Primarily Cymbidiums: 2011 Paph Forum

The 31st Annual Paphiopedilum Forum was held on Saturday. It's normally housed at the U.S. National Arboretum, but because of construction there, we changed the venue to Behnke Nurseries, who were very helpful and welcoming hosts.

The speaker program included Stig Dalstrom, Dr. Norito Hasagawa, Bryan Ramsay and Ron McHatton.

Stig Dalstrom gave a nice talk on slipper orchids in situ, e.g. kovachii, besseae, and schlimii, and using their local environments as a clue to improve their culture in our homes and greenhouses. He provided examples to demonstrate how flower shape and color can be greatly influenced by heat. To put it another way, cooler temps along with humidity or misting improve overall quality.

Dr. Norito Hasagawa gave a nice talk on the importance of species, and the human practice of selective breeding for 'improvements' within the species, e.g. dorsal sepal flatness, particular color forms, larger flower, etc... In particular, he drew the analogy of dogs having been derived from wolves. Yet mankind has pushed dog breeding to create both the Chihuahua and the St. Bernard breeds. If one did not know any better, one might think these two breeds to be distinct species, and yet neither truly represent the wolf. The goals of the grower/propagator for hybridizing may not be applicable for species preservation and conservation.

Because I was busy with AOS judging, I missed Bryan Ramsay's talk and only caught the last half of Ron McHatton's talk on Pest and Disease control strategies.

Exhibit area beginning to be populated with show plants.

Two fun exhibit categories: Best Foliage (out-of-bloom) and Best (naturally) Ugly Slipper.

This year's uglies. I don't know who won the blue ribbon, but the lower left one has my vote...

Exhibit area filling up with plant entries and public review.

Vendor sales tables filled with Paphs and Phrags of all types!

Below are some individual flower pics. Sorry, I did not record the names of the individual exhibitors, so I cannot credit the respective owners.

Basket of Mini Phrags comprising:
1. (richteri x Pink Panther),
2. Casselman River, and
3. Spot On (Lynn Evans-Goldner x Pink Panther).