Pictures from Hades - Part 2

I would suggest you grab a cup of tea and get comfortable before starting to read this post. It is a bit long. It is my way of documenting some of the events that have taken place in the past three weeks here in my bush home on the Northeast outskirts of Melbourne Australia. You may also want to grab a box of tissues. This is not a happy post. It has taken me two days to piece together. Not that the writing was difficult or the pictures hard to prepare. Writing this post made my experience 'real', with all the emotion that was involved. Many parts were left out on purpose. As with all my posts you can view a larger version of the pictures by clicking on them.

On the 7th of February I posted four pictures of what was going on around me. The day was abnormally hot, the winds extremely high and the humidity extremely low. You could feel from the first thing in the morning that this was going to be a special day. The meteorologists, the Country Fire Authority and our local public broadcasting service had been warning us all week. The week before, when we experienced three days of similar conditions, should have given us fair warning. The 7th was especially brutal weather wise; 46.6C with 100 kph winds and less than 10% humidity. These conditions were an all time record breaker for us.

You could feel it. You could not escape it. It zapped the energy. It numbed the mind. There was nothing you could do. The electricity supply was periodically interrupted. The phone lines could get incoming calls but we could not make outgoing calls. The local emergency phone tree was activated. The first call came at 10:00 am. There was a fire in Kilmore east, 30 km away. Implement fire plan! We knew it would happen. You could just tell. The sense of anticipation was rippling though us. Our conversations centred on fire and every broadcaster and news service we heard was talking about it Even the local christian radio station was in on it. My little portable pocket radio only gets FM and only a few stations one of which is LightFM - Christian radio. If we needed God on any day, this was it.

Our fire plan is really quite simple. Pack, load car, leave. Oh, yeah, turn on 774 AM our local public broadcaster and emergency services station. It was too oppressively hot to move much. It was too much to think about driving the 20km to the Mall to hang out and watch a movie. The local hoods would probably have helped themselves to our belongings packed so neatly in the car, those special things that you take to start a new life if needs be. A weeks worth of clothes and toiletries, camera equipment, laptops, backup hard drives, important papers, special photographs, my diplomas, my grandfathers fob watch, my grandmothers reading glasses and enamel jewelry box, the set of handcoloured prints of Nicholls 'Orchids of Australia' and a heap of stuff. Way too much crammed in. It is not good to have too much warning. The mall was out of the question. We were 'safe' it was a long way away.

We needed to keep ourselves busy while we waited out the day. I took pictures and put together a blog on my plants that got cooked the week before. My partner sat on the couch watching old movies. We both drank copious quantities of iced tea. We packed of course and put everything by the back door. Every half hour or so we would get a phone call. After each phone call I would run outside and snap a few photos. The radio announcers kept saying that the fire was at Kilmore East. The Country Fire Authority website said Kilmore East. The number of trucks attending the fire kept getting bigger and bigger. By 5:00 there were 86 appliances in attendance. Serious stuff but still in Kilmore east. We could see really high smoke drifting over but couldn't smell it. You could still see the sun through it.

At 5:20 things changed. I popped out to see what was going on. Still no smell of smoke. I walked out to the walk and looked up. My heart sank and I screamed out to my napping partner. 'You have to come quick, look at this'. Below is what I saw. You can see the corner of the house in the lower left of the photo.

The fire was no longer in Kilmore East! The radio still told me it was. I tried not to panic. It didn't work. The cars were loaded. I got into some serious photography. By the time I walked to the the picnic table it was obvious that the fire was no longer in Kilmore East. There was smoke rising in Strathewen, Kinglake West, Pheasant Creek, Kinglake, Saint Andrews, Steels Creek, Christmas Hills and Yarra Glen. The wind was still coming from the Northwest. The cool change was meant to come at 6:00 bringing with it winds from the Southwest. We only had to last 1/2 hour and we would be safe. The change would take the smoke and fires away from us. Below is a sequence taken over the half hour between 5:30 and 6:00. The first two photos are just before the change, the third at the change and the last one after the change. Thankfully, the change came early, about 5:45 for us. Well, it was good for us, except for the dust. The problem was that the winds that came from the Southwest were even stronger than the winds from the Northwest. At 130 kph the Southwest winds fanned the fires and drove them in a totally different direction, creating a huge smear of fire across the mountains. Fire burning on a 70 - 80 km front.

