The stuff that came from Brookside over here (unless it was sold from them themselves at the shows) was the 5-times-the-price-almost-done-blooming stuff. Some of it was very nice but what irked me was that nearly 100% of them have the tags removed making them seriously-devalued orphans. Nice plants yes, but useless for breeding or showing or whatever. $80 for an unnamed Oncidium .... yeah, um, no thanks.
But be that as it may I really don't like hearing about the growers going under. That's really too bad.
Doug I'm into phrags too. I like paphs but only have a handful, don't really have the right conditions for them. I used to really be into Masdevallias and other pleurothallids but the last few years I've had to move away from those because ever since running halides over the tanks I don't have a cool basement anymore (warm and humid is easy to acheive .... cool and humid is not so easy [in a house]). These days I really dig some of the freaky Bulbophyllums but I only keep a handful. Sadly my orchids have taken a backseat to the reefing addiction, so stuff that can handle a little neglect is about the only thing that does well for me anymore.
I have a really cool
Dendrobrium spectabile that was a steady bloomer for this time of year, but it has sulked ever since I divided it a few years ago, no more flowers on that one for the time being. I had to split it up, thing was bigger than a tree, and I fought to find one for years and years so I wasn't about to give it up entirely.
Ahhhhhh the old addictions ... hold on I'm gonna go cruise orchidspecies.com for a while and drool over orchid pictures.
