Valerie Absolonova

I've been waiting for the flowers of this clone to open up!! The combination of Eastern Bunny 'Oborozuki' (prior posting) and Valerie Absolonova makes for a delicious scent when I go downstairs to check in with the basement orchids under lights and get some relaxation therapy. VA is a Mini Cym and has no problem dealing with our Summer heat, which is just the type of Cymbidium I need for my growing conditions.

The lip patterning may not be as good as Andy's or Kobsukh's clones, but I like this one's lip nonetheless.












































The increasing importance of, and need for, Mini Cyms cannot be dismissed! For example, our local orchid society had it's Holiday party earlier this week. As a gift to the orchid society members, I gave out free, established seedlings of a (Valerie Absolonova x novelty-type) hybrid that Andy Easton had made. However, no more than 1/3 of the seedlings were taken! (No offense, Andy. Actually, your name drew positive attention to the seedlings.) Most members said that Novelty-type Cyms were too big(!) for our East coast, home growing conditions.

To be blunt, there is a market for Cymbidiums here in the eastern U.S., as I routinely field requests for suggestions of an appropriate Cym hybrid. But, Cym hybridizers need to make them Mini Cyms, or else the general orchid enthusiast in this region simply does not have the space for this genera. There's a market niche waiting (and wanting) to be filled.... nudge, nudge, ... wink, wink, ... hint, hint...