Re: Orchids summer\autumn 2008

[Paul T]

Rob,

Not sure it likes my place more... just has been warmer here. Too warm to be honest..... forecasting 32'C here in a couple of days.   Had ice on the car this morning though. 

[rob krejzl]

Rob,

Not sure it likes my place more... just has been warmer here. Too warm to be honest..... forecasting 32'C here in a couple of days.   Had ice on the car this morning though. 

I can beat that - Thursday's frost sliced the tops off half the garden. Fruit from southern Tassie will be scarce this season.

[Maggi Young]

Iced cars here the last few days in Aberdeen, too.
Bad news for our farmers who still have not managed to harvest their grain crops 

[Tony Willis]

Paul

what a fabulous blue,I would love to grow it but no sun here.

[rob krejzl]

Paul,

The seedling is Thelymitra pauciflora.

[Paul T]

Rob,

If that one that I got from you is pauciflora, then I have to wonder as to whether my other one under that name is correct.... much smaller and pink!!

[rob krejzl]

Rob,

If that one that I got from you is pauciflora, then I have to wonder as to whether my other one under that name is correct.... much smaller and pink!!

T. pauciflora: Flowers 1-15, opening tardily, 12-20 mm across, pale blue to bright blue, sometimes white or pink (my emphasis).

[Paul T]

Rob,

Thanks.  The other big difference is that your plant has flowers open a lot of the time, at least I have seen it open most times I have checked during suitable sunshine.  The pink one has obviously had flowers opening at some point as I did see a couple half-open on one occasion, but I have yet to see it properly open regardless of time and how much sun it is in.  I think it has nearly finished now too, so I doubt I will see it until next year now.  Very different in that respect to your robust and readily flowering plant.  Great blue on yours too.  Thanks again so much for it, I've enjoyed it immensely. 

[rob krejzl]

Paul,

I suspected it was pauciflora even before it flowered (there's a colony of several hundred plants just a few hundred metres away), but had to wait to confirm it. Like your pink one, the flowers in the colony don't open either; completely cleistogamic in our normal temperatures.

[Paul T]

Rob,

If that colony doesn't open, then why does the one you sent me open so well?  Would that mean it is a hybrid of some type?  Or is it just that some are and some aren't?  But.... if that is the case, why does the seedling you gave me open well when the colony near you which you think are the parents, doesn't?

[rob krejzl]

Not sure it likes my place more... just has been warmer here

You already answered your own question.

[Paul T]

OK, but the pink pauciflora still barely opens, whereas yours is open for much of the day.  Yours seems not in the slightest bit shy about opening it's flowers.

[rob krejzl]

Pauciflora has a very wide distribution (from QLD to Tas and SA) and is acknowledged as a species complex. Your pink flowered form probably comes from a very different population. Why wouldn't they have a different response to temperature?

The fact that mine opens well with higher temps is interesting though, because it shows that the parents aren't limited to self-pollination. I always like being reminded not to make assumptions about things.

[Brian Ellis]

Today we were at the Norfolk and Norwich Hort. Soc. late Autumn Show where there were some orchids which you may find interesting.  I am no expert so hope I have not made any mistakes! The three orchid class was won by three Paphlopedilum, P.Maudiae, P.Alma Gevart and P. Deperle. The next class was won by a little Dendrobium terragonum var.giganteum (which was my personal favourite).  The same exhibitor had entered a group which was my main reason for posting as it included Paphlopedilum coccineum species which I was told was found in Vietnam in 2000 and had been stripped from the habitat, her seed has now flowered for the first time and she was quite excited!  Also in the group were Cattleya dowiana x, Phragmipedium sedenii and Coel(ogyne?) barbata amongst others.

[ranunculus]

Super images Brian. Many thanks for posting.