Chinese Cymbidium

[Darren]

Many of the Chinese Cymbidium are almost hardy (the Japanese C.goeringii is hardy) and a range used to be sold by the defunct hardy orchid nursery Westwood in the UK. They are not easy to obtain now. This is Cymbidium sinense 'San Chuan' in flower in our living room today. Whilst they will certainly tolerate cold I find this flowers much better if cosseted as a houseplant in winter. Well wouldn't you?

Do any of you grow any of these?

[Joakim B]

Very nice Darren
What I see in Portugal is that the normal ones bought in supermarkets or florists goes down to zero and even some degrees below but if the flowers are open they get damage. This is much less if the plants are covered by something like a stair or the overcast of the roof to help protect against the condensation of water at nights then followed by freezing. Maybe this will help making the hardier ones enjoying life a bit better as well. In the cold they do not grow much just waits for warmer weather and the flowers that is out now does well at around 0C at nights and a few degrees above.
Hope it was Ok to have this "semi-info" here and You might already know it but not all might know it. It does not need to be under glass just some cover to take away the condensation of water and then the freezing of it. With the flower dry not much happens around 0. Here in Portugal most Cymbidiums are considered outdoor plants But then we are usually free from longer frost.

Congratulation Darren for a nice plant and flowering of it.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Darren]

Thank you Joakim, for replying.

We do grow some of the standard Cymbidium hybrids too. They get put out on the patio in late april and ignored apart from an occasional feed until late september when we bring them in before it gets too cold. I was told that the colder nights in september help to trigger flowering and it seems to work.

[KBruyninckx]

Darren,


Please remember that although some species of Cymbidium are hardy/near hardy, others are not 
Cymbidium faberi, goeringii (and its forms & variations: longibracteanum etc) and kanran need cool (cold) temperatures to grow and flower well.
Cymbidium sinense and ensifolium however need a warmer spot to thrive and flower!

We grow Chinese Cymbidiums species and although I know Cym. goeringii is hardy/near hardy we do keep them in the cool greenhouse as some of the forms are a bit too special to expose to the "wild outdoors" (in Belgium).
There is a lot of variation in the flower colour and shape of Cym. goeringii and if I don't forget I'll take some photographs as they flower.

We have grown Cym. ensifolium and sinense in the cool greenhouse for a number of years and they for sure did not like it. After checking the books we found out why... they are warmer growing.
Now that they are in the intermediate/warm greenhouse (night 15°C / day 21°C) they grow AND flower.

I have several clones in flower of Cym. sinense.
Let's see if I can take pictures this evening...


Kenneth.

[Darren]

Thank you Kenneth - this confirms my experience with my sinense clone.

I recently bought two clones of goeringii which I hope to keep in my frost-free greenhouse. I'm looking forward to your pictures!

[KBruyninckx]

Here is the first of the Cymbidium goeringii clones in the collection.


Cymbidium goeringii "Chengdu" (received an AM from the Swiss Orchid Society back in 2004):




Cymbidium goeringii alba:

[KBruyninckx]

Cymbidium goeringii "DuFu CaoTang" with flowers measuring 7,5 x 6,2 cm:




Cymbidium goeringii [AO-07583]:




Cymbidium goeringii "Qincheng":

[KBruyninckx]

Cymbidium faberi szechuanicum "Akerne" AM/RHS (2006):




The only problem with this plant is that it took years to become a real plant. Flowering has been eratic until 2006, since then it flowers every year  
The plant received the AM due to the size of the flowers, even Phillip Cribb had not seen flowers that size in cultivation.

[Maggi Young]

Kenneth, these forms of C. goeringii are just beautiful. Every time I see one of these plants I think it is time I bought some. I love the scale of the plants and the colours  you are showing are exquisite.
Is only one form on your sales list?

[KBruyninckx]

Maggi,


The forms I have shown here are, and this certainly for European norms, exquisite and hard to near impossible to come by!
These plants are my favourites in the greenhouse.

I've added a series of plants purchased 2 years ago from a Japanes grower at the International Peterborough Orchid Show then. Although he was asking what seemed hefty prices for them they should be good. One of them flowered last spring and it caused quite a stir within the tiny group of species Cymbidiums "addicts", flowers were as promised in the photograph, not as brightly coloured but this is partially influenced by your cultural skills and partially influenced of course by the photographer, background and post-editing skills
The flowers were meant to be green with some white and orange and yes, not a vibrant orange, but still within limits... It has a single bud again so I hope that in 1 or 2 months time I can take a picture (forgot to do it last year). The other 4 plants I bought have not flowered yet

One day I want to get my hands on good red/orangy coloured ones, but I know these will be very expensive.


As far as I know plants when offered within Europe, like the one listed in our catalogue, will be the more normal colour type.
Either green flowers or more likely similar to this clone:

[Maggi Young]

Intersting information to go with these beauties, Kenneth, thank you.
I imagined that these were very special plants that you are treating us to see. How exciting to have such variety.
I am sure I will not  be the only person who will love to see more flowers as the season progresses!

[KBruyninckx]

I've hijacked this post anyway so I'll give some advice on culture.

As said before Cymbidium goeringii and kanran are 100% cool/cold growing. Some say hardy, other will say near hardy, no doubt much will depend on your clone (!). Remember that Cymbidium goeringii is quite widespread.
In our experience and also based on information from books etc Cymbidium ensifolium and sinense are warmer growing.

Remember that these "chinese" cymbidium prefer to be grown in tall, slender pots! This is, in my opinion, key for successful culture.
One of these plants grown in a normal height pot will quickly lift itself up, thereby exposing the roots and once the roots are exposed the plant will grow less vigourously as the roots cannot take up as much water and they are more exposed to dry conditions.

[KBruyninckx]

This is, when it comes to form and colour for me the best green Cymbidium goeringii in our entire collection:



and a close up:



One thing to note is that not all flowerspikes grow above the level of the leaves... some will get stuck down at the base, halfway... I'm not sure why it does that.

One thing I do know is that in Japan the real addicts place tinfoil tubes on top of emerging spikes in order to fool them that they are still below ground and that the spike has to continue growing still... clever trick!
Maybe one day I'll try it as well

[KBruyninckx]

I've waded through my folders with unsorted digital photographs and I guess I've pretty much found all archived pictures of Cymbidium goeringii.

A final one, Cymbidium goeringii "Biji":




Tomorrow if I find the time I'll take some pictures of the Cymbidium sinense forms in flower (including some variegated ones).


kind regards,

Kenneth.

[Maggi Young]

Kenneth, this is wonderful! Thanks again!