Saturday, September 18, 2010

Not one you see everyday!

Cymbidium Musita X Vogelsang


Today was a photography day. It wasn't the best day as far as weather goes. Cold and windy outside with lines of clouds passing by. Actually, I should say the occasional line of sun passing by. I had the camera set up in the studio and would race in when a sunny patch arrived. I was going to work outside today but paperwork kept me in the warm and dry. Each sunny patch lasted about 5 minutes but that was enough to get a dozen plants photographed.

It was interesting taking the photos today. Sometimes the flowers look more interesting in the photographs and sometimes the other way around. One of the plants that made it into the studio today was a pendulous hybrid. This plant first started flowering about 2 months ago but decided it was going to flower again now. Many of the Cymbidiums, at least here in Melbourne, have funny flowering times this year. When it was pulled off the bench there was yet another spike just breaking the sheath. This is one prolific little plant. The flowers are not all that large, about 70mm across, but they are a fascinating colour. The colours are actually more eye-catching in real life. If you click on the above photograph it will go to a much larger size.

Yesterday, while visiting a nursery I spied a plant that made me think of a friend of mine in California. A picture was duly taken so at least he could see it, even if he couldn't own it immediately. When I got home I downloaded all the pictures from the nursery and pulled up each to name them and file them. When I pulled up the picture of the peloric hybrid for Joe, I had second thoughts about dismissing it as something I would not grow. Thankfully, there was time to go back to the nursery and pick it up for my greenhouse. This was one plant that didn't get really appreciated until it was viewed completely filling a 24" screen

Back to our mystery plant! Goodness, it is easy to get sidetracked. I was originally going to post the picture at the start of this blog on my Flickr account. Well, that was the case before the thought came to me that it had sufficient interest that it might qualify for another 'Guess the Hybrid' posting on the International Cymbidium Alliance web forum. This plant is particularly interesting because if you look really closely, you can see both of the parents in this plant. So here we go. Can anyone guess the hybrid?

SPECIAL NOTE

If you are reading this post you are undoubtedly interested in Cymbidiums. If this is the case, are you a member of the CYMBIDIUM SOCIETY OF AMERICA? If you are not a member, can I suggest that you join? It doesn't matter if you are in the USA, Australia, South Africa, Denmark or Azerbaijan. We can all be members! Plant societies worldwide, are suffering at the moment and need all the support we can give them. Already declining memberships have been even more severely impacted by the Global Financial Crisis. If you click on the hyperlink here or above it will take you to the CSA website. At the moment you have to print out a membership form and post it to them. This is a small price to keep an invaluable plant society going. Remember, it is not just the information you get from the Journal, the shows, the meetings and the web forum that is paid for with your membership. It is the long history, documents and photographs accumulated by the society over the years that you are supporting. Let us all help support the present CSA and ensure that it has a future and can maintain its past.