Santa Barbara March Show highlights

Below are a few pics of the recently completed Santa Barbara International Orchid Show. This is always a fun and impressive show, and each year reminds me why I should make such an annual pilgrimage.

Cal Orchids received a gold certificate from the American Orchid Society (AOS) and the Cobb Trophy/Best Display over 100 square feet in recognition for installing such a colorful and impressive exhibit. The Lycaste's were beautiful--at least one even received AOS flower quality awards--, and the Epidendrums were delicious! It is uncommon for the AOS to award gold certificates for exhibits.















Hatfield Orchids took home a number of awards. This year's exhibit innovation was the use of PVC pipes painted flat black to hold, suspend and showcase the many pendulous Cymbidiums hybrids, counterbalanced with the standard Cymbidium hybrids.













Cymbidium Oxnard Dots (Champagne Robin x devonianum) 'Hatfields' received the Grand Champion of the Show/Mosher Trophy, and an HCC/AOS flower quality award. Hatfield orchids also received the Reserve Grand Champion of the Show (not shown).



















Cymbidium Diane's Favorite (Autumn Crisp x George Formby) 'Shirley' received the Best Standard Champion of the Show. This flower has a deep, intense and warm red that is not well-captured by my photograph. It was an impressive plant having three flower spikes placed right in front to greet the public just beginning to enter exhibit hall.













Last, but not least(!) of the Hatfield exhibit, was Cym. Heidi Kirkpatrick (Brenda x Dolly) 'Spencer', placed front-and-center. This is a beautiful flower, and only partially reflects the true beauty of Heidi herself, who has been an intrepid volunteer and editor for the Cymbidium Society of America. The plant wasn't in full bloom, as there were a few more spikes that needed another week before peak flower opening. But you could see the potential, and the warm fuzzies I felt seeing these flowers definitely reflected how well I think of Heidi and her contributions to the CSA. Lovely!













Santa Barbara Orchid Estate created another nice specimen exhibit. I routinely look forward to this exhibit because I have very little room to grow an orchid into a specimen-quality plant. This exhibit keeps one's dreams (or fantasies) alive.













I took a picture of this SBOE specimen because a member of our orchid society brought a small plant of L. lundii having two flowers into our February member's meeting. We don't often see these little Laelia species, and this specimen's floriferousness is clearly impressive.













Speaking of specimens, this year's SBIOS coincided with prime Dendrobium speciosum blooming. Many exhibits included at least one, and the show's viewing stand was surrounded by them. Wow, indeed!
It'd be easy to dismiss the Den. speciosum display altogether based upon specimen and color impact alone. (I can say this, because I did.) However, during a later review of the exhibit with Dr. Randall Robinson (http://cmausteller.blogspot.com/), Randall pointed out that some plants had different spike habit, e.g. upright, instead of arching or pendulous, some flowers were larger than others, that is to say, likely 4N, not 2N, and some were even white-centered with yellow margins rather than white, butter yellow or bright yellow. The take-home point: pay close attention! There are differences for the discerning eye to perceive.













Casa de las Orquideas was awarded the Best Boldly Spotted Cymbidium flower for displaying Cym. Pepperpus (Pfeiffer Falls x Pinata) 'Blackbeard'.













SBOE installs another exhibit at the SBIOS that is both educational and historical. I really look forward to this exhibit. This year's exhibit theme was Concolor and Alba Cymbidiums.


























Cym. lowianum var. 'concolor'













Cym. Durham Castle 'Snow Princess'













The exhibit below was all slipper orchids. I don't recall who created the exhibit. What I found noteworthy was the use of the iPad to supplement the exhibit. How soon until we have fully digital orchid exhibits and virtual orchid shows?





































Tokyo Orchid Nursery brought in several cut slipper orchids for their display, including line-bred superior Paph. rothschildianum clones. The CSA team spent a fair amount of time at this exhibit to acknowledge and reward the advancements within this orchid alliance.



















The Svoboda Trophy/Best Standard Complex Paphiopedilum hybrid award was given to TON's Paph. Millenium 'Diablo', for being well-proportioned overall, having strong colors in the petals and pouch, and bold spots in the dorsal sepal.

Pacific Orchid Exposition

This weekend is San Francisco Orchid Society's annual Pacific Orchid Exposition. The theme of this year's show is "A Salute to the Golden Gate".

Yesterday was a full day of judging, after which, I went and took pics. The opening night Gala was nice evening of wine tasting/competition, tasty hors d'oeuvres, socializing, and shopping (if so inclined).

A visiting society's exhibit.













Golden Gate Cymbidium Society (?) exhibit













Cym. Eaglewood 'Mem. Takaki'; received AD/CSA, JC/AOS













Cym. Violet King 'Tygr Jade'













Cym. Kirby Lesh 'Cinnabar'













The following are two siblings of Cym. (South Street x Pepperpuss). These are BIG plants.
#1



















#2



















Cym. Ruby Doll 'Geyserland'



















The following are four siblings of Cym. (Pepperpuss x Memoria Amelia Earhart 'Scott Valine'):
#1; I like the color patterns on this one.













#2, received an HCC/AOS


















#3













#4



















Cym. Yoko Takai (Red Beauty x Hazel Faye) 'Rebecca'



















Cym. Dotz (Arts x Splatters)













The label says Cym. (Doris Spectrum x (tracyanum x devonianum)). Doris Spectrum is presently unregistered, so I'm wondering if the label was mis-printed. Perhaps the exhibitor meant Doris Spectrum (Doris x Devon Spectrum). Devon Spectrum is (tracyanum x devonianum). Anyways, this flower shows strong tracyanum influence.













