Pleione 2022

[Tim Harberd]

I've commented before on the apparently cyclical nature of the vigour of pleione cultivars. Here is an example. I used to think 5 was a good number of flowers per pan for P. Marco Polo '168.2'. However, in the last few years its been far more prolific. There are 14 flowers in this pan.

The second cultivar shown here, P. Shepherd's Warning 'Gillian Clare', is at the other end of the cycle. A decade ago this used to do 11 flowers per pan. Since then it has dwindled, but at last its starting to look much happier.

Tim DH

[Tim Harberd]

The flowering bench is starting to get a bit crowded!

Pulled out one standard 14cm pan of 'Swan Song' and a little 10cm pot of 'Mary B'.

Tim DH

[Dave Cowley]

Shantung Ducat
Vesuvius "Phoenix"
Ueli Wackernagel "pearl"
Whackeri "dusky sunbird"

[Dave Cowley]

Shantung
Jorullo, first time flowering from bulbil.
Grandiflora "yellow lip"
Quizapu "Perigrine"

[Tim Harberd]

It’s Harrogate Spring Flower ‘’’Show’’’ this week. … Shame its no longer a proper show, I used to enjoy going along with a few exhibits.

These might have been contenders:

P. Shantung ‘Natasha’
P. formosana ‘Clare’ (I doubt this is actually pure formosana)
P. Hybrid ‘Swan Song’ (a different pan to the one shown earlier.)

[Tim Harberd]

Two Ueli Wackernagels today.

Both good do-ers, here with 17 & 18 flowers in a pan. I marginally prefer 'Regal', partly because it holds its flowers slightly better. However I can't bring myself to chuck out it's sister, '169.1'.

Tim DH

Curious! I can't get the name of the Regal photo to show!! I've tried deleting the un-named one and replacing it with a differently spelt name but it still comes up blank.

[Tim Harberd]

Three species from me today:
P. bulbocodiodes ‘Kunming King’, presumed hexaploid.
P. pleionoides 'Alice Mary', a cross between 'Blakeway-Phillips' and ‘Omei3’
P. aurita Flowers from two pots here, so that the extraordinary way the middle petals are swept back is obvious.

Tim DH

[Tim Harberd]

The season is drawing towards a close here. …

Today we have:


P. Captain Hook ‘Wendy’, with, in my opinion, too many flowers! Twenty six, and many doubles, which rarely makes for a tidy display.

P. Stromboli 'Senorita' which should keep going for a few weeks yet. Last year I posted a final pic of it on June 17th!

Tim DH

[ruweiss]

Got this Pleione about 5 years ago from a friend in form of 2 small pseudobulbs, he told
me, that they were wild collected. My friend passed away, so I have no furtherformation
about these beautiful plants. Can one of the expert help me with the correct name?
Many thanks in advannce.

[Jeffnz]

I am no Pleione expert but the flowers on your plant look very similar to the P. formosana post made by Tim.
I stand to be corrected.

[ruweiss]

Jeff, many thanks for your reply. You are right, they look quite similar like the white
P. formosana. It is a pity, that I cannot ask my friend anymore. My plant is totally
hardy with me until now.

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Rudi,
     I'd agree it looks like a P. formosana.  It would be nice to know where it was collected. You have it in a mixed pot with some P. limprichitii? (Or hybrid of?)
     I suspect my white P. formosana shown earlier is actually a hybrid, because of its vigour. Tip to tip it gets to 95mm across where as other formosanas I have grown rarely exceed 70mm.

Tim DH

[Jeffnz]

I was searching for information on growing Pleione from seed, found the following link to a Plant Worlds offer of seed and their germination instructions.
https://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/2129
Is this actually correct as I had always assumed that orchid seed needed to be sown onto a sterile nutrient agar medium to achieve germination.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Jeff,
My website on Pleione shows how I used to do it - see http://www.pleione.info/grow-from-seed---1.html. While germination on sphagnum might just about be possible if you were really lucky, success is most unlikely.

Paul

[Jeffnz]

Paul I had find your site and that was what prompted the question.
Thanks
Jeff