Dendrobium Valdina

Dendrobium Valdina came from a small group of hybrids from William Kirch in Hawaii. It was the 70's and we were looking for a compact dendrobium that would not defoliate in the winter with normal weather conditions in Southern California. It is the sole survivor of that small group. We propagated it through tissue culture in our lab and it continues to perform with compact growth habit, no barren canes and a nice touch of purple pinstriping on its canes and the edges of the leaves. Flowering can occur from late summer through the winter and many of the current crop have multiple spikes.

Red Ti and Pride of India are both cordylines. They make good orchid companion plants with the same water, drainage and light requirements. They are somewhat salt sensitive and tend to tip burn (similar to oncidinae) if allowed to dry out. They appreciate a good flush/wash with rain water to minimize salt buildup. These varieties have been grown without heat but under a solid cover through the winter and temperatures down to high 20's. As they grow larger, they do better in large deeper containers that prevent them from tipping and give their large roots room to grow.

Cymbidium Seedling Finally Open

Here is the Red Beauty seedling spike almost fully open. We're just a week away from Valentine's Day and very happy to see these flowers open.

There is quite a variation among the seedlings that have opened so far and this one shows the most pink/rose tones.
Size of individual blooms range from medium to large with nice proportions and some spikes are short and others pretty tall. Flower counts range from 6 blooms/stem to 12+/stem.












The seedling to the left shows the orange end of the color spectrum and has a slightly shorter spike.












And these three represent the mid range of colors, spike height and flower count.

Cymbidium Seedling Progress

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I'm looking at some nice buds plumping up but nothing's open yet. December has been mild and wet. We've had three very nice storms giving us almost 4 inches of rain total. The storms have kept us cloudy and much cooler with the low temperature one night dipping to 32 degrees, and most of the other nights touching the low 40's. This week's been much warmer and brighter with a slight offshore and fog tonight.

This spike has grown very little since the picture from 12/9 but the buds are filling out and growing......slowly. The nice bright days and mild nights are welcome.

Happy New Year to all!!

Surprise cymbidium spike

A surprise! A cymbidium spike opened in the growing range. I think it is a variety that usually blooms around Valentine's Day. Small flowers for a standard, short spike with 6 nicely shaped flowers. This plant had 3 spikes and the other 2 will be open this week. We are having a wonderful warm bright beautiful Santa Ana day (breezy but not windy).

The other flowers in the vase are red anthuriums, purple Beallaras and lavender Miltonidiums...our usual fall bloomers.

Cymbidium Seedling spike progress

It's been about 10 days since my last picture of this Cymbidium Red Beauty seedling's first spike and it has grown. The stem has elongated and the buds are spacing out with the bottom ones showing their individual placement as the tip continues to grow. This makes it easier to count the buds. There are 12 buds, very dark color. The suspense and excitement makes me want to hurry the bud and spike development along......BUT, overheating or overhandling can result in a broken spike or blasted buds.

I'll just be watching until they decide to open. We've had cool overcast and foggy days, then a few warm sunny days, with nights in the mid fifties. Last night the thermometer recorded a low below 50 degrees. The National Weather Service shows a front coming through today and a stronger colder one for next weekend (maybe some snow for the ski resorts). This will probably slow bud and spike development. The temptation to apply heat to speed things up is great.......But too much heat will make the buds turn yellow, shrivel and fall off (often called "bud blasting").

I picked the spike above to watch from a couple of tables of seedlings of the same cross because it looked like it would be the first to open. After taking this picture, I noticed another plant with an even taller spike and 15 buds. It is pictured below.

Blc. Oconee 'Mendenhall'

Blooming this week with beautiful large fragrant flowers. It has produced a lot of very nice hybrids for us in the past. Perhaps, it's time to try it again with some compact growing types. This is a picture taken today under quite overcast and gloomy conditions with natural light and the colors are a little washed out. We'll have an updated picture of the cymbidium (Red Beauty hybrid) spike later in the week....it's growing quite nicely and starting to space the buds out.