5:30

5:40

5:50

6:00

Shortly after the last photograph was taken it started to get dark. Not because it was time to get dark but because the sun was being blocked by the smoke. Our neighbours Bert and Sue from down in the valley came up to our place to get a view of the fires. We chatted and tried to keep each other calm by making small talk. I took some photos but because of my trembling hands they all came out blurry. The tripod and switching the camera to timer mode helped greatly. I pointed the camera in the direction of the previous shots. Just as I did the first flames started coming over the hill. At first it was just a quick flash above the hill and then it disappeared. The shutter kept clicking. We started to hear the drone of a jet. It didn't change. You normally hear a jet coming, it passes over and then goes away. This sound kept getting louder and louder. It was the fire. It was sucking up oxygen and consuming organic matter, spewing smoke and heat heavenwards, creating it's own weather. By just after 7:00 we started hearing explosions followed by huge eruptions of flames. We worked out that it was gas bottles exploding. Then we saw a house go up in flames. Then another, and another and another. It was coming closer and closer to our home. Just after 7:00 the picture below was the view from our picnic table. The picture from the same position in the previous blog Pictures from Hades was taken just before this one. If you click on the photo below it will enlarge and you will see that it is taken at approximately the same angle as the four previous shots. You can see my neighbour Eric's house in the foreground and Mount Everard fully ablaze in the background.

7:10

This was extremely serious and it was time for us to leave. Actually, we should have left hours ago. I had enough time to snap a few more shots, download them, resize them and post them. It took me all of ten minutes to do that procedure. In the meantime my partner called and booked a hotel. We had quick showers and jumped in the cars and left. When we were in the car, I called the head of the phone tree and told them we were leaving. He said most had gone already. Great, we were the only bunnies left in the neighbourhood. This fact later turned out to be incorrect but at least we knew we were out of there. Some of my most dramatic pictures were taken in our last ten minutes at the house. The house we were not sure would be there in the morning.

We spent the night of the 7th February in the city, in a large hotel with air-conditioning and cable television. We didn't sleep. When we arrived at the hotel we noticed that our cars were caked in dust and ash. They stood out like hillbilly cars at a country club. Two filthy cars in a carpark full of gleaming new upmarket cars. The staff at the hotel were marvelous. They knew our situation so put us up in a very quiet room on the top floor facing away from the fires. We got a complimentary breakfast and they even made up a lunch for us to take home. It was pretty obvious we were a bit distressed and disoriented.

The next afternoon we went home. The house was there, the property was unburnt. There were 23 messages on our home phone. On the way home we heard that 14 people had died in the fires. Thank goodness more hadn't lost their lives. The second message on our phone was to inform us that two friends and their daughter had died. Several other messages had similar grim news. The toll was going to be higher than 14. The phone messages told us that.

By Tuesday the extent of the events of Saturday the 7th were becoming apparent. 181 dead, 1820 houses destroyed 7,000 people homeless. Shelters in Whittlesea, Yea and Diamond Creek serviced the vast majority of the affected people. Most had gotten out with only the clothes on their back. The stories told on the radio and portrayed on the television are too harrowing to put up here. What was in evidence by tuesday was the best and worst of the human character. Arsonists were caught and would have been lynched had the police not spirited them away to unkown locations. Several were caught stealing relief money collection containers. One person even put in and recieved monies for the funeral of their father that was killed in the fires. Only problem was that the scam artist had no father in the fire area. Thankfully, they were caught trying to claim benifits for being a victim. This low in human behaviour was more than amply compensated for by the thousands of people who donated goods and money to the relief effort. and jumped in to lend a hand. One hundred million dollars were donated in the first week and the Red Cross asked that people stop donating certain types of goods, particularly food.

On Monday the 9th February wilst getting ready for work, the phone tree was activated again. We were on an alert warning with fires in the three communities to the North and East of us. Cars were repacked and we headed off to work. Not not sure what I did that day. judging from the dates I submitted a few subject amendment forms and had lunch but don't remember much else. Tuesday was similar to Monday. A few abusive messages were posted in a forum that I am on. My numbness was turning to anger. I made a vow to myself and a couple of friends that there would be nor further postings until my nerves settled and the anger was gone or at least at manageable levels. This was no time for trivial online discussions of flower count on hybrid plants or some strange theory about how the fires were retribution for the changing of abortion laws in Victoria.

