Pleione 2017

[Mark Richards]

Hi Maggi! Thanks for the Aberdeen SRGC info. Unfortunately I'm away the next few days (visiting Ian Butterfield's nursery on Monday!), but will come along next month or failing that to the show at the Winter Gardens.

[Maggi Young]

OOh, a visit to Ian Butterfield's is a treat !  Pleased send him good wishes from the Scottish Rock Garden Club - too long since we saw him up here.
 

[Mark Richards]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it although my bank balance is dreading it. I will pass on your good wishes to Ian.

[Matt T]

Unnamed Pleione - one of those potfuls from Garden Orchid flogged off at a reasonable price last year - poor flowering last year but looking good now.
Pleione Shantung 'Ducat' - I claim no skill or success in growing this one as it's new to me, so I have only potted it up and done nothing more - hope it increases well for me as a potful would be gorgeous.
Pleione formosana 'Rossini' - not too sure about the colour breaks.

[john hodgson]

Hi Matt - it is of course tempting to pick up a bargain in what seems, at first sight, a good way to enlarge your stock - especially when just starting up. Once hooked on pleiones (as I now am) I'm afraid I just want to avoid the unnamed lots found at Anthura or similar, or the cheap mixed lots of mystery bulbs sometimes found on eBay. For me, it's just too frustrating to put in the care of growing, then not be able to extend the pleasure and deepen my understanding by looking at how the breeding parents contribute to the qualities of the resulting hybrid.
     It took me a while to understand even, that even a named hybrid might look very different to another pleione of the same name (unless you get two plants of one named clone of that hybrid - such as your Pln. Shantung 'Ducat'). That alone makes it unreliable at best, but impossible probably, to confidently identify a mystery pleione.
     Your 'Ducat' looks great though and is the original, much admired, easier to grow, yellow pleione hybrid (a delicate creamy yellow). Like you, I started with just one p-bulb which by last year, 2016, had at last bulked up to make a decent little crowd, so here's what you can look forward to!

[WimB]

Pleione 'Bald Eagle'
Pleione 'Bubs'
Pleione 'Purple Sandpiper'

[john hodgson]

  Wow! Wim! That Bubs looks fantastic! Oh dear, another one to want...

[Mark Richards]

Glacier Peak. Two flowers from one bulb and one of the flowers is 12 cm in diameter

[john hodgson]

Here are a few that have opened this week:

[vigor]

My first hybrid, Tongariro, an old one but new to me!

[Mark Griffiths]

Can someone do an ID on this one for me? It's a lost label one. I think it's P.Rakata - I had just P.Rakata and I also had the clone Locking Stumps.

I'm hoping it's Locking Stumps.

[john hodgson]

Hi Mark - to help you I post some pix I have of various Rakatas (I'll need two posts to do this).

- if the photo hasn't got my name on it, then may I herein acknowledge copywrite to the rightful owners.

Locking Stumps

Redwing

Skylark

[john hodgson]

Mark ... also Rakata...

Rock Dove


Keith Rattray


Shot Silk


Excalibur


Hope that helps you decide !   John

[Mark Griffiths]

John, thanks for this. I think it is Locking Stumps. I managed to find a photo from the "normal Rakata" - I think although the basic petal colour is I think a bit off in my picture (it's more salmon) above the biggest difference is in the lip - Locking Stumps has more yellow than the other one I had.

[john hodgson]

Hi Mark - agreed, I think your first post is locking stumps, but I do actually prefer your unnamed clone.

I lost my Rakata LS years ago and now have only Shot Silk - which has been a bit weak, and Excalibur -  which has been a better plant