looking at them from the back they have
a hint of green and a hint of pink. Shape-wise, they are fairly soft
and round -- sort of like that perfect chuch window arch -- and not
the sharper, pointier style that I've seen on other orchids.

They are also very snow white except toward the white column (probably
the wrong word) where they have some small magenta spots. If I take
the column (that volcano shaped thing that sticks out at the centre of
the bloom) as the centre of a clock, the spots on the lateral sepals
radius out from the centre at the 5:00 and 7:00 positions and don't
extend any further than the width of the Labellum.

The Petals are also fall on the softer and rounder side of the scale.
The best way to describe them as very broad aces (from a deck of
playing cards) with a rounded tip.

The Lip is magenta. Now this is where I'm going to mess up on the
names (if I haven't already done so). From what I can tell the Lip or
Labellum is supposed to be one petal, but when I'm looking at the
plant, it really looks like four separate and distinct parts: the
skinny bit that attached to the column, the two side petals and the
longer bottom lip. The two arms/petals that are attached to the Lip
(at the 3:00 and 9:00 position to the lip's 6:00 position) are mostly
magenta, but they have a centre stripe of white that extends half-way
down the centre of the petal. The white stripe isn't pure white. It
serves as the background for magenta dashes (like divided highway
lines). There are (roughly) four or five parallel rows of dashes.

At the centre where the Lip attaches to the two other petals -- the
stigmatic surface I guess or the anther cap -- it is mostly white
white with magenta dashes. Under the dashes is a hint of yellow
shading. The part I'm trying to describe sits up and makes a V shape
-- parallel to the stem of the plant, unlike the column which is
perpendicular to the stem (or parallel with the table, if you like).

The Lip is much pointier than the attached petals (or whatever they
are called). It looks like the oultine of the space shuttle
(triangular bottom wings near the stigmatic surface) with a pair of
curled bug antennae on the nose cone. The two connecting petals are
shaped more like the oultine drawings of lightbulbs with the narrow
part connecting near the wing part of the shuttle.

I realize that it would be impossible to identify the plant from my
lousy description, but I promised I would attempt to post a better
description when the plant bloomed, so I'm trying to keep my word. I
don't have a digital camera otherwise I'd just post a photo.

As was discussed in my previous post, the plant tag says it is a P.
Golden Poeker but I really don't think it is. Honestly I really don't
care. I know it's not an expensive or exotic phal, but it's mine and
it's blooming.
--Vic