Foliage Follow Up: Orchid (Sort of) Themed

My friend PJ sent me a few pictures via cell phone yesterday, showing his dad's amazing orchids.  Full, lush, and very happy living outside... in Miami!  While I will confess to a little bit of orchid envy, I thought that I would show a few "orchids" of my own for this month's foliage follow-up:

The jewel orchid, haemaria discolor, is grown primarily for its foliage--velvety, striped and reddish brownish burgundy in color--but I enjoyed its tiny white flowers this winter, too. Currently, it is summering outside on the front porch, where the nearby orchid cactus has decided to cozy up to it.

Really, this is probably not a true orchid cactus, in the epiphyllum family, but rather something in the nearby disocactus family.

No matter where it botanically belongs, it's beautiful.  And I have been calling it an orchid cactus for so long that the habit won't die anytime soon. I really like the contrast between the velvety jewel orchid leaves and the tough-looking orchid cactus leaves.

Both "orchid" pots have other plants mixed in.  Above, you can spy part of a rat-tail cactus that shares the cactus pot... and below, an unknown, tiny succulent that I rooted in the jewel orchid pot to cover up the bare earth around its stems.

This grouping is fun to look at from many angles:

And I couldn't pick just one photo to show you, so I decided to post them all.  Here's one more gratuitous shot:

Hope you enjoyed my "orchid"-themed Foliage Follow-Up.  For more great foliage shots, visit the comments on Pam's Hot & Steamy Foliage Follow-Up and visit the links there!