Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Specific Families and Genera => Pleione and Orchidaceae => Topic started by: Tim Harberd on January 28, 2020, 01:52:09 PM
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Just finishing the potting up…. A bit late I know, but at least the roots haven’t started to move!
Particularly please with the number of Vesuvius bulbs which seem to have two flower buds.. Not long now!
Has anyone else wondered about the ‘purity’ of P.formosana ‘Claire’ ? Bulbs here photographed on a centimetre grid.. Just for sheer size, they look like hybrids.
Tim DH
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A bit late to finish putting up? I haven’t started yet!
As for Clare, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a lot of the formosana clones are hybrids, although that raises the question of what is the other parent as there is not supposed to be any other species nearby.
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A couple of late-flowering Pleione from earlier this month:
Pleione praecox var. reichenbachiana
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49461588722_dc5f061328_o_d.jpg)
Pleione vietnamensis
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49461588832_a12c995707_o_d.jpg)
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First flowering of the new season:
Pleione humilis Violet Lip -quite a few flowers are still to open.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49465810362_2997856bba_o_d.jpg)
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Stunning photos as usual Steve.
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Does anyone have any experience with using Aubiose, marketed as a bedding material for horses, as a potting medium for pleiones?
I use aubiose for my chicken coops, and noticed that the fibres are very reluctant to decompose. It is hemp fibre and appears to be very inert. Older compost-3 to 4 year old- degrades into a peaty/ coco-fibery substance. The usual struggle to find proper bark and moss for my pleiones made me wonder about using this; I planted some surplus bulbs in a pot of 1 year old hemp-compost. I'll post the result in autumn
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Pleione humilis -a nice form with red and a hint of yellow on the lip. It flowers later than the violet-lipped form.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49641560232_0a0dc20c93_c_d.jpg)
Pleione forrestii -I can never get this species to flower en masse. This bulb is one of at least 10 in the pot which have flower buds -all at different stages.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49641559712_6e70608b69_c_d.jpg)
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Bromo yellow
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suswa sandplover
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Grandiflora yellow lip- reminds me of creme eggs
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San salvador
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Oh, wow. I really like Suswa Sandplover. I don't know of any coral pleiones available in the US. Any chance you'll get seed from it? I've grown pleione from seed before.
Jan Jeddeloh
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Askia red petal
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Krakatoa wheatear
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More suswa sand plover. I’ve never tried to make seed Jan.
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First Pleione to flower here.... P. Follifoot ‘Princess Tiger’
Making seed is fun! You should give it a try... It's easy to tease the pollen off the front of the column with a matchstick. It comes in four little clumps (pollinia) in a membrane cover. You just need to transfer one of the clumps to the other side of the flap on the underside of the column.
Tim DH
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Making seeds is fun... it's all the rest which isnt, the weakened mother plant which sometimes dies before the end of the season, the protocorms which suddenly decide they don't like the pH anymore, the number which dies when deflasked, then those which grow poorly and never reach flowering size, but sometimes, you get lucky and find a gem...
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Pleione albiflora -this year not all are flowering at once.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731755967_231b3662ea_o_d.jpg)
Pleione forrestii -another species that is flowering over an extended period this year.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731756657_6288410244_o_d.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49731435511_2c0eb12ac7_o_d.jpg)
Pleione Shantung Ducat?? -obtained as x confusa. Does anybody still grow the true xconfusa?
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49730887328_208c762ac2_o_d.jpg)
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Two in flower today:
Shantung 'Ducat' and Marco Polo 168.2... Of all of the Marco Polo's I've grown, this is my favourite... It really ought to have a proper name...
(I quite like 168.18 as well, these buds look so promising!)
Tim DH
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Hi There,
Three from today:
L2R on the bench.
P.Vesuvius ‘Ember’
P. Shepherd's Warning ‘Mary B’
P.Shantung ‘Natasha’
Tim DH
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[attachimg=1]
P. peregrine.
[attachimg=2]
An un-named hybrid.
[attachimg=3]
P. vesuvius phoenix.
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Hi There,
Another two out today:
P. Soufriere 'Sunrise'
P. Harlequin 'Clown', I really like the white tipped petals on this one..
Shame these are all flowering 'In Lockdown'.....
Tim DH
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Pleione forrestii -a pale form.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49768420308_7e975c0df9_o_d.jpg)
Pleione yunnanensis Chiuanum
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49768954911_177acdcf41_o_d.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49768954756_9d71ec2917_o_d.jpg)
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Best year in 30 or so years - but possibly the worst. I think I may now have virus. I'm attaching some photos of P. Shantung Ridgeway (only one pseudobulb affected I think) and P. Quizapu Peregrine. They all been grown in a greenhouse with a little heat to stop freezing, just outside of Oxford, UK.
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for showing the yunnanensis... one of my favourites, but my stock is badly depleted at the moment, I only got one flower last year.