One of the most annoying things that started coming out on Monday and that gained strength on tuesday was the blame game. Lack of controlled burning was blamed. Rampant green legislation by some of the councils where the fires occurred were blamed. Outrageous, uninformed and insensitive remarks were the order of the day. Even Germaine Greer made pompous and simplistic remarks from the comfort of her upmarket digs in London. Thankfully, by Wednesday the finger pointers were identified for the idiots that they are and were subsequently ignored or ridiculed in further reporting. More balanced and informed commentary started to filter through and gain strength. A Bushfire Royal Commission was called.

Wednesday came and went. Do you ever have one of those days when you remember getting to the end of the work day and wondering how it went so quickly.? It seemed as though I had just gotten in. Had a few, not very pleasant, phone calls with friends informing me of lost friends or me informing them of lost friends.

Thursday was slightly better. The newspapers were not reporting any more deaths. The toll stood at 181 and hadn't changed in a couple of days. The more sensationalist tabloids were predicting 300 dead. The fires were still burning but not with the ferocity of the previous weekend. The fires were sneaking closer to the house again. Butterman's Track and the Watsons Creek reserve were burning. The Kinglake National Park in Arthurs Creek was being backburnt to prevent the fire getting to our town. It was disconcerting to have plumes of smoke rising to the East and North of us. Not much sleep that night. Below is a picture of the moonrise on the thursday night. Eerie and beautiful at the same time. The smoke permeated everything as did the ash and dust.

Smokey Moon and Butterman's Track burning

Smoke transforming the moon

Thursday was the first day that the air was clear enough to see the mountains again. This was the opportunity to get a couple of 'After' pics. The camera was put on the tripod and aligned to the originals. Peace and stillness was starting to return to our neighbourhood.

The 7th of February

The 12th of February

The 7th of February

The 12th of February

The following Wednesday provided me with an opportunity to go into the fire affected area. This should have been an easy task. At the end of our road is a small turnoff that has beautiful views over the mountains and valleys of our district. I took the camera up there to get some pictures. The plan was to drive down the hill to Strathewen to check on friends. When I stopped at the turnoff and got out of the car a wave of nerves came over me. The tripod was not in the car and my hands were not still enough to take photographs. The drive down the hill would not be possible today. Attempts on Thursday and on Friday also failed. Still no success. For crying out loud, it was only at the bottom of the hill! Emotions were still too raw and close to the surface. After my experience on Friday night a phone call was made to my friend Lynlee to organise a trip that would involve several people. She had to drop off some materials to some friends. We had our wristbands that allowed us into the area. Because there were so many deaths in the area and not all the bodies had been cleared, only residents were allowed into the area. Roadblocks manned by police made sure the only those who were meant to be there were there.

We loaded up the car with fox traps, extra supplies and some 'treats' for the people we would be visiting. Down the hill we went. Lynlee and I made an agreement not to take pictures of houses or cars, only pictures of the bush. This was a respect thing. Blue and white flagging tape meant people had died. Long flowing ribbons meant that the bodies were still there, short tied up ribbons meant the bodies had been removed. Enough said about that. Below are a few photographs taken along the way.

Entering Strathewen

Just before the main settlement of Strathewen

Bill and Linda's Property at Strathewen

Bill and Linda's house survived but the rest of the
property and Bill's moterbike didn't

At the top of Bill and Linda's property.
Former damp forest reduced to sticks and ash.

Heading up Beale Road between Strathewen and Kinglake.
The silence was amazing.
How could this ever regenerate?

The track leading to my study sites at Mt Everard

Ashbed at one of my study sites on Mt. Everard



A Wallaby that didn't make it out of my study site.

Lynlee checking to see if a rare conifer had survived the fire.
Some opportunist had come and cut down every
plant of the Cypress Pine, presumably because the
wood is so valuable. Chances of it regenerating?

Heading down the main road from Kinglake to St. Andrews.

