Not OP

Hayley Ostronic, Brainchild, 2026

Diptych

Brainchild I: graphite on Canson sketch paper

Brainchild II: watercolor and ink on Saunders Waterford cold-pressed

© 2026 Hayley Ostronic. All rights reserved

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I’m a botanical watercolorist with a penchant for the unconventional…the weirder, the better. I especially enjoy creating unusual compositions and using subjects that are not immediately recognizable as flowers. Hence my fascination with orchids.

While waiting for my own orchids to bloom, I am in need of some close up photos of blooms for my work. If you‘d like to donate to the cause and provide some fantastic photos of your weirdest blooms, I‘d be so grateful!

If I end up using your photo as reference for one of my pieces, I will post the end result on this sub and tag you.

Pictured are a quick watercolor study and preliminary graphite sketch of Paphiopetalum Fairreanum, along with the corresponding reference photo—courtesy of Pixabay.

Happy Halloween! TIA 😊

*This is not a product or service promotion and the above pictured pieces are NFS. Just simply sharing my craft and love of orchids.

First rebloom!

First post to the sub! I got her not that long ago and this is the first bloom in my care. Beautiful!!

It might be silly to ask as most forms of species aren’t named but Vanda tricolor seams to have a lot of different recognised variations in the wild so I figure it’s worth a shot. They have both flowered next to each other so I doubt it’s anything to do with that and also they flowered about a week apart. The labelum is quite different between them both and the color and shape is pretty different as well.

From what i remember tho, when this plant was given to us, its flowers were fully light pink. then ofc the flowers died off then this spike came up and produced these flowers with this patterning.

I think it looks beautiful, but good looks dosent always mean good health. is there anything wrong? or is this normal?

Ive had it for a year. They grow very fast! Its much happier not under a growlight too.

it seems like the flower's moustache grew.... outside?? I've never seen that happen before, and certainly not in any of my 12 orchids

It's too bad the pink one has a broken petal and some brown-nose (grocery store handling), I really like the spider picture lol. Impressed the blooms are still holding though.

Bought this Cahuzacara Hsinying Pink Doll 'Hsinying' as a better gro bag baby, at lowes, 6 years ago, it was my first cattleya. This is the best bloom it has ever put out! Each year it gets better.

I got a second shot under the grow lights so you could see its real color, I’m really stunned at how gorgeous that deep violet is. Happy spooky season!

This Cattleya is small and has alreadybloomed

It smells nice too but I gotta put my nose right on it

What’s the difference between Vanda Jairak Black Knight for sale at Motes orchids for $50 compared to the black orchid The Vandaman sold last night at his live sale for $750?

okay so i want to buy this orchid at my work, it’s a verigated scented orchid (so pretty and cool) but ive read everywhere in this subreddit that if a bloom spike comes out of the middle it will never bloom again. is this one of those? or is that not important for this type of orchid? i would really like to know before i buy it

I have a brassocattleya windward flare. First time owning one. Got it in may and it grew a ton of roots and a new shoot and leaf. However I'm not sure if it will flower again this cycle? Stage? Round of growth? I got it with 2 flowers on it but idk if the buds stalled or if they are still forming. I will send a before (blooming) and after (current) pics to help. The forth picture shows the newest mature growth. I expected a flower spike from it but idk if it will spike or not. so far photone says that my light reaches about 250-400 ppfd from where my plant is sitting. but i am using a phone app so it could be inaccurate.

Remember how I accidentally ordered a mini last week lol

Mothra seems to be doing well! It’s only been a couple days but she perked up and her root/leaf growth is continuing!

I’m so in love with her terrarium setup!

Im so happy with this Cambria this year. It is throwing so many spikes and the blooms look so much better than when I bought it last year! (Last photo is how it used to look like).

Having my best selection of blooms since starting to grow orchids. The hard work is paying off. ☺️🥰

I have a number of orchids inside alongside a window. A few of them seem to have this kind of burn or rot near the crown when a new leaf is growing in. Anyone know what this is?