Happy New Year! Here are my houseplant blooms from December, minus my Senecio jacobsenii which rebloomed but is currently in my office and therefore I kept forgetting to bring my camera in. From left to right and top to bottom: Gasteria liliputana, Gymnocalycium bruchii, Haworthia cuspidata, Haworthia fasciata, Mammillaria bocasana, Pachyphytum oviferum (a little misleadingly as its bloom stalk is leaning past the trunk of my Uncarina roeoesliana), Phalaenopsis spp., Rhipsalis mesembryanthemoides, Sansevieria phillipsiae, Ibervillea lindheimeri, Euphorbia flanaganii, and Faucaria tigrina.
orchids
Neofinetia Falcata Flowering
I can't take much of the credit for this, but an orchid I bought recently with partially grown flower buds has fully flowered! It's a Neofinetia falcata, which is apparently a very popular houseplant in Japan and was originally cultivated as such in the 1600's. I acquired it on a trip to Bird's Botanicals, a really cool orchid cave in Kansas City.
An Orchid That Grows Entirely Underground
Rhizanthella gardneri, the Western Underground Orchid, is a critically endangered plant native to Australia that spends its entire life cycle, including blooming, underground. It was discovered after a gardener noticed a sweet smell and a crack in the ground so he started digging.