State College, PA Orchid Show

This last weekend was spent in State College, PA to attend their local orchid show, for which our society contributed a display. Their season is about three weeks behind ours, as can be seen by the trees and shrubs coming out of winter dormancy that have since completed their blooms in our neighborhood. Similarly, many orchids for us that have recently finished blooming or whose flowers are in decline are now reaching their peak for our PA neighbors.

There were some nice Cattleyas in the show, such as Laeliocattleya Park Ridge and Cattleya forbesii. The C. forbesii was screened for AOS judging, but previous cultural awards have set the bar quite high.




























Cymbidiums were also represented.
Leprechaun 'Goblin', HCC/AOS


















lancifolium


















atropurpureum (?)
This plant was labelled as canaliculatum, which it is clearly not. Remembering photos from Kobsukh's and DuPuy and Cribb's books, I think it is atropurpureum. It has a nice coconut-type fragrance. It appears that the grower was first presented with this plant as Cym. dayanum, so it has a history of being mis-labeled. Despite this, the plant was pulled for AOS judging against previously awarded atropurpureum, and received an AM/AOS award--pending taxonomic identification-- because the flowers measured larger in size than the previously awarded Cym. atropurpureum.

April NCOS Show table

Today's speaker was Allen Black, visiting from the Virginia Orchid Society in Richmond, Va. He discussed orchid hybridizing for the orchid hobbyist/enthusiast perspective, how to pollinate orchids, setting up a flasking/re-plating system in the home, and growing the seedlings to their first-blooms. Below is an example of his work, Lycaste About Time. See also http://ablackorchid.com/.















We had a nice turnout of member's plants, examples shown below.
Phal. Brother Supersonic, exhibited by Bob Smith














Cymbidium Little Black Sambo 'Black Magic', AM/AOS, exhibited by Joe Francis














We had three varietals of Cattleya skinneri today. Tina Wood exhibited 'Casa Luna', AM/AOS, and var. alba 'Debbie', FCC/AOS, both shown below. Bonnie Cobos exhibited var. coerulea; however, I did not have the opportunity to photograph the flowers. It was a nice opportunity to compare the color-forms.

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