Cym. Pywacket 'Stirling'



















Cym. Pywacket 'Red Panther'













Cym. Vampirella













Don't often see this: Eriopsis biloba



















Don't often see this: Cleisocentron merrillianum. A true blue orchid.













Renanthera matutina













Don't often see this: Rossioglossum Rawdon Jester.













Cattleya (Psyche x esalqueana); received an AM/AOS













Paph. (Mystic Knight x Ice Castle); received a B/CSA award.













Best Paph/Phrag shown by a Novice Exhibitor: Cyp. formosanum

Neighborhooding in SF

We're planning to move to San Francisco sometime this year. The questions become: in which neighborhood do we want to live, and how much can we afford?


















This weekend we stomped around several adjoining neighborhoods that are within walking distance to the Metro/light rail transit lines. Each neighborhood has its own architectural themes, demographics, amenities and quirks, so it's really important to walk your way through to discover what you like and dislike. Of course, in addition to the homes and their placement on the lots, I was also looking for orchids to see how the properties were being used to their full [orchid] potential.

One of the quirks in many SF neighborhoods is the concept of cementing over the ground to make a space for off-street parking or to manage slope erosion. While functional, I find the cement scabs unappealing. Nevertheless, these scabs also create a distinctive style of gardening: containers.














If you don't like hills, then San Francisco isn't for you. That being said, I see all the staircases as prime territory to hang, perch or otherwise affix some orchids, and these people are missing out!














Staircase gardening!


















Some neighborhoods have a rather banal façade, livened up only with some colorful paint.














The next level of accent is to add the window boxes, either wooden or iron rods. However, I found the window box accents to be even more depressing because most residents weren't even using the space. A market niche literally waiting to be filled.

Imagine my delight when we passed this home! Finally!! Someone who knows how to make their home positively distinctive in a sea of otherwise unremarkable development.

First bloom of (Brenda x Devon Odyssey)

This is a first bloom seedling of (Brenda x Devon Odyssey). Seventeen flowers on one inflorescence. I saw it's siblings in flower at Hatfield Orchids this past March.













Actually, I'm a little surprised that it's in bloom for me right now. The plant produced a spike this past August, I think in response to the Summer heat. Thankfully, the spike never blasted, even when the plant was brought indoors for the Winter.




















I'll be the first to admit that the form of this clone isn't good. Cym. erythrostylum's influence can still be seen in the grandchild via the porrect-trending petals and the distinctive bow-leggedness of the lateral sepals. In truth, I don't mind the porrect petals, but these traits show how dominant Cym. erythrostylum's form can become. If done right, the porrect petals can be a good thing. Conversely, the bow-leggedness, ... yeah, that's a flaw that begs correcting.



























What I did like about this clone is that the petals were more darkly colored than it's siblings that I saw at Hatfield Orchids. Maybe there's some potentiality here. However, given that the lip is a modified petal, and the distal portion of the lip curls downward, you can also see that the distal portion of the petals also recurves backwards. Not so good for form...














Neat lip patterning, don't you think?

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...

Eastern Bunny at it, again(!)

It's presently grey and overcast, with temps cooling further from our morning high. While the stew is...stewing..., I thought I'd comment on what's in bloom down in the basement. I need something to cheer me up.

Eastern Bunny 'Oborozuki' is in the midst of repeat blooming for 2011. This clone is a blooming fool, at least for me. It flowered out 4+ spikes this past Spring and largely took the Summer off. I accidentally knocked it over back in August, breaking it's clay pot, so I decided to divide the plant before it got too big for me. In response, the remaining pseudobulbs sent out five spikes!













Did you know that it's fragrant? I don't think I had appreciated this quality before. Placing it between the dining room window and the dining table definitely adds to the ambience.

I'm always interested in color patterning, so I thought I'd begin documenting how my Cyms are marked by following examples shown in the botanical specimens. Below is a dissected EB'O'.













Here are the petals.













I pollinated it last year with a couple of different diploid Cyms, all of which came to naught. The pods swelled nicely, but upon dihencing, there wasn't any mature seed. Sadness. As much as I like it's compactness, fragrance and productivity(!), it's off to the local orchid society's auction block for this orchid.

Seedling Exercise #1

This will be the first in a series of reports over the next few years to follow the progress of some seedlings. I received a flask from Casa de las Orquideas last Fall, and deflasked the seedlings October 21, 2010, keeping 60 of them. After spending the last 7.5 months growing in compots followed by cell tray, I moved each into its own 2.5” (6cm) pot . Of the 60 starting seedlings, only 53 (88%) remained for potting up. Given this denominator value, I don’t think the loss rate is bad.

Potting up means an opportunity to look at the seedling roots. As you can see, the seedling on the left has very little root growth; whereas, the seedling on the right has a much better root system. Why is this?

Well, almost all of the seedlings were potted up from the compots into the cell trays in a coir/expanded clay pellet mix. However, I ran out of the coir before I could finish the seedlings, so I potted up the last few in sphagnum moss instead. The seedling on the left with essentially no roots was grown in the sphagnum.

The seedlings clearly varied in their habit, even though they’ve been grown side-by-side. So, I decided to measure three parameters: height, number of leaves and longest leaf.

Seedling height ranged from 4 to 16.5cm.

Leaf number ranged from 2 to 10.

Longest leaf ranged from 6 to 20cm.

Seedling height and longest leaf correlate positively, that is to say, the shortest leaves tend to be in the smallest plants, and the longest leaves tend to be in tallest plants. This may seem intuitive, but I went through the exercise because some seedlings had several leaves and appeared squat; whereas, others with several leaves appeared tall and narrow.

Based upon these parameters, I kept the top 50% of the longest leaf (at least 10cm), resulting in 32 seedlings to continue growing. Below you can see a clear difference between the selected plants (on left) and those that will be culled (on right).