Yesterday I stopped by Main St. Orchids, Perkasie, Pa. with one of my co-workers. I finally discovered that Mike/Main St was within 30 miles of my apartment and not far from Parkside Orchids.
Main St. is off the beaten path and at the present they don't have an active website. I'd purchased various plants including a very nice vigorous paph armeniacum from him at the gros show near rochester, ny and some phrag fischeri at the sepos show. unfortunately mealybugs carried away my armeniacum and mike didn't have any left. Instead I discovered to my joy/dismay that he likes to grow phal species! :rollhappy:
I left many plants behind, but ended up bringing home another phrag fischeri, a very nice paph sanderianum, a sophronitis coccinea, a phal lindenii and Mike gave me a very large phal bastianii keiki that had attached itself to the bench and one of his own hybrids, a brassavola nodosa x barkeria melanocaulon (brsk rosyleen). He showed me a near relative hybrid to the brassavola/barkeria cross which was very nice! I also made a promise to come back for a phrag manzurii seedling when he felt they were big enough to leave the greenhouse. there were manzurii hybrids and the species seedlings when sized up will be $45 which I thought was a good deal
Last winter I found Mike at sepos and he had a few phrag fischeri seedlings for sale at his table. They were only $35(!). I bought both of them. I bought another yesterday since one of mine I allowed to dry out too much
. He has 'lots' of fischeri seedlings in the pipeline and a decent number of phrag manzurii seedlings which are still coming up to size. I told people that I was surprised he had these seedlings at a reasonable price and wondered why nobody was buying them etc and it turned out that he didn't have a website so people weren't looking/expecting to find them, and he usually doesn't do mail order. Mike has contracts with businesses in the philly area to supply flowering plants for them in rotations. He also rents out space in his greenhouses for clients, sells at shows and sometimes goes to other greenhouses to care for people's plants. The contract growing pays the bills, and on the side he finds plants here and there of interest, buys a few and grows them up in his greenhouse; some of the phrags, paphs, aerangis and phals (and more) were quite big, and in very nice shape! He has I think two phal gigantea that are between 10-12 years old and are in very nice shape. Things look very happy there, and there are fans and lots of air movement everywhere, which is very very important. I didn't have time to poke around as much as I would have liked and I had to keep my hands in my pockets so Mike wouldn't hand me something more to buy! I will be back, though once I get settled with my new job (and a regular paycheck starts up again)
If you are in the area, I would definitely get in touch with Mike to set up a time to visit, because he has lots of really large plants that would have to be divided before they could be sold to most of the public but in the greenhouse you might be able to ask about certain plants and get a great deal! plus his dogs are very fun to watch!
this is a huge paph kolopakingii x paph philippinense I saw just before I left;
had to run to my coat and take some pics. there had to be a dozen growths
along with the two spikes 10-12 flowers. the flowers were actually fairly lightly
colored; I needed to add some contrast to the pic so they may look a little
darker than in person
this was a very nice paph lady isabel
one example of the phals used for contract displays
also saw this beautiful apple-blossom blush dendrobium (very tall)
that I saw just before leaving
what I bought and brought home!
from front left clockwise: phal bastianii keiki, paph sanderianum 'raven cliff falls am/aos x 'nature's glory', phrag fischeri, phal lindenii (in bud), sophronitis coccinea and Brsk. Rosyleen (b. nodosa x bark. melanocaulon) in spike!
mike's plants aren't just hanging around staying alive, they are growing and looking happy! i asked mike if he had any reasonable sanderianums and he found this one growth one probably 4-5 yrs old for $45! hope I can keep it looking as happy as it does now
*okay, went looking online for the brassakeriawhatever cross, and it looks like if it is a b. nodosa x barkeria melanocaulon then it's hybrid name is supposed to be Brsk. Mayan Spirit
Main St. is off the beaten path and at the present they don't have an active website. I'd purchased various plants including a very nice vigorous paph armeniacum from him at the gros show near rochester, ny and some phrag fischeri at the sepos show. unfortunately mealybugs carried away my armeniacum and mike didn't have any left. Instead I discovered to my joy/dismay that he likes to grow phal species! :rollhappy:
I left many plants behind, but ended up bringing home another phrag fischeri, a very nice paph sanderianum, a sophronitis coccinea, a phal lindenii and Mike gave me a very large phal bastianii keiki that had attached itself to the bench and one of his own hybrids, a brassavola nodosa x barkeria melanocaulon (brsk rosyleen). He showed me a near relative hybrid to the brassavola/barkeria cross which was very nice! I also made a promise to come back for a phrag manzurii seedling when he felt they were big enough to leave the greenhouse. there were manzurii hybrids and the species seedlings when sized up will be $45 which I thought was a good deal
Last winter I found Mike at sepos and he had a few phrag fischeri seedlings for sale at his table. They were only $35(!). I bought both of them. I bought another yesterday since one of mine I allowed to dry out too much
. He has 'lots' of fischeri seedlings in the pipeline and a decent number of phrag manzurii seedlings which are still coming up to size. I told people that I was surprised he had these seedlings at a reasonable price and wondered why nobody was buying them etc and it turned out that he didn't have a website so people weren't looking/expecting to find them, and he usually doesn't do mail order. Mike has contracts with businesses in the philly area to supply flowering plants for them in rotations. He also rents out space in his greenhouses for clients, sells at shows and sometimes goes to other greenhouses to care for people's plants. The contract growing pays the bills, and on the side he finds plants here and there of interest, buys a few and grows them up in his greenhouse; some of the phrags, paphs, aerangis and phals (and more) were quite big, and in very nice shape! He has I think two phal gigantea that are between 10-12 years old and are in very nice shape. Things look very happy there, and there are fans and lots of air movement everywhere, which is very very important. I didn't have time to poke around as much as I would have liked and I had to keep my hands in my pockets so Mike wouldn't hand me something more to buy! I will be back, though once I get settled with my new job (and a regular paycheck starts up again)If you are in the area, I would definitely get in touch with Mike to set up a time to visit, because he has lots of really large plants that would have to be divided before they could be sold to most of the public but in the greenhouse you might be able to ask about certain plants and get a great deal! plus his dogs are very fun to watch!
this is a huge paph kolopakingii x paph philippinense I saw just before I left;
had to run to my coat and take some pics. there had to be a dozen growths
along with the two spikes 10-12 flowers. the flowers were actually fairly lightly
colored; I needed to add some contrast to the pic so they may look a little
darker than in person
this was a very nice paph lady isabel
one example of the phals used for contract displays
also saw this beautiful apple-blossom blush dendrobium (very tall)
that I saw just before leaving
what I bought and brought home!
from front left clockwise: phal bastianii keiki, paph sanderianum 'raven cliff falls am/aos x 'nature's glory', phrag fischeri, phal lindenii (in bud), sophronitis coccinea and Brsk. Rosyleen (b. nodosa x bark. melanocaulon) in spike!
mike's plants aren't just hanging around staying alive, they are growing and looking happy! i asked mike if he had any reasonable sanderianums and he found this one growth one probably 4-5 yrs old for $45! hope I can keep it looking as happy as it does now
*okay, went looking online for the brassakeriawhatever cross, and it looks like if it is a b. nodosa x barkeria melanocaulon then it's hybrid name is supposed to be Brsk. Mayan Spirit
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