Pleione 2013

[Roma]

If you google Pleione 'Rossini' lots of nurseries seem to be selling it.  I checked Paul Christian's website.  He lists these 'musical' pleiones as clones of Pleione formosana.  Rossini apparently regularly produces two flowers per stem and often two stems per bulb.  I bought a bulb of 'Rossini' from John Amand at the SRGC Discussion weekend at the end of September.  It was a big fat bulb with a large leaf when it should really have been starting to go dormant.  The leaf did eventually die back and I have two bulbs for next year.  A good size but not as big as the original. 

[pseudobulb]

the musical series of pleiones are definately  named clones of pleione formosana，isaw them first offered by living colour bulbs、jaques amand last spring。 they also featured on the jaques amand  display at the 2012 chelsea flower show。they have been registerd with the rhs as new cultivar selections ect，they come from a dutch nursery。there is a short video showing these growing at the nursery on utube， just enter pleione  and trawl trough the listings。 hope this is of help   happy growing

[SteveC2]

I googled Pleione vivaldi and verdi before I originally posted, but not Rossini, still we all make mistakes.  Thank you.  Question answered.  Seriously though, they are formosana clones and should be advertised as such.  Though, as elsewhere on the forum, I suspect some people will say "what's in a name?"  Trouble is that I've got a thing about formosana clones so I feel an experiment coming on.  Watch out credit card!

[Jan Methorst]

Pleione formosana 'Rossini'

[Maren]

Hi, yes these 'musical' pleiones, interesting. I believe they are formosana with fancy names, probably mericloned. They seem to come from Holland, where mericloning has been perfected to a fine art. I too was reminded of the cypripedium species with names that make them look like hybrids, easier to export outside the EU.

Back to pleiones, just for fun I bought 'Verdi', which looked very nice in a pot of seven, all identical, which is quite pleasing to the eye. However, they did not make good replacement bulbs and no bulbils. I haven't bothered this year.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Yes, the musical Pleiones are selections of formosana made by the Dutch nursery
Kwekeridj De Schullhorn. You can see them on their website at this page:
http://kwekerijdeschullhorn.nl/?page_id=35

Being cultivars (not hybrids) they do not appear in the register of hybrid names. For my taste, none of them are particularly good selections for colour etc, they don't stand out in any way over some of the other (better) named forms of formosana.

Paul

[Wim de Goede]

Good afternoon,

First we wish you all the best for 2013.

To clarify:
Pleione Rossini, Verdi and Vivaldi are new selections (selected by our nursery) from Pleione formosana. Our nursery (www.kwekerijdeschullhorn.nl) brings them to market from 2011. Our miscellaneous bulbs and Pleiones are supplied to export, trade and mail order companies (both at home and abroad) so that is why you find these new varieties at several websites. We only supply Pleiones with a diameter of 3 or 4 cm.

These varieties are registered at the RHS and were published in Orchid Review Supplement 119(1294): 39 (June 2011). The text of this Supplement can be downloaded from the RHS website.

We also think some people multiply them themselves because they are offered at ebay.

If you have any questions and/or remarks, please send us an email: info@kwekerijdeschullhorn.nl or info@bulbs-bollen.nl

With kind regards,
Linda de Goede

Nursery Kwekerij De Schüllhorn
The Netherlands

[SteveC2]

Thank you Wim, that really is the definitive answer!  Now I know!

[Maren]

Apparently, the RHS also registers cultivars. I have to admit, I didn't know that. Here is the extract from the quoted document:

New cultivars of Pleione formosana
The following three cultivars have been selected and named by Wim de Goede of Kwekerij De Schüllhorn, Kleiweg 2, 1761 LA Anna Paulowna, the Netherlands. A digital image and a herbarium voucher (Standard Specimen) of each cultivar is deposited at WSY. Colour references are to the RHS Colour Chart (2001).
P. formosana ‘Verdi’
Description: Pseudobulbs large, 3.5cm tall x c.3cm diameter, conical, deep green. Flowering stems 1–2 per pseudobulb, 9–13cm tall, each bearing one flower. Bract spathiform, pink. Flower natural spread 8–9cm. Sepals 4.3–4.5cm x 0.9–1.2cm wide, lanceolate, light pink-purple (Purple Group 76A-B) with darker veins. Petals 4.3–4.9cm x 0.9–1.1cm wide at broadest point, lanceolate, same colour as sepals. Lip white, 4.5cm long in total, folded around column forming a tube 3.5cm long; mid-lobe 2.7cm wide, margin fimbriate, fimbriae 2–3mm. Callus of 5 weakly toothed ridges, central one shallow, outer 2 ridges only half the length of the tube, 2 ridges either side of midrib reaching to both ends of tube, tube opening wider than tall, pink stripes and blotches present along floor of tube amongst callus ridges extending to tube base. Column white, winged near apex, anther cap white.
P. formosana ‘Rossini’
Description: Pseudobulbs large, to 4cm diameter, oblate. Flower stems 2 per pseudobulb, each bearing 1–2 blooms so that each pseudobulb bears 3 blooms, stem length 5–9cm, bracts spathiform, pink. Flower natural spread 6–7.5cm. Sepals warm pink (Red-purple N74B-C), 4.3–5cm x 1.1–1.3cm wide. Petals warm pink, same colour as sepals, 4.3–5.2cm x 1.1–1.55cm wide, apex rounded to acute. Lip 4.4–4.6cm long, tube 3.3–3.5cm long, opening often taller than wide, margin fimbriate to denticulate, fimbriae coarse, 1–2mm; colour pale pink (Red-purple Group 65C-D), with blotches and lines a little darker, and darker than clone 1; callus of 5 ridges as clone 1. Column white, winged below apex.
P. formosana ‘Vivaldi’
Description: Pseudobulbs conical, c.3cm diameter, reddish-green. Flower stems 1–2 per pseudobulb, each bearing 1–2 blooms, 6–10cm tall; bracts spathiform, dark purple-pink (Red-Purple Group 71A). Flower natural spread, 8.5–10cm. Sepals 5.3–6.2cm x 1–1.4cm wide, pink-purple (Red-Purple Group 73A). Petals 5.7–6.0cm x 0.9–1.4cm wide, same colour as sepals. Lip 5–5.8cm long, tube 4–4.3cm, opening 2–2.3cm wide x c.1cm high, margin fimbriate, fimbriae 2–3mm; colour light pink exterior and interior margin (Purple Group 75B), yellow tinge on floor of tube extending into front mid-lobe, pale pink blotches and lines on mid-lobe extending into tube amongst callus ridges.

[SteveC2]

Here's another question for you experts out there.  My humilis are in full bud.  I was thinking about bringing them in for two reasons;
1, so I might actually see them without a torch
2 To protect them from the minus a trillion degrees forecast for the next few nights.
Seriously it was minus 7 here last night, minus thirteen over in Norfolk and the weekend's supposedly going to be colder. 
Last year minus 17 outside produced  minus 7 inside the greenhouse and the rest of the pleione were fine except for the humilis and forresti whose buds just turned to brown mush.
But as I ventured out to retrieve the pots my wife chipped in with "Will they like the change in temperature?"
"Good question," thinks I.
Your thoughts please! 

[Maren]

I would do it during the day. But if you flower them in the house, where it's warm, the flowers won't last as long. And if you have a cold room and put them there, then you won't see them either.

[SteveC2]

The humilis can stay put.  Silly cold no longer forecast!

[erf]

It really is cold these nights, also in Denmark. But for me it is not a problem, since I keep them in the fridge until they are ready to plant. Inside I have a nice cold room with temperature from 5-10 C. Today the new spring flowering season started with Pleione Sirena. This clone is very much  humilis and very, very little forrestii. But a promising start of the new flowering season 
Regards Erling

[Kevin]

As for the prepacked "Formosana" I have it from a good source that most of them are Tongariro which are very vigourous bulbs, perfect for newcomers growing pleione, but they are definitely not formosana.  Tongariro seems to be the favourite with certain large bulb companies, but I have seen the same bulbs marketed as formosana, pleionoides, limprictii and pleionoides/limprictt whatever that means.

Based on the info above I've dug out an image of my P.formosana which I bought from a large bulb company as mentioned previously. I'm now wondering if these are not P.Tongariro?



Any thoughts would be helpful.
Thanks.
Kevin

[pseudobulb]

hi kevin   i consider these to be to be pleione tongariro， i have had similar experiances prepacked  pleione formosana have turned out to be  tongariro，also i have had from a well known bulb supplier pleione tongariro labeled  formosana. it can be cofusing  to those just starting out on pleione growing。
regards  pseudobulb