Welcome! My name is Karma. I live in Gothenburg Sweden and I am a certified orchidophile with a penchant for orchids of the Pleurothallid Alliance, but we don’t have an exclusive relationship...
I am also the editor for the Swedish Orchid Society magazine "Orkidéer". If you would like to contribute, or know of any interesting orchid stories or people - please send them my way!
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 There is just something special about this mini-Masdevallia… and everytime it blooms I am reminded of its awesomeness. The flowers are not large, but compared to the plant they are rather impressive in size none the less. The plant is no more than 5 cm tall and the width of the flower measures just over 1 cm, but the three long graceful sepals add another 3-4 cm to that – each. The shear white base with rust colored spots and the lime-yellow sepaline tips is a subtile but powerful presentation.
The species is a cool to cold growing epiphyte that hails from the wet cloud forests of Central- to South Tropical Americas, where it grows at elevations of 1 700 to 3 000 meters. I grow mine mounted on an EpiWeb branch, quite bright humid and wet with really good air circulation. It blooms once or twice a year for me, usually in early fall and spring, so it is a little early this year but I do not mind one bit.
Masdevallia picturata Rchb.f., Otia Bot. Hamburg.: 16 (1878). …or Fissia picturata according to Luer.
 
 This species hail from Colombia, Venezuela and maybe even as far down as into northwestern Brazil. It is a warm to intermediate grower actually as it grows primarily in lowland forests at elevations of 200 to 1000 meters. However, it does not seem to have any objections to the cooler temperatures in my cool vivarium, so I would say that it is a very temperature tolerant species. A nice quality for a species in this lovely but primarily cool loving genus. Flowers measure about 2 cm tall and have a pleasant metallic appearance due to the slightly iridescent coloring. Masdevallia norae belong to the Alaticaules subsection, or the new Alaticaulia genus according to Luer. I find it rather easy to grow and a pleasant addition in my collection. I grow this potted in EpiWeb substrate on the bottom ov my cool vivarium, medium/low light, evenly moist all year round and in relative high humidity.
Masdevallia norae Luer, Lindleyana 3: 44 (1988).
 This is what happens when good lights go bad… or at least when you wire them up badly. They eventually burn out and die. So after about a year and a half I had to bite the bullet and rebuild all four lights for the cool vivarium. Because one after one, they had all started to give me trouble this fall. Light being an absolute key ingredient in vivarium culture, this was serious business.
It all started with one of them not coming on sporadically. I figured I might have a bad ballast, so I ordered a new one and replaced it. But no dice. The light would still refuse to come on intermittently, and when it did come on the light would glow ominously red for the first 15-20 seconds or so before getting warm and the ends of all the lamps were slightly blackened for the first 5-10 cm. After a few more weeks of this it failed to come on all together. If I would tap the ballast it might flicker a little bit, like it wanted to come on, but soon it would do none of that either. Then the remaining three lights would begin to act up as well. I knew it was just a matter of time before they would all fail, so I really needed a plan for how to fix this… and fast!
I still cannot find any factory made fixtures for these lights, and I really don’t understand why? My fixtures are crude and home-made, so I guess it does not come as a complete surprise that something would go wrong. I tried talking to the local electrical shops, but they had no clue what so ever… I tried searching on the internet high and low for advice. Dear husband even tried rewiring all the lights for me, but no luck!
Then I remembered getting some really nice help from the UK lighting store where I bought my replacement lights for the growing window earlier in the year. So I wrote them a fairly confusing email asking for help. I was desperately hoping they might be able to figure out what the problem was. To my surprise, and great relief, I actually did get a reply with a solution. Turns out I had been given bad advice on how to wire them up initially, that on top of being sold the wrong kind of wire eventually lead to this complete failure.
Apparently the blackening at the ends showed that the lamps had lost most of their emitter material and that none of them soon would start. The million dollar question question was of course why. Apparently there were two likely scenarios… either the electrical connections from the ballast were wrong, or there might be a faulty lamp holder – or the connections (the wiring) between the ballast and lamp holder were wrong or loose. I am betting money it is the latter, bad wiring – not faulty equipment, since I had four light all failing more or less at the same time. Since each switching on/off cycle causes sputtering of emitter material, the lights have just burned out prematurely. The recommendation I got was to replace both the lamp holders (luckily not very expensive) as well as the lamps. They even included some of the correct wire, free of charge, so I could wire it all up correctly this time.
Originally I was told to wedge the wired in the slots on top of the ballast, which I always felt was a bit strange as they did not seem to get very good contact… turns out they really needed to go into the holes underneath (finally got an answer out of Osram despite not being a professional electrician). The large stranded wire that I was originally using would not fit there, but the new wire would! It is about half as thick, and a single copper wire instead of the difficult to work with stranded kind. Much better!! That also meant having to wire up the pigtail (the plug providing the electricity from the wall) using the new wire and a grounded electrical junction box. Easy as pie! Dear husband helped me wire the lights back up with new lamp holders and brand new Dulux 80W lamps (he’s quite handy to have around that man), and voilà! All lights are now up and running again and it looks like a solarium in there, he he…
Thank you Paul from CP Lighting, you are a life saver! By the way, I warmly recommend this seller. Helpful (above and beyond), good selection and very good prices despite shipping charges to Sweden. I am soooooo relieved I finally got this sorted. It has caused me sleepless nights for weeks, months!
How NOT to wire it up (and the result of when you do it wrong):
   
How to wire it up correctly:
       
