Cattleya maxima at Ecuagenera, Guayaquil

It's C. maxima's time to shine, and Ecuagenera has an amazing collection. They have several color forms, and they have grown up populations of seedlings of many of them. The albas were just about done, but the dark ones, the ones with deeply rayed lips, and the coeruleas were all in great form.

Lepanthes elegantula

Nice "big" Lepanthes species. One of the most popular of the genus because of the showy flowers and how easy it is to grow and bloom. It is a sequential bloomer, and a well-grown plant can be in bloom all year long.

Trisetella triglochin (huebneri)

Trisetella triglochin (huebneri), originally uploaded by Duane McDowell.

This was the first miniature orchid I remember falling in love with. J and L Orchids had some plants in bloom at the Milwaukee show in 1984.
I'm growing it in a piece of Ecoweb in the terrarium. I haven't had it long, but it appears to be establishing well.

Slc. Tiny Titan 'Sentinel's Tangerine Glow' AM/AOS (Precious Stones x Sc. Beaufort)

Really nice plant.  This one seems to bloom well consistently and frequently.  The C. aclandiae grandparent adds warmth tolerance.  Very heavy substance, great vigor. 

Slc. Kevin Hipkins 'Orange Cascade' FCC/AOS (California Apricot x S. cernua)

Lousy blooming of this fantastic plant.  The only thing you can really see from these pictures is the rich color and sparkling texture. I'm growing it warm, and it would really prefer to be on the cool side of intermediate...Nice to see a Soph. cernua hybrid!

Restrepia sanguinea 'Walter' HCC/AOS

Restrepia sanguinea 'Walter' HCC/AOS, originally uploaded by Duane McDowell.

For a Restrepia, this is big and showy - blooms are about 1 1/2" tall. It blooms off and on all year. I grow it in a small clay pot that's about 2/3 full of styrofoam, with the top third sphagnum moss.

Lepanthes blepharistes

Tiny flowers on a very small plant.  I underwatered this one for a while, and the leaves look just terrible.  It's starting to come back - In a month or two it will look nice enough to photograph.

Scaphosepalum rapax

Warty, weird and wonderful.  The Scaphosepalums are sequential bloomers.  I had seen pictures of the flowers of this species before, but never realized what size the plant is.  It's a real gem, compact and floriferous.

Trisetella gemmata

The first Trisetella I ever saw was T. heubneri (triglochin). It was in J and L Orchids' display at the Milwaukee Orchid Society show in 1984. I fell in love, but I was afraid to try such a small and frail-looking plant. I got this one from J and L, and it has done pretty well for me. It seems a little slow to establish, but now that it has taken hold, it appears to be doing fine.

I'm interested to see how my definitions have changed, too.  I remember thinking of this as a "tiny" orchid.  Now that I'm growing it, I think of it as "mid-sized" with "large" blooms.

The Trisetellas were formerly a part of the Masdevallia complex, and were one of the earlier genera split off from that group.

The terrarium

I grow some cattleya types in the research greenhouse where I work, but most of my collection is in a 30-gallon terrarium that I built out of an aquarium I got on Craigslist for free.

Here's a "quickie" drawing of the hood and the tank. The idea for me was to get as much good light into a standard (read: free on Craigslist) aquarium. There aren't any dimensions on the drawing because every aquarium is a little different. My main piece of advice along those lines would be to wait until you actually have the aquarium to start building the light hood. My light hood is a little oversized, and I have a problem with everything drying out a little too quickly, necessitating more watering than I really want to do.
I plan on modifying the design a little now that I've had it for a while. I'm going to add some aluminum angle to the back of the aquarium, which will seal up the long gap there. The weather stripping didn't hold very well with the constant sliding back and forth of the hood.
Hope this is useful! I'd be glad to write up measurements sometime if anyone thinks it would help, but I would emphasize that every aquarium varies from the others!

This picture shows the air movement fan.  It runs continuously, blowing up against the plexiglass.  It moves air in the entire tank.

When I first built it, I laid out the bottom with a single layer of styrofoam, then I took several styrofoam balls (green florist's foam) and cut them in half. I attached them to the foam sheet with black silicone and bamboo skewers. The balls suggest hills in the tiny landscape - I think they're a nice touch....
Then I covered the whole mess with black silicone and sprinkled it with coir (as suggested by Black Jungle). What I've been noticing is that the styrofoam half-spheres are coming loose from the sheet. This wouldn't be a problem if I weren't constantly moving plants around. Since the wires that I have the mounts supported on are not stainless steel (I use stiff floral stem wire), they rust on the end that's in the foam, and they resist being pulled out. I'm not sure what I would change in future iterations, but I would probably use more bamboo skewers to keep the half-spheres in place.

I grow in a 30 gallon aquarium. I use 4 60W equivalent compact fluorescent bulbs to light it. They are in a wooden hood that I built for the terrarium. The bottom of the hood is plexiglass, so any heat coming off the bulbs doesn't enter the tank. I have a fan at one end of the hood and holes drilled at the other to keep heat from building up inside it.
Inside the tank, I have a computer fan that blows upward onto the plexiglass to move air around. I run a Repti-fogger on a timer - 3 hours early in the morning, then a couple of times a day for 15 minutes. I use RO water in the fogger to prevent any problems with the mechanism.
I haven't needed to do any active cooling - the terrarium is in my basement, the lights are above plexiglass, and I use clay pots or mounts to keep the plants' roots cool.
I give the plants the appropriate light by mounting them on wires. I stick the wires into styrofoam at the base of the terrarium. I have a layer of coconut husk fiber (coir) covered with live moss over the styrofoam, so it's relatively attractive.

This picture shows the inside of the hood.  There are light bulbs in there, but they're bright enough that you can't see them individually.  The inside of the hood is lined with reflective mylar.  The base of the hood is clear plexiglass to minimize the transfer of heat into the terrarium.  There is also a venting fan at one end of the hood and a series of holes at the other end to keep heat from building up inside the hood.

Here's a picture showing what it looks like most of the time.  I have a fabric curtain hanging in front of the mechanics.  It's a nice display, overall.

This picture shows the workings.  There is a Repti-Fogger that I use to humidify the tank.  It's on a timer - 3 hours in the morning and 15 minutes a few times during the day.  The lights are on a timer, as well.

Lepanthes aeora

Lepanthes aeora, originally uploaded by Duane McDowell.

This is the first really mature Lepanthes in my collection. I got it from Orchids Limited here in the Twin Cities. It has been in bloom continuously for months now, and is always growing. It is a very vigorous plant. From Ecuador.
Also available from Ecuagenera at: http://www.ecuagenera.com

Lepanthes gratiosa

Lepanthes gratiosa, originally uploaded by Duane McDowell.

Another Costa Rican beauty. Beautiful foliage, great vigor.

Lepanthes fimbriata

Lepanthes fimbiata, originally uploaded by Duane McDowell.

The colors on this are just amazing. Strong growing plant, looks like it will be in bloom a lot!

Porroglossum meridionale (lip up)

Porroglossum meridionale (lip up), originally uploaded by Duane McDowell.

Porr. meridionale is one of my favorite orchids to grow. Beautiful pebbly leaves with red netting, sequential blooms several times per year, and great presentation. For me, it's been a very easy grower, doubling in size every few months.
The lip is "spring-loaded." When an insect lands on the lip, the lip snaps up, smashing the bug into the column. This dislodges the pollen onto the bug's back, and if the bug has already been on another flower, this bloom gets pollinated. The bug is released unharmed after this undignified treatment. It must be a good system - they keep coming back for more... Maybe its like a bug roller-coaster ride...