Santa Barbara Show

Well, I enjoyed my vacation in California. George Hatfield's family were gracious to host me during my stay. I was able to help install the Hatfield Orchid's display as per Dave Teuschler's design and direction, and help George when/where necessary elsewhere.

Hatfield Orchids' display














































Cym. Lowland Tiger, clones 'Leccino', 'Frantoio' and 'Pedolino', created by Andy Easton.














Cym. Ruth Kallman: beautiful flowers, but the plant is too big for my outdoor/indoor growing constraints.














I also clerked for the exhibit judging and AOS flower judging, which was good experience because the SB show is much larger and exhibitors provide many orchids that we simply don't see in our regional shows or judging center. The captain of our AOS judging team had me score flowers for practice judging so I could then compare my score with the judges, which became the starting point for discussion of each category where my points were discordant with the judges.

Exhibitor display #36. (C. Grow, I think.)














Various Cym. lowianum varietals displayed by Exhibitor display #2. (Orchids Royale, I think.)














Cym. (George Formby x Son of Freak) in Exhibitor display #21. (Gallup and Stribling, I think.) Clones 'Andy's Apocalypse', 'Andy's Calamity', 'Andy's Frankenstein', 'Andy's Nightmare', and 'Andy's Oop's' all share the same trait. I'm not a fan of this type of breeding, but this is good genetic material for plant developmental biologists to gain a better understanding of orchid flower development.


















Seed Engei display.














I appreciated the corsage and cut flower displays, and the corsage-making for the elderly who attended the show, because our local society has some members who are skilled in corsage-making and flower arrangement. Such features could keep these members active in the club due to their unique talents, and also reach another sector of the public who do not usually attend our show.




























The trip West also allowed me to meet several members of the online Cymbidium discussion forum, the Torrance Cymbidium Society and Cymbidium Society of America. It was good to finally meet in person those with whom I'd only communicated electronically. A friendly group of people that I look forward to seeing again when I next return.

During the plane flight home, I read through Kobsukh Kaenratana's new book, "Heat Tolerant Cymbidiums". It's a beautiful book, so much that the person sitting next to me kept looking over to take a peek. The ideas and examples presented definitely got me thinking about what type of cross(es) I might try next season.

Spring Activities

Our orchid society had their annual auction last weekend, which is the biggest fundraiser for the club. I was Auction Chair, so I've been busy dealing with all the tasks associated with being chair of this event. By and large, the auction went off well, and we achieved pretty close to our calculated monetary goals, despite the economic woes. The auction proceeds fund our ability to bring in speakers from outside our geographical region, as well as pay for setting up the annual Show and Sale in the Fall.

The Cyms are, of course, in prime blooming season, and my partner complains that I don't bring enough upstairs to be readily appreciated. Below is a pic showing, left to right, Den. kingianum, Cym. Eastern Beauty 'Robert Chang', Cym. Langleyense 'Cascades', Cym. Mimi 'Mary Bea', and Cym. Mary Green 'Pink Mist'.














I had all three seedlings of Orange Nymph (Orange Brandy 'New Horizon', 4N x Wood Nymph 'Ruby Lips', 4N) in bloom. Of the three, I'm keeping the first one shown below because it has the strongest lip markings. The second one will be on display at the Maryland Orchid Show this weekend, as part the NCOS exhibit (see http://marylandorchids.org/). It has four nicely arching spikes in full bloom. The third one was sold at the auction.










































I also contributed the Laelia Newberry Glow (L. anceps x L. milleri) shown below to the NCOS exhibit for the MOS show. I bought this at last year's auction because it's my understanding that L. anceps is a companion plant with Cyms. I had it growing side-by-side with the Cyms, and it yielded four new growths, each producing a spike with at least four flowers. My camera has difficulty capturing the color tones, so on a warm day this last weekend, I took the orchid outdoors for some natural sunlight and provide other colors in the background with the hope that the image quality would improve. Mollie, our shepherd in the background, is rolling around in the grass, also enjoying the weather.














This weekend I'll be flying out to CA to visit my aunt and also attend the Santa Barbara Int'l Orchid Show. I'm very much looking forward to the vacation.

Cym. Mimi 'Mary Bea', AM/AOS, B/CSA

Mimi (pumilum x Doris Aurea) is in full bloom now. It is a robust plant yielding multiple flower spikes; whereas, I'm still struggling to get the proper culture conditions so that Cym. pumilum (syn. floribundum) will flower for me.

According to RHS, 65 registered grexes have Mimi as the pod parent, and 5 as the pollen parent. I don't know the ploidy of this clone, and it appears that some Mimi clones can breed as if tetraploid. When visiting a colleague's greenhouse earlier this week, I was shown another Mimi clone which was half the size of 'Mary Bea', flowers and all, which made me think that his clone may be the diploid form. Regardless, given the intense raspberry jam colors, I can see why many have used this grex for additional breeding.















However, a curious thing happened during flower development. While most inflorescences yielded normal-looking flowers, one spike gave rise to flowers in which the posterior (lower) half of the lateral sepals partially transformed into the lip! Not all flowers on this spike show the transformation, and the degree of transformation varies between flowers.




