Hi Mark,
That dread word 'virus'! ... Sympathies ... I am on constant alert to make sure the wife's Phalanopsi never get near the Pleiones!!
On the subject of... Pleiones:
I have two clones of the Grex Ueli Wackernagel, The one called 'Regal' flowers freely, and is about 10cm across. The other never got it's own name, so still goes under the breeding number H169.1. It has bigger flowers, about 11cm across, but produces less of them. It also has a better developed lip frill.
The third cultivar today is P. hybrid ‘Swan Song’ It's a cross between P.Soufriere x P.Shepherd's Warning, which has not been registered. The petal colour is not quite as rich as the Soufriere shown earlier, but I think the flowers are better proportioned and better held.
Tim DH
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Pleione grandiflora -various forms:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49768421118_08b2b525e2_o_d.jpg)
Yellow-lipped form
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49768420608_a70ba50c1f_o_d.jpg)
A form with pink lip markings.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49769278147_52250099b6_o_d.jpg)
A pale yellow form.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49768954076_03cf2a3051_o_d.jpg)
Rusty-brown lip markings.
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Pleione x confusa
[attachimg=1]
This one is supposed to be Buckleberry. Is it?
[attachimg=2]
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Two in flower today:
Shantung 'Ducat' and Marco Polo 168.2... Of all of the Marco Polo's I've grown, this is my favourite... It really ought to have a proper name...
(I quite like 168.18 as well, these buds look so promising!)
Tim DH
What an amazing, healthy, clean collection of Pleione you grow Tim !! :o :o :o Respect !
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Suswa 'Golden Eagle'
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This one is supposed to be Michael Butterfield.
[attachimg=1]
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Hi Claire,
Not many people seem to grow P. versailles 'Buckleberry' these days, altho' as one of the first hybrids it does show up as a parent of many subsequent crosses. By the way, note the two names used for it Buckleberry/Bucklebury! My understanding is that it was named for Lady Bucklebury, so I prefer the latter variation. Here are a couple of references to it in the SRGC archives.
Reply #312 in Pleione Spring 2010 #313 http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4999.msg148975#msg148975 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4999.msg148975#msg148975)
Reply #155 in Pleione - 2008 http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1186.msg43012#msg43012 (http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=1186.msg43012#msg43012)
The petals on yours look a little narrow, but the colouring seems about right? The only versailles I grow is (H123.11) a hybrid between V.Bucklebury and V.'Muriel Turner' which Dad tells me the parents were virtually indistinguishable anyway! For what its worth, it also has wider petals.
Also not many people grow xConfusa either... not for want of trying! ... Many plants grown under that name appear to be Shantung 'Ducat'. Sadly I lost xConfusa some years ago, so I do hope someone somewhere does still have it. Ducat differs from xconfusa by being altogether bigger and more vigorous. (No help unless you are growing the two together!) Ducat occasionally has a line of pink stipples down the middle of the side petals, they are quite indistinct on my Ducat this year. The red blotching on the lip of Ducat also tends to get closer to the frill/edge. I attach a few photos for reference.
Hope that's helpful
Tim DH
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Hi Steve,
Thanks for showing the variation in your grandiflora... fascinating... I particularly like the white form with the yellow lip.
Hi Luc,
Thanks for your kind comments.... Here are a couple more:
Stromboli ‘Il Duce’ (H93.1) Which used to be in my Top Ten, but has recently lost its place to a smaller Stromboli that isn't yet in flower
Vesuvius ‘Ember’ (H67.11) Still firmly in my Top Ten! I've already shown one pan of it this year, but I have four photogenic pots! And some spares!!
Tim DH
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Thanks, Tim, for the information on my two pleiones. I checked my records and see I received 'Bucklebury' as a gift in 2003 (with the correct spelling). The x confusa was purchased in 2012. All my pleiones were attacked by rats a couple of years ago and bringing them back has been a challenge. They now live in welded wire cages along with some of my more precious plants. :-)
...Claire
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Stunning Pleiones already in this thread, particularly the grandiflora "yellow lip" is amazing!
For me two Pleiones have flowered so far, first an unnamed hybrid I found in a local garden centre two years ago, it multiplies quite fast.
[attach=2]
[attach=1]
And Pleione Shantung "Ducat" which only started flowering today.
[attach=3]
[attach=4]
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Hi. I've not posted before but love your fabulous photos and words of wisdom!
I have just had a cross I made myself flower for the first time, and wanted to share pictures with you. I made the cross as a complete novice in my kitchen, by following the guidance in Paul Cumbleton's website. Five years later we have a result! The cross is P. Piton x grandiflora. I am pleased the yellow lip of the grandiflora has come through so well, particularly in the first of the two bulbs to flower. I'll look forward to next year when a lot more of the seedlings should flower.
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
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Hello Ian - how exciting to have made this cross yourself - tremendously satisfying to have such a good result, I imagine!
