Pleione 2015

[Roma]

Looking forward to seeing your pics of the pleiones from Jacques Amand, Maren.  I was on my knees under the bench at Dunblane for ages trying to make up my mind which one to buy.  I finished up with the same one as Luc.  It's good to have a name for it.

Pleione 'Glacier Peak'
Pleione forrestii  I don't think I'll live long enough for it to increase to a potful like Karel's.  But I am happy to have it still alive and flowering every year since 2012
 

[Sempervivum]

Thank you for the additional comments, Luc and Karel. I'll keep Caroli 'Cape Robin'.

[Steve Garvie]

Pleione albiflora

[Maren]

Here are the J Amand pleione pictures I promised:
P. Dr Mo Weatherhead (burgundy lip)
P. Dr Mo Weatherhead (purple lip)
P. Glacier Peak (2)

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Pleione albiflora

Stunning albiflora, Steve ! 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Here are the J Amand pleione pictures I promised:
P. Dr Mo Weatherhead (purple lip)
P. Dr Mo Weatherhead (burgundy lip)
P. Glacier Peak (2)

Very interesting, Maren !
Quite attractive pots too.

Do I see it correctly that you took the "bunch" of pseudobulbs of Glacier Peak apart  and replanted them ?
As I thought the one I got would already be rooting, I didn't touch it and replanted it undisturbed in a somewhat bigger pot.

[pseudobulb]

hi luc and maren   i also bought some pots of pleione from amand at the harlow show,i separated them up and repoted them up as i decided they would be too crowded with the amount of new shoots that were coming,i have glacier peak coming out now.one pot had gigantic pseudobulb  i showed this to ian butterfield who thought this one may be a pleione x barbarae,bulbs the size remenisant of some deciduos calanthes, i am glad that identification of some of these has been established kind regards from pseudobulb

[Maren]

Hi Luc,
you are quite right, I separated three of these. As I had four bunches, I thought it was worth experimenting. The one closest to flowering was left as it was. As to the remainder, I soaked each bunch in tepid water for 10 minutes or so to soften the rootballs, a technique that comes in handy when separating any tight rootball. Then I pulled the pseudobulbs apart very gently. They came without complaining, having no live roots whatsoever. I think I did them a favour. 

Hi Pseudobulb (do you have a "real" name? it would be lovely to know

Seems there is quite a little procession going to Ian Butterfield about these pleiones.

[Maren]

Just took a trip into the 'office' where I keep things I want to look at every day (the greenhouse is 12k away. Things have moved on.

1) Pln Glacier Peak - another clone, this one in my opinion, is inferior to the first one. Although the flowers are larger, they lack texture, are a bit spindly and show early signs of senescence. All have the typical kink in the dorsal sepal, inherited from their grandiflora parent.

2) Pln x barbarae. As expected, that's what the massive bulbs turned out to be. Here is the first one in flower, quite nice, but I have better ones. The flower is on the small side and doesn't quite have the wow factor one associates with x barbarae.

3) Pln x barbarae bowl. This should be quite pleasing when they are all in flower. Some buds have double flowers. I'll post another picture when they are fully out.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Thanks for these comments Maren and Pseudobulb, quite interesting to read and see what became of all these "Amand" pots ! 

[Paul Cumbleton]

A few favourites that are out now:

Pleione Caparro 'For Smokie'
Pleione Gorilla 'For Dad'
Pleione Snow Monkey 'Julie Lynn'
Pleione grandiflora (a yellow form)
Pleione Gorilla 'Fissure'

Paul

[SteveC2]

The grapevine tells me that Anthura simply had neither the time nor the inclination to pot these plants on after they did not sell last season.  I assume that Pleione have a very limited season of sale, mainly from dormancy through to flowering.  It is probably more economic to sell them on than invest man power in cleaning and repotting. i doubt very much that they are "substandard".  Now I have an idea what they might be I just hope to see some at the show in London next week. 
As for the lack of name tags, that really is nothing to worry about.  I find most Anthura Cypripediums and Calanthes to be mislabelled (and don't get me started about the use of trade names) and now only buy them if they are either very healthy looking plants (which they usually are) or preferably in flower.

Edited by Mrs Steve;
Quite what he is going to do if he buys any in London I do not know.  There is not room in his greenhouse for one single pot, let alone the quantity he might come back with.

[Maggi Young]

When I heard that these larger potfuls of pleiones had been for sale from Jacques Amand I assumed that they  were pots left over from being used in  previous displays  by J.A.  - which would mean that they had been part of some gold medal winning display!  They would have had "fancy, decorative" name labels for the display, which would not remain with the individual pots, which would have had their own labels removed when the pots were hidden in ( for example)  moss for the  display.

[Mark Griffiths]

lovely plants, Paul

[Pete Clarke]

Roma - your forrestii has a lovely spotted lip.
Steve - what a cracking albiflora, tremendous frills and well caught on your photos.
Paul  - fabulous Pleiones!

2 forms of Pleione grandiflora (yellow) x (forrestii x humilis) = Sirena, (a tremendous Christian Leug cross).
The flowers have an almost luminous quality and all are superb in colour and size and far easier to grow than forrestii.
Pleione Edgecombe.
Sifaka with 2 lips.