Overlooking the Ninks Road Valley at St. Andrews.

The fires continue three weeks after the main front has passed. 300,00 hectares have been burnt out. Over 2,000 houses have been destroyed. 210 people lost their lives. Dozens are in hospital. 37 are still missing and presumed dead. But there are already signs of renewal. Lyrebirds, Wallabies and Wombats are scratching around the ash looking for food. What could possibly sustain these creatures in such desparate times? A wander through the forest looking at their scratchings showed what they were eating. The smell of their food permeated the air and gave away its presence before it could be seen. Fungi are growing everywhere. Stimulated by the fire, fungi are putting out fruiting bodies. The first fungi observed was a truffle type. It smells strongly of garlic. Wallaby and Lyrebird scratchings showed me where they were. Typical mushrooms were pushing through the still warm ash. Below is a picture of one of them.

A fungus, identity unkown.

On the Thurday after the fires there was an article in the paper about a young girls' excitement about the 'naked ladies' flowering around her burnt out house in Strathewen. I had to get a photo for myself. It was a sign of hope. Five days after a fire and a plant was blooming? Amaryllis belladonna (Naked Ladies or Belladonna Lily) is stimulated to bloom by fires in it's native South Africa. It retains this habit in it's new home in Australia and in particular in Strathewen.

Amaryllis belladonna two weeks after the fires.
Fire truck rushing to attend a nearby outbreak of fire.

Grass Tree (Xanthorrhoea australis) resprouting two weeks after fire.
Thousands of grasstrees were resprouting, including the
related species X. minor (Small Grass Tree).

Pictures from Hades

Today as I mentioned earlier was a day from Hades. Temps to 46.4 in Melbourne and up to 47.8 just outside of Melbourne. Soon after the fires started to take hold. These are pictures taken from my house of the fires around my town. They speak for themselves.

Looking toward St Andrews

Looking toward Dixon's Creek

Another view just north of Dixon's Creek

Mount Disappointment at Pheasant Creek

A blog from Hades

I am sitting in my basement typing away on my laptop surrounded by my orchids. They got moved inside last night. Thankfully a fan is blasting over me and the plants. I can here you saying that 'Chuckie, you have gone absolutely crazy'. Well in the words of our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd 'extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures'.

You see, at the moment the temperatures outside are just over 43C (110F). Last week we had similar and higher temperatures for three days in a row. Needless to say all sorts of organisms suffered. Animals, including humans, were dying, plants were dying, and dust storms were blanketing everything. Today is even worse as they predict it will get to 44C or higher (112F). with winds of 50-90 Kilometres per hour. Our community fire guard phone tree was activated earlier today and we just got notification that there are two fires 10k northwest of us. The winds are blowing out of the northwest!!!

The orchids had a particularly hard time. Not all of them though. Many of the Cymbidiums lived through with little more than losing the odd leaf or two. Some others did not fare as well. Below are some pictures of the worst of the casualties. My friends on the Cymbidium Forum wanted to see the 'devastation' . Well to feed their morbid curiosity, the camera was pulled out and a different kind of picture taken! I hope you enjoy these George! Stop gloating that you have such nice weather in your part of the world.

The first picture is of a beautiful little cloud-forest plant called Maxillaria sophronites. It is normally a pretty tough little plant. Interestingly, it didn't scorch in the heat but basically 'cooked' . All of the plant tissues first blanched, like brocolli in a steamer, and then turned these lovely shades of brown. It is heading toward the compost bin. The second photo is the usually magnificant Maxillaria fletcherianum. The plant did have half a dozen fully-leaved pseudobulbs and flower spikes starting to form. It now only has two severely burnt leaves on the very youngest growth. Very sad.

Maxillaria sophronites

Maxillaria fletcherianum

The worst affected plants were the Masdevallias. These mostly cloud forest plants without much in the way of water reserves, literally curled up their toes. All but two plants in my Masdevallia collection are dead. Maxillaria triangularis, pictured below, gives you some indication of what the rest of my Masdevallias look like. They are now the most expensive compost you can think of.