(P.S I rotated your second photo for you)
Maggi
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Thanks Maggi -I reckon if I can do it anyone can!
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Coming towards the end of the season now:
Here’s that other Marco Polo, (H168.18) showing why I like it… Any cultivar which has a tendency to face upwards is good to me!
P. Captain Hook H121.5, flowers from really small bulbs, so the pot can get a bit crowded.
P. bulbocodiodes ‘Kunming King’, Not the most floriferous of 6x bulbocodiodes, but nicely upright.
Tim DH
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Pleione pleionoides x coronaria
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Last two Pleione flowers from me for this season...
The poor things have been under-appreciated this year... Only the wife (Judy) and I have got to see them, and Judy doesn't like pink flowers!
P. Soufriere H114.19 This came to me on Dad’s ‘Chuck’ list, and it has survived many culls since!! (Some deliberate, some accidental!!!) …. I’m thinking of doing another cull this autumn, but on this performance it will survive again.
P. Stromboli 'Senorita', which has just edged out the other Stromboli, shown earlier, on my Top Ten list.
Tim DH
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Pleione coronaria -sadly past its best.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49866327382_dd7578983f_o_d.jpg)
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Pleione Shasta, flowering today. So many Pleiones look the same to me.
[attachimg=1]
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Here is a group picture of most of my Pleione which I was lucky enough to be able to order from Mr. Butterfield in December. They are framed by two other of my orchids which are currently in bloom, an Odontoglossum navium and a Phragmipedium caudatum. The Pleione on that picture are back left to right: Askia 'Goldfinch', Shantung 'Ducat', Suswa 'Sand plower' and Santa Maria 'Nightjar'.
Front, left to right: Uli Wackernagel 'Pearl', Betty Arnold 'Firefinch', Whakari 'Chestnut Weaver', Kenya 'Bald Eagle' and Katmai 'Crossbill'.
[attachimg=1]
Askia 'Goldfinch'
[attachimg=2]
Suswa 'Sand plower'
[attachimg=3]
Santa Maria 'Nightjar'
[attachimg=4]
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And the Pleiones from the second row:
Uli Wackernagel 'Pearl'
[attachimg=1]
Betty Arnold 'Firefinch'
[attachimg=2]
Whakari 'Chestnut Weaver'
[attachimg=3]
Kenya 'Bald Eagle'
[attachimg=4]
Katmai 'Crossbill'
[attachimg=5]
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Nice ones, Beza!
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Thank you Maggi, though those flowers are not really credit to my efforts yet, as the only "work" I had to do is to store them in the fridge over winter and pot them up again :)
Fingers crossed I can get them into the next year, and blooming again!
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Couldn't resist posting the last Pleione on my flowering bench.
Three weeks after I first showed it!
P. Stromboli 'Senorita'
Tim DH
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[attachimg=1]
Pleione Semeru
[attachimg=2]
Pleione Semeru
[attachimg=3]
Pleione Semeru
New in the collection and pleased to see 2 flowers. They appear to be opening quite pale and gain a lot of pink in 3 to 4 days. I like the flowers, but they don't seem very distinct.
[attachimg=4]
And an early clone of Wharfdale , probably Pine Warbler because I don't know of any others. But this pot is really early and others flower in December or even January. Because of this it is perhaps my favorite autumn flowerer (that I know of)
If any of the growers/ hybridisers have pictures of new autumn flowering crosses I'd be delighted to see them. Any chance of posting some pics here for the Facebook-shy amongst us?
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Hi Bart,
Those Semeru are nice......
What happened with your Aubiose experiment?
Tim DH
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Hi Tim,
Only just seen your post. It prompted me to go and have a look. I made some pictures of the results:
[attachimg=1]
[attachimg=2]
[attachimg=3]
[attachimg=4]
As you can see root development has been good, the Aubiose has not compacted or rotted, and more importantly I did not see any woodlice lurking in the medium. Woodlice pose a massive threat to the bulbs, they hollow the biggest ones out from below and when it comes to harvesting I find myself with an empty shell.
I did not feed these anything in particular. I think with additional bonemeal the bulbs might have been bigger. I'll expand the experiment coming season, since I still find it hard to source moss and orchid bark in reasonable and affordable quantities.
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And a few more autumn flowerers from a couple of weeks ago
[attachimg=1]
P. Liz Shan 'Pretty Girl'
[attachimg=2]
P. Confirmation
[attachimg=3]
P. Slender Loris
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Thanks for the compost photos Bart... Looks interesting... And there is a supplier near me.
I think you've mentioned Woodlouse problems before... This year the lupin seedlings which were on the end of my Pleione staging had their leaves chewed , but once again the Pleionies were untouched... Digging around I find there are 45 species of British woodlouse... So maybe I'm just lucky with my garden's resident species!
Tim DH