 This is my first Kefersteinia, but it won’t be the last, and it is blooming now just in time for the new year. One must appreciate a lady with impeccable timing and it sure is a lovely species to ring in the new year with. Here’s to a fantastic 2012!!
I was really happy when I saw the flower spike forming on this one late summer, but almost started to worry when the bud took several months to develop. Now that is has opened, it was well worth the wait however! I can see why some people get quite besotted with them. I rather like the beautiful fan-shaped leaves and the large thinly textured flowers with all that feminine detail arranged in complex folds and patterns on an arching to pendulous inflorescence. Near perfection I would say. Each inflorescence can produce up to three flowers, each measuring about 5 cm across, I got one for starters but I am certainly not complaining. Besides, there is one more spike on the way. Even though the flower looks like it would boast some seductive fragrance, it has no detectable scent.
Kefersteinia graminea is a medium sized warm to cool growing epiphyte from South America. The Kefersteinia genus belong to the Zygopetalinae subtribe, and I can definitely see some resemblance in the flowers, especially the lip, to some of the Zygopetalum I used to grow in California many years ago. This genus is reputed to be a little difficult to grow, so I am very happy to add it to my list of successes. I got this one from Ecuagenera in May and it has been growing well, mounted on EpiWeb in the cool vivarium on the wetter side of the viv. under medium/low light, high humidity and good air movement.
Kefersteinia graminea (Lindl.) Rchb.f., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 10: 634 (1852).
   
 I would like to wish you all a very nice Christmas with images of this lovely Lepanthes, named after Melpomene who initially was the Greek muse of singing and later became the muse of tragedy. Perhaps it only works in my warped mind, but it somehow seemed a fitting theme for the day… the rest of you – go with the intense beauty of the species! It is truly mesmerizing! …and with a little imagination once could see a little santa elf with a red hat and white beard. Flowers measure almost 1 cm tall, so granted you really need to get in close to appreciate the detail, but the intensely sharp shape in contrast to the softer vintage feeling color combination is just lovely and well worth the effort.
Lepanthes melpomene is a miniature cool to cold growing epiphyte from the cloud forests of southeastern Ecuador where it grows at 2200 to 2850 meters. I got it from Ecuagenera this spring, and it is now blooming for the first time. I grow it mounted in the cool vivarium, humid, breezy and medium bright.
Lepanthes melpomene Luer & Hirtz, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 61(3): 117 (1996).
 
 A small to medium size warm to intermediate growing epiphyte that was found in the in cloud forest on Mombacho Volcano in Nicaragua, but it grows across most of Central America. The waxy white flowers measure about 1,5 cm tall and bloom on a short, single flowered, suberect inflorescence amidst the leaves. I really like the sparse pink and green details inside the flowers and the faint smell of soap, they kind of look like they smell if that makes any sense? Luer wants to categorize Masdevallia nicaraguae under Acinopetala now, distinguished primarily by it caespitose habit (tufted form of growth) and that the sepals are fused to form the shape of a tube or cup.
A friend has seen these grow warm to downright hot in nature, but I grow mine cool and from the looks of things, it is not complaining. So I would say that this is a pretty tolerant species. I grow it in the cool vivarium, potted in a mesh pot with EpiWeb, low light, evenly wet, high humidity and good air circulation. First time it is blooming for me, and I really like it a lot. Nice with white flowers for Christmas, perhaps there is a traditional streak somewhere in me after all…
Masdevallia nicaraguae Luer, Selbyana 5: 148 (1979).
 
 This handsome fellow has been my main dinner-table decoration this season, and it is very good at its job. A stunning centerpiece with gorgeous compact mottled leaves with a super tall and slender inflorescence that won’t impede dinner conversations. I adore the little guy and would not mind having an entire window box of them blooming every Christmas – much better than any other typical seasonal plants, even a tree.
Paphiopedilum appletonianum is a medium sized, warm to cool growing species that can grow either as a terrestrial, lithophyte and occasional epiphyte. It grows in shady lowland evergreen forests and primary highland cloud forests at elevations from 700 – 2000 meters across Southeast Asia. It is a faithful bloomer for me every winter, and it produces a very long lived purple and green glossy flower on an extremely long (about 50 cm) purple-brown and hairy inflorescence. I grow it intermediate, medium bright and potted in medium bark mixed with some lava rocks.
Paphiopedilum appletonianum (Gower) Rolfe, Orchid Rev. 4: 364 (1896).
 This is rather nice mini Cattleya hybrid, named after the town where the grower (Karge) is located. I am actually not that big on Cattleya hybrids in general, and I think what it is I really like about this particular one is the way it grows – mounted on a small terracotta pipe. It seems well suited for this particular mounting technique as each new bulb meanders nicely around the pipe and is bound to cover it completely within a couple more years. In all fairness it is very easy to grow too, blooming generously 2-3 times per year. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to try growing Cattleya at home, especially if space is limited, since it is quite undemanding and small. The light lavender flowers measure about 8 cm across, a generous size compared to size of the plant. I grow it hanging in the growing window under supplemental lights, not as bright as my other Cattleya but it does not seem to mind. I also let it hang outside for a few weeks this summer, something all the Vanda and Cattleya seemed to enjoy immensely.
 A lovely intermediate to cool growing epiphyte from Costa Rica and Panama where it grows in cloud forests at elevations from 1200 up to 2400 meters. My plant is fairly small in size, measuring about 12-15 cm tall, but apparently the species can grow about twice as large. It produces a small cluster of flowers on a terminal inflorescence. Very petite and sweet flowers measuring about 15 mm tall, with a hint of lavender on the lip. They are supposed to be fragrant too, but I could not detect anything in particular, perhaps a faint “flowery” scent if anything. The flowers have lasted a very long time and I actually like it a whole lot more than I thought I would – nice with positive surprises. It prefers a bright and humid location with really good air circulation – a downright windy spot is not a bad thing. I grow mine mounted in the cool vivarium on the drier side.
Epidendrum endresii Rchb.f., Gard. Chron., n.s., 19: 432 (1883).
 
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