Masdevallia triangularis

While the majority of the cymbidiums fared pretty well, some did not. Below is a picture of what was a mature plant of Cym. iansonii. Not only did the leaves cook, but the pseudobulbs also steamed to the point of blanching. While some plants had burnt tips, this species cooked from the inside out! The leaves stayed green longer than the pseudobulbs. The leaves on these cooked pseudobulbs shed a few days later and the new growth that at first appeared green rotted from the base upward! The ends of the leaves are green but the bases are completely black.

Cymbidium iansonii

A couple of the Cymbidium devonianum hybrids responded in a very peculiar way. Instead of pseudobulbs cooking or leaves getting burnt tips individual cells withing the leaf bleached. Not all of the cells but a scattering of cells. And not on the young growth, only on the older leaves. Very strange. Below is a picture of Cymbidium Devon Odyssey exhibiting the mottled cell bleaching induced by heat.

Cymbidium Devon Odyssey

The wierdiest of the heat damage is this living but bleached tissue. Not hot enough to kill the cell but enough to blast the chloroplasts.

Cymbidium Mad Magic

Cymbidium Flying Comet

Last September I wrote a blog on Cymbidium Kusuda Shining and Friends. In one of the two blogs on the subject the hybrid between C. Kusuda Shining and C. virescens was discussed and various forms illustrated. This was before my photography lessons. At that point it was pretty much point and click and hope for the best. My photography teacher has brainwashed me into thinking that pointing and clicking is not good enough. Well, in all honesty I would have to agree with her.

Just to recap on the story of KS and friends. Andy Easton made the wonderful hybrid Kusuda Shining many years ago. This hybrid has proved to be a great parent to a wide range of colourful and interesting hybrids. Since the writing of that blog the hybrid between KS and virescens has been named by Andy. The formal name is now Cymbidium Flying Comet. A very appropriate name really. Some of the cultivar names we have tentatively put on our seedlings before it was named were 'Stella', 'Cosmo' and 'Super Nova'. We must have all seen the same thing in the offspring. Pictures of the parents of C. Flying Comet appear below. The picture of C. goeringii (virescens) is several years old and was taken with a happy-snap camera.

Cymbidium Kusuda Shining

Cymbidium goeringii (virescens)

One of the runts of the litter my orchid grower friend named 'Randall's Gem' as a bit of a joke. He saw this plant as the ugly little brother to the more grand and colourful siblings. I liked it. Actually, my initial impression was not all that great but I took a picture of it anyway. It was not until the photo was downloaded to my computer and projected onto the monitor that the potential of 'Randall's Gem' became evident to me. I called my friend back and ask if I could buy the plant. He was going to sell it off as an no-name pot plant at a local mall! Thankfully, it was saved from a fate worse than death.

I came home and took several pictures of it. None of them all that great.

Since taking that original shot, C. Flying Comet 'Randall's Gem' has come into flower for the second time. This is good as I get a chance to redeem myself and take a better picture. Interestingly, the second flowering of the plant is much better than the first. I like to tease my professional grower friend that the reason the second flowering is so much better is that I am a much better grower than he is. We both know this is not true so we can laugh about it.

What has changed over the past year is that the plant has matured a bit and has been growing in much cooler conditions. I grow it in a shadehouse completely exposed to the elements, except sun of course. I do not push my plants as much with fertilizer either. They tend not to flower themselves to death like my friends plants and tend to be a bit more graceful.

Below in the first picture is C. Flying Comet 'Randall's Gem' on it's first flowering in 2008. The mug shot style is fairly typical of my photographs. One day my photography teacher will knock the police photographer out of me. The second and third photos were taken this morning at about 8:00 am as the sun was shining through the trees. Photograph four was taken at 8:30 pm tonight after the intensity of the sun had dimmed a bit. All four photos are the same plant just taken in different styles, with different camera settings and lighting arrangements. Photograph four is nearly spot on for colour of the flower. It is actually hard to get the colour correct. Green overlaid with pink on the petals and sepals and white with magenta red and yellow on the lip is a real challenge. Too dark and the green bleeds into the pink and makes it browny-red. Too light and the yellow and white of the lip flares and the magenta red turns faded red. Hopefully, I hit some sort of happy medium.

To see larger versions of any of the pictures just click on the photo. It will magically appear twice as big before your very eyes! Hope you enjoy them.

