Ophrys and some others! 2011

[fermi de Sousa]

Wow, Steve,
that close-up makes it look like a cute little furry alien-creature from Star Wars or some such Sci-Fi movie! Very marketable 
cheers
fermi

[Tony Willis]

A couple more of mine in flower

Orchis morio this one is a very small plant only 10cms high
Orchis tenthredinifera the sepals seem very pale. I do not know its origin as i was given it.

[SteveC2]

Another Ophrys, morisii, which I treated myself to at the London Orchid show, so all credit goes to Jeff at Laneside.  My lutea are still refusing to open, they must know that I have a show on Saturday.
Love your tenthredinifera Tony.  Mine are on the way!

[Tony Willis]

Steve

I see why you treated yourself,that is wonderful

[Maren]

Hi Tony,

with plants like that you may be interested in the Hardy Orchid Society http://www.hardyorchidsociety.org.uk/. This coming Sunday, they hold their Spring Meeting and Plant Competition at the Exeter Hall, Kidlington, OX5 1AB. Start for non-members at 11:00, you can pay at the door. There will be talks with slide shows and oodles of the finest hardy orchids for sale. Why not give it a try, you won't regret it.

[Tony Willis]

Maren

thank you for that ,I am acquainted with the society and in fact Ken Kitchen one of the meeting Secretaries is in our local AGS group. I always find that the problem with these Societies is that they are almost totally southern biased (only one meeting up here) and the travelling is pretty onerous. I remember when the Fritillaria group held a meeting in the 'North' at Loughborough which gave those of us in the north some amusement.

I do however often look at their website and really enjoy the photographs there which are a delight to see.

I leave for Spain on Tuesday to look at some of them in the wild plus a few narcissus

[Tony Willis]

here is one I was given with no name and I am calling it

Ophrys spegodes

[SteveC2]

Lovely plant Tony.  Now I'm aware that I'm venturing into the minefield of of Ophrys names, but it looks very like one I know as argolica.
To change the subject slightly, you obviously have a few ophrys, which ones have bulked up vegetatively?  So far my bombyliflora did so regularly, until I sold the colony, so do some sphegodes, and last year a lupercalis, or fusca, produced two whopping great tubers, much to my delight.

[Tony Willis]

Steve

At first I too thought it was argolica until I looked at its distribution and although I cannot be certain I do not think it came from the right area to be that. I have had it for about twenty years and I cannot confirm this as I am no longer in touch with the person who gave it to me. Of course some people may think argolica is only a form of spegodes. As you will have gathered I sit amongst the lumpers and see no need for the constant splitting and renaming which seems to be happening across every genus I am interested in. I do not change my labels sure in the knowledge that given time the name on them will return.

I have about twenty ophrys and the only one that bulks up is bombyliflora, none of the others do although I get an occasional off set from lutea. I have tried the method of propagation taking of the new tuber before the plant dies down in the hope of producing a second one and have had complete failure.

[Graham Catlow]

I have about twenty ophrys and the only one that bulks up is bombyliflora, none of the others do although I get an occasional off set from lutea. I have tried the method of propagation taking of the new tuber before the plant dies down in the hope of producing a second one and have had complete failure.

Well that answers my question. I rarely see them in groups and was wondering if they bulked up. I have been interested in trying them for a while but if they aren't going to bulk up then I think I will give them a miss.

[Alex]

Many of the species (most, even) have produced two tubers some years for me. I think they can be quite short lived plants, so this is a nice insurance policy.

A few out in my greenhouse at the moment: O. lunulata, morisii, X heraultii (tenthredinifera X speculum) and two mystery species - can anybody help? The first mystery type looks like it might fit into the bertolonii complex, perhaps?

Alex

[Alex]

Forgot the heraultii.

[SteveC2]

My next one to open is O. insectifera, another tiny but fascinating flower.

[SteveC2]

Finally my first Ophrys lutea opens, and it's well worth waiting for.

[SteveC2]

And Ophrys heldreichii.  Or at least I think so, flowering for the first time and not quite what I had expected.