Pleione 2020

[Tim Harberd]

First Pleione to flower here.... P. Follifoot ‘Princess Tiger’

Making seed is fun! You should give it a try... It's easy to tease the pollen off the front of the column with a matchstick. It comes in four little clumps (pollinia) in a membrane cover. You just need to transfer one of the clumps to the other side of the flap on the underside of the column.

Tim DH

[sjusovare]

Making seeds is fun... it's all the rest which isnt, the weakened mother plant which sometimes dies before the end of the season, the protocorms which suddenly decide they don't like the pH anymore, the number which dies when deflasked, then those which grow poorly and never reach flowering size, but sometimes, you get lucky and find a gem...

[Steve Garvie]

Pleione albiflora -this year not all are flowering at once.



Pleione forrestii -another species that is flowering over an extended period this year.





Pleione Shantung Ducat?? -obtained as x confusa. Does anybody still grow the true xconfusa?

[Tim Harberd]

Two in flower today:

Shantung 'Ducat' and Marco Polo 168.2... Of all of the Marco Polo's I've grown, this is my favourite... It really ought to have a proper name...

(I quite like 168.18 as well, these buds look so promising!)

Tim DH

[Tim Harberd]

Hi There,
   Three from today:

L2R on the bench.

P.Vesuvius ‘Ember’

P. Shepherd's Warning ‘Mary B’

P.Shantung ‘Natasha’


Tim DH

[ian mcdonald]

P. peregrine.



An un-named hybrid.



P. vesuvius phoenix.

[Tim Harberd]

Hi There,
   Another two out today:

P. Soufriere 'Sunrise'

P. Harlequin 'Clown', I really like the white tipped petals on this one..

Shame these are all flowering 'In Lockdown'.....

Tim DH

[Steve Garvie]

Pleione forrestii -a pale form.



Pleione yunnanensis Chiuanum

[Mark Griffiths]

Best year in 30 or so years - but possibly the worst. I think I may now have virus.  I'm attaching some photos of P. Shantung Ridgeway (only one pseudobulb affected I think) and P. Quizapu Peregrine. They all been grown in a greenhouse with a little heat to stop freezing, just outside of Oxford, UK.

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Steve,
Thanks for showing the yunnanensis... one of my favourites, but my stock is badly depleted at the moment, I only got one flower last year.

Hi Mark,
That dread word 'virus'! ... Sympathies ... I am on constant alert to make sure the wife's Phalanopsi never get near the Pleiones!!


On the subject of... Pleiones:

I have two clones of the Grex Ueli Wackernagel, The one called 'Regal' flowers freely, and is about 10cm across. The other never got it's own name, so still goes under the breeding number H169.1. It has bigger flowers, about 11cm across, but produces less of them. It also has a better developed lip frill.

The third cultivar today is P. hybrid ‘Swan Song’ It's a cross between P.Soufriere x P.Shepherd's Warning, which has not been registered. The petal colour is not quite as rich as the Soufriere shown earlier, but I think the flowers are better proportioned and better held.

Tim DH

[Steve Garvie]

Pleione grandiflora -various forms:


Yellow-lipped form


A form with pink lip markings.


A pale yellow form.


Rusty-brown lip markings.

[Claire Cockcroft]

Pleione x confusa


This one is supposed to be Buckleberry.  Is it?

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Two in flower today:

Shantung 'Ducat' and Marco Polo 168.2... Of all of the Marco Polo's I've grown, this is my favourite... It really ought to have a proper name...

(I quite like 168.18 as well, these buds look so promising!)

Tim DH

What an amazing, healthy, clean collection of Pleione you grow Tim !!    Respect !

[ashley]

Suswa 'Golden Eagle'

[ian mcdonald]

This one is supposed to be Michael Butterfield.