Cymbidium Flying Comet 'Randall's Gem'

(f stop 11, natural light, in shade)

Cymbidium Flying Comet 'Randall's Gem'

(f stop 22, backlit, morning sun, black background)

Cymbidium Flying Comet 'Randall's Gem'

(f stop 22, backlit, morning sun, forest background)

Cymbidium Flying Comet 'Randall's Gem'

(f stop 22, front lit, late evening direct sun, black background)

Cymbidium floribundum or pumilum

When you make collections of plants strange things can happen. If you collect a genus of plants, like Cymbidium, there are several tacks that you can take. Many people collect hybrids. Collecting hybrids provides you with a never-ending source of new plants. If you are a follower of plant fashions or if you suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder you can constantly replace the old with new. While this can be satisfying it is also expensive. The newest hybrids are the most expensive. If you try to keep at the cutting edge you eventually find yourself buying unflowered hybrids on speculation. If you guess correctly you could be on a winner. If you get it wrong you just wasted a few years of time, effort and expense. At least you may be able to recoup a bit of money by selling your culls off to an unsuspecting 'amateur' or fashion blinded 'novice'. There are literally thousands and thousands of people who support an extensive industry supplying their needs.

Since the rise of environmentalism in the 1960's and 70's there has been a shift away from hybrids to species for the serious collector. The shallowness of fashion was eschewed for the 'connection with the earth' and 'naturalness' implicit in the growing of wild species. Granted, species have always been grown but came close to being completely wiped from collections in the 1950's. The prevailing attitude in the 50's, with vestiges of it persisting until today, is that hybrids are easier to grow and have hybrid vigour. What tosh! Most Cymbidiums are easier to grow than almost any plant. This is attested by the numerous plants sitting on back porches and patios throughout Australia and California. They barely get water, almost never get repotted and inevitably are sunburnt beyond belief but flower happily every year.

Species collectors need to get every species of a genus and usually several forms of each. In a genus like Cymbidium collecting all the species, varieties and forms is fairly straight forward. With under 50 species it is a small genus by world standards. A collection of just species and forms of Cymbidium would be modest, at least as far as collections go.

A slight variation on the species collection is the conservation collection. While the outcome is similar to the species collection, each plant comes from a known location in the wild. This type of collection is usually reserved for botanic gardens, universities and those truly concerned with the conservation of genetic diversity. Occasionally, a rogue collector uses the excuse of conservation to import cheap wild-collected plants from a developing country. I remember clearly in the early 80's, while studying orchids in the Pacific islands, the depredations of unscrupulous orchid collectors. I was taken to get photographs and herbarium specimens of a species orchid. Unbeknownst to me, an American collector had found out where I was going and the subject of my study. He had paid the local villagers what amounted to a huge salary to collect all of the plants of this species they could find. They simply followed me and my guide into the forest and stripped every plant they could find. Hundreds of them. There was absolutely nothing I could do except put my pack on top of several plants and stand in front of another group until they left, satisfied they had gotten every plant. I felt sick.


Believe it or not there is one even more extreme form of collector! This is the type that collects every slight variation there is within a species! This type of collector is not prevalent in the west, at least in Cymbidium. In Asia, particularly in China, single species Cymbidium collecting has a history at least 1,500 years old. Part of the reason for this is that people could only draw on the local species for their collections. To introduce novelty they had to collect all the variations they could from the local populations. In China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan this is the normal style of collection, or at least it was until recently.

One of the main plants that has been the focus of attention for single species collections is the plant we know as Cymbidium floribundum, or alternatively and erroneously as C. pumilum. This plant was originally named as C. floribundum in 1833 by Lindley but for some reason this name was not recognised by Rolfe when he described and named Cymbidium pumilum in 1907. This oversight and renaming of an already named species was recognise and corrected as long ago as the 1960's but people still insist on using the name C. pumilum.

In Australia there is an incredible diversity of groups of people from various countries, including from China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Thailand. It is within these groups of people that you find the tradition of single species collections. Although this type of collecting has diminished through the availability of other plants, some people maintain the traditions they grew up with.