Note the transformation to callus ridge.














From my previous profession as a research scientist, such homeotic transformations (the transformation of one body part into another body part) immediately indicate to me that the interactions between at least two transcription factors that specify the different flower parts are impaired. However, I studied animals, not plants, so I need to browse the plant literature. I expect the plant developmental biologists already have a working model to explain this phenomenon.

February NCOS Member's Show Table

Our speaker for today's club meeting was Terry Root of The Orchid Zone, who presented examples of some of his latest breeding trends.

The member show table was robust, with 66 entries, examples of which are shown below.

Bllra. Smile Eri, exhibited by Eric Butler
Apparently, when the flowers open, the petals and sepals are white. As the flowers age, the petals and sepals green up with the purple picotee, and ultimately become entirely purple. We're hoping to see the same flowers next month.














(Cyc. pentadactylon x Morm. sirrata), exhibited by Eric Butler














Cymbidium Via Lady Carisona 'Chateau Burgundy', exhibited by Michael Tran


















Gongora truncata var. white, exhibited by Gene Schurg


















Holocoglossum subulifolium, exhibited by Gene Schurg














Lc. Gold Digger 'Orchidglade', exhibited by Gene Schurg














Opsistylus Suree 'See's Ace', AM/AOS, one clone exhibited by Bonnie Cobos, another clone exhibited by Gene Schurg
The the camera flash prohibited capturing the wonderful color intensity. Bad Kevin.














Phal. Stuartiana 'Sogo', AM/AOS, exhibited by Gene Schurg














(Pot. Afternoon Delight x C. aurantiaca), exhibited by Eric Butler














Slc. Anzac, four flowers on one inflorescence, vibrant color, exhibited by Marc Levenson

The 2009 Paphiopedilum Forum

The 29th Annual Paph. Forum took place yesterday at the National Arboretum, and was very well attended. Participants outside of the Virginia and Maryland region included those who travelled from New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, and California. Guest speakers included Terry Root, Alfredo Manrique, Bryan Ramsay and John Salventi. Exhibitor ribbon judging and AOS judging kept several teams busy. Marriott Orchids won a multitude of Exhibitor and AOS awards.

I have yet to try growing these genera, but may try a few in the future someday. In the meantime, the Paph. Forum is the best environment in this region to learn more about Paph. and Phrag. hybridizing trends and plant culture. It was a fun day.

Sales area




























Pics from around the exhibit hall










































Paph. Lippewunder 'Golden Flowers'




























Category: Best Ugly Slipper














Phrag. bessiae hybrids














Paph. Kolosand














Paph. Mt. Toro














Paph. malipoense 'Double Mint'














Paph. venustum 'Emerald Sun' S/19WOC














Paph. villosum, exhibited by Kirk King

Langleyense 'Cascades', HCC/AOS

This weekend, we're having a nice warm spell between cold systems, and Sebastian is enjoying the chance to sunbathe and sample all the smells brought along with today's wind gusts. The week's freezing rain and snow melt has filled my rainbarrels--which I use to water my orchids--so I was able to transport 30+ gallons down to the basement for storage and prevent rupture of the outdoor barrels when we get the next freeze.














I too, used the weather to photograph some orchids presently in bloom under natural sunlight rather than the camera flash indoors, one of which is Cym. Langleyense 'Cascades'.


















Although I've had this plant for more than three years, this is the first time it has bloomed for me. When re-potting my Cyms last Spring, I noticed some aborted spikes because I had the pseudobulbs buried too far below the media. Bad Kevin.

I still have plenty of room to improve though. It has sent out three spikes at differing stages of maturation, each essentially 90 degrees from the other, with 20 to 27 flower/buds per spike. I'm thinking that this may be an indication that it needs more lux from the basement grow-lights. Also, if the light was more directional, then perhaps the spikes would have arranged themselves closer together as they elongate.
































See also Chuckie's posts October 18 and November 1, 2008 re: lowianum and/or devonianum hybrids for comparison of these flowers with a tetraploid Langleyense and a more educated discussion of the parents.

Cymbidium Eastern Morning 'Shunshoku'

This is a neat plant! It is a primary hybrid between Cym. goeringii and Cym. lowianum var. 'concolor'. It is surprising that goeringii (pod parent) had the ability to shrink lowianum (pollen parent) down to a compact plant. For someone like me who has limited growing space indoors, this is definitely an advantageous feature. Definitely a keeper!















Natural Spread: 7 cm (h), 7cm (v)
Dorsal Sepal: 5.3 cm (l), 1.5 cm (w)
Lateral Sepal: 5.0 cm (l), 1.5 cm (w)
Petals:4.3 cm (l), 1.2 cm (w)
Lip:3.0 cm (l), 1.5 cm (w)

Five flowers on an upright inflorescence measuring 40 cm in length. Substance light; texture creamy. Sepals and petals light green, yellowing towards the margin, with green longitudinal veins; lip creamy white base overlaid with light yellow, mid-lobe enhanced with red along the margin, lip center enhanced with vertical line of red stipples; column dorsal surface light green with yellow anther cap, column ventral surface comprising red-stippled stripes towards column base. Noted for open flower shape with evenly spaced segments.