PLEIONE 2011

[Pieter]

Those a some very nice Pleiones Alex.

Is that Edgecombe the same one as in your avatar?

Greetings

Pieter

[Alex]

Indeed it is, yes, that was last year though. Still only one bulb. Would be wonderful if it were to increase...

[Tim Harberd]

At Last!
I have something to show!!
Here are a few that survived the big freeze:

H67.11 Vesuvius ‘Ember’ 78mm A bit of a small flowered cultivar, but well formed and nice clean colours.

R6.40 Shantung ‘Natasha’ 80mm The best of the pink Shantungs, a bit small & droopy this year.

H93.1 Stromboli 95mm Holds its flowers erect, so long as it isn’t sat in a window!

H114.19 Soufriere 112mm. Short stemmed but upward facing flowers.

H183.1 Soufriere x Shepherd’s Warning. 90mm A family favourite.

H169.1 Ueli Wackernagel. 105mm

Tim DH

[ThomasB]

A few days away and there is such a lot of beauties to admire here! They're all great but Edgecomb is still one which makes me drool- 

Some new ones are flowering for me as well:

Captain Hook
Surtsey
Rakata 'Skylark'
x barbarae

[Pascal B]

For some reason I am having an unusal high number of multiflowered Pleione and for the first time ever have a tripleheaded flower of limprichtii. Fortunately all are facing the same way and not one upside down....
Second is P. pleionoides, I find this group rather messy to be honest, seems to be a very variable species but nevertheless a nice form.

[Graham Catlow]

The seasons really in full swing - some really nice posts.

Never seen a triple header and for them all to be the correct way up is amazing. What are you feeding them on???

These are my new acquisitions this year and first time in flower.

P hui 1&2 - (depending on wether you recognise this as a species or not) from bulbils purchased several years ago
P. x taliensis - from Ian Butterfield this year.
P. x barbarae - from Ian Butterfield this year
P. hookeriana - from bulbils purchased several years ago. Not convinced this is correct what do you think?

[ThomasB]

Graham, I doubt that the last flower you showed is really Pleione hookeriana. What size are the bulbs? Flowering sized Pln. hookeriana bulbs are still small, just about 0.5 to 1 cm.

Looks like formosana or bulbocodioides to me.

[Pascal B]

Never seen a triple header and for them all to be the correct way up is amazing. What are you feeding them on???

At first it didn't seem they would be all facing the right way but the middle one luckily turned 90 degrees. The bulb was the same size as the other that flowered in the pot. Must have enjoyed last season I guess, I feed with a 10-10-10 fertilizer, I don't believe in different formula's for different seasons. In the wild they don't get that either....

I agree with Thomas, your plant leans more towards bulbocodiodes, definitely not hookeriana

[Graham Catlow]

Thanks Thomas and Pascal,
I didn't think it could be hookeriana.
The bulbs are small. This is the only one of several to flower. Maybe if the others flower next year there will be some hookeriana amongst them.
It's really disappointing to wait for three years just to find you have been mis-sold something.

Graham

[Maren]

Graham,
I agree. Last year I bought a large batch of P. albiflora from Germany, expecting them to be grandiflora. Well they turned out to be P. aurita, not worth the high price and disappointing in that they didn't even meet my reduced expectations. That's life.

[arisaema]

Maren,

Don't know how many grandiflora you need, but if 5-6 bulbs are enough then I'm happy to help you next spring. It was the first species I bought some 10 years ago, and it's very vigorous, although I lost nearly all of them to a power outage a couple of years ago.

[Graham Catlow]

Hi Maren,
I think I probably paid much less for my bulbils than you did for your P. albiflora. Annoying just the same.

I think that the P. hookeriana may be P. pleionoides.  I compared them earlier and took new photos. The photo below is the comparison.
The one on the left is my pleionoides and the one on the right is what I bought as hookeriana.
What do you think?

[Maren]

Hi Graham, you may well be right there. If I didn't have that stinking cold, I would print a picture and take it to Ian Butterfield to look at. But I don't like to give my afflictions to my best friends, so it will have to wait. I will ask him when I'm safe.

Hello Arisaema, thank you for your kind offer. I may take you up on that later in the year. My grandiflora didn't like the autumn at all. They were in pots where the roof was leaking and had rotted in their compost before I noticed. I know better this year.

[Graham Catlow]

Hi Maren,
I hope your cold gets better soon. Just head to your Pleione collection that must make you feel better.
It would be nice to know what Ian thinks of the comparison.

[Pete Clarke]

My last Edgecumbe to flower.
Glacier Peak
Ueli Wackernagel.