Until fairly recently, most of the forms of Cymbidium floribundum, that were widely available in the west, were fairly non-descript browns with a pale edge or a supposed 'Alba'. This 'Alba' form is actually just a greenish form and not an albino at all. It is betrayed by the red spots on the underside of the column! There are reputedly true albinos of C. floribundum but as Andy Easton says 'there is no proof there is a true albino pumilum'. Buyer beware! Fortunately, a full range of interesting forms of this species are appearing on the market. There is even one commercial grower here that specialises in forms of C. floribundum. He rarely sells his plants and when he does the good quality ones start at Aus. $150.00. Thankfully, he makes a living from selling plants other than C. floribundum.

Over the years a dozen or so forms of C. floribundum have crept into my collection. I didn't purposely collect them. To be totally blunt, C. floribundum is not one of my favourite species. The flowers are generally short-lived, indifferent in colour (for most of them), not fragrant and every bug and its brother loves to eat the flowers. What it does have going for it is that it is easy to grow, clumping up into a specimen plant fast. There are 2N and 4N forms and those with pendulous, arching or upright flower spikes. Plants can range in size from 10 to 30cm tall when fully grown. The best thing is that a fully mature plant will live happily and flower profusely in a 6 inch pot.

While it would have been nice to include pictures of all the forms that I have, to be honest, most of the flowers look identical or much of a muchness. The main variation in most of these forms not being colour but ploidy level, plant size, disposition of the flower spike and number of flowers on the spike. The three I have chosen are three of my favourites and are the most distinct.

The first of these plants is 'Sina'. This plant has particularly dark and narrow petals and sepals with a clearly marked lip. The flower spike is arching and carries upward of 30 well-spaced flowers. This is the first form to bloom in spring. The leaves are also narrower than normal. Overall, the plant is very gracile and delicate to look at. It is actually very tough and a strong grower. This plant was imported from china and is probably a selection of a wild plant. It is a diploid.

Cymbidium floribundum 'Sina'

Cymbidium floribundum 'Pale Face' came to me with Japanese characters on the label. I asked my friend Bin at school to translate for me. It translated to 'The young woman with the pale face'. That number of words would not fit on the label so it got the name 'Pale Face'. It has the most delicate pink spots on the lip that complements the white and contrast in an interesting manner with the green of the petals and sepals. This is a robust grower with nearly upright flower spikes of 25-30 flowers. It is a tetraploid.

Cymbidium floribundum 'Pale Face'

Cymbidium floribundum 'Pale Face'

The final selection is one of the most expensive plants in my collection. You don't need to know how much was paid for it. If you did know the cost you might tell my partner, who would not be happy! There are much more important things to do with money!!! Well C. floribundum 'Tokiwa' epitomises everything that the Koreans find attractive in C. floribundum. First and foremost, variegated leaves. 'Tokiwa' has very strongly variegated leaves. It is a white variegation, the most highly prized type. The flowers are very special as well. Unlike most C. floribundums, the petals of this species are fairly wide and the flower is more widely spreading than normal. The colour is simply beautiful. You can see for yourself. The flower spikes are strongly upwardly arching and although they have only 15-20 flowers they are much showier than most other forms. 'Tokiwa' is a tetraploid. One further interesting point with this plant is that the flowers last twice as long as every other form that I grow. This is a real winner of plant. Great leaves, great flowers, and all on an easy to grow compact plant. The Koreans got this one absolutely right.

Cymbidium floribundum 'Tokiwa'

Cymbidium floribundum 'Tokiwa'

Cymbidium floribundum 'Tokiwa'

The final plant is not a Cymidium floribundum at all. It is a hybrid made with C. floribundum as one of its parents. Cymbidium Little Aussie 'Justin'. There is another clone of this hybrid that is even more spectacular called 'Honey'. 'Honey' and 'Justin' may in fact be the same plant, just purchased from different growers, variations of intensity of flower colour can vary depending on growing conditions. The other parent of this hybrid is C. Sussex Dawn. It has inherited all the best features of the species; compact plant, easy grower, prolific spiking with lots of flowers, and interesting colours. This plant, by coincidence, is called Little Aussie. It is really appropriate to put this plant on this post. I am writing this blog on the Australia Day long weekend! My friend bred this plant. You will have to agree that he did a great job! Thanks JC.

Cymbidium Little Aussie 'Justin'