Overseas Living: My Orchids of Nepal

Monday, August 10, 2009

My Orchids of Nepal

This is Axel again. We are exactly a week away from leaving and of the million things I am going to miss about Nepal, collecting orchids is going to have to be up there in the top ten. Since I got here I have been going out with Debendra (our driver) and getting all the different kinds I can. I think we have collected over 40 different orchids. Here are some pictures of the most recent outing with Xay.

Xay up some tree getting and orchid. The little guy is like a spider monkey on Mountain Dew. The fun part is watching him hang on with one hand while trying to rip down the orchid with the other.

After the most recent outing with Xay. Our haul before we potted them and hung them on the trees. I love it when they are blooming and we get them.

Me congratulating Xay after getting a really hard and great orchid. My dad used to make me go up trees and get them in Mexico when I was about the same age. Glad Xay has some pictures of him doing the same thing.

His orchid. My mom painted an orchid I got in Mexico. I am going to paint this one for Xay.

Xay getting the orchid I am going to paint. He had to climb up pretty high through lots of branches. But he got it!

Xay getting another kind of orchid during the same trip.

Small flower. Some kind of bulbophilum. I am not going to find out what they are. Too much to do. Plus my dad will be able to identify them.

THis flower was no bigger than a centimeter or two across. It actually came with a larger orchid I collected and I didn't even know it was on it until it bloomed.

A vanda! Vandas are my favorite orchids and I was so happy to collect one for real in the wild. I got this one down south on a business trip. The next one is the most common orchid here, airedes multifloral.

This is the flower of an orchid Xay got (picture above)

A dendrobium of some kind. I got about five different kinds while I was here. Beautiful flowers, but they don't last a long time. The next one I got climbing out over a waterfall in Pokhara. Almost died, but it is pretty when it blooms! I think it is an ariedes as well.

Some cymbidium above and the closeup of the ariedes below.

This one had a great smell to it. And it looked like a small angel flying...

Another kind of dendrobium. I think that means finger in latin, and that is exactly what they look like sticking out of the tree they are on. THe one below was one Debendra got really high in a tree and it bloomed about a month after we got it. Very small flower. Some type of bulbofilum.

I have no idea what this one was. It looks like a cymbidium, but the leaves are all wrong. Really pretty though and bloomed for a good two or three weeks. The below one is another kind of cymbidium. Very pretty.