Shopping list suggestions for RHS London Orchid Show?

[Rowangreen]

And more displays...

Two from the Orchid Society of Great Britain
Two from Sanders
And something for paph and vanda fans

(there were actually quite a few more displays... hard to choose what to post and sometimes it's simply I missed getting a picture worth posting!)

[Rowangreen]

And some overviews of the hall... If you look, you can see some of the stalls at the back are quite crowded. There's stalls and displays to the left and right that you can't really see here. Talks were on a balcony area over the entrance, behind where I took these pictures.

[Rowangreen]

The Botanical Art Show:

This was in a seperate hall nearby, with entry included with the Orchid show. Besides artists exhibiting there were displays from the RHS collection, including a collection of autographs of royalty with floral borders and a display of 'portraits' of awarded plants (orchids...). Apparently these are done for awarded plants rather than photos as the colour is more accurate in a painting. These displays were 'no photography', but many of the individual artists were quite happy to allow photography!

[Rowangreen]

Sell Up and Pack Up!

Sell up was at 4.30 on Saturday, with the show closing at 5pm. While (of course...) specimen plants tended not to be for sale, quite a few of the plants on displays were, and could be reserved for pick-up at sell-up time. First photo shows the Laurence Hobbs display display, with raffle ticket on one on the plants showing it's reserved.

Next few picks are of people picking up a few last plants, off the displays or stalls. Then the boxes came out to load up the remaining plants (after 5 by the clock, so officially I shouldn't have still been in there... but nobody was chucking anybody out!)

[Rowangreen]

Guess who reserved that plant...

Here's another pic of it on display.
Posing with 3 travelling companions (had to have some didn't it?). They were also previously display plants and a bargain... One of the talks I went to said ferns could be good indicators of when things needed watering, and I went a bit mad...
And front and back views... It's interesting the pattern on the lip is different front and back. On the front it's red with white edging. On the back there's a red centre, then white, then paler pink around the edge.

[Rowangreen]

Well that's it, unless I get any requests that I can fulfill! Hope folks have enjoyed...

Being me I looked up my new plant on the RHS register. Apparently it's proper name with them is Colmanara Masia Red. Red is part of the grex not a clone name... And yes, it's still Colmanara. It seems to be an interesting case, as the parentage is not given, and is marked as n/a or u/k. Presumably either really unknown or the breeder prefers to keep it secret! Also there's some variation in the lip colours: I'm not clear if that's just individual/cultural differences or different clones.

It also smells of Nothing. I wasn't sure if I was imagining it at first, but since I've come into my kitchen (where it's currently hanging out) a few times, and it's been smelling of Nothing really strongly. I've a feeling it will not generally be listed as a 'fragrant' orchid, but it does actually give out a distinct smell, sort of dry and dusty. I'm telling myself it's the smell of the African plains, which is quite apropriate for a 'Masia', but I have a feeling actually there's a beetle somewhere finds it really sexy...

[ruli]

Thank you very much for the photos and the details. I liked very much that you have photos of the vendor's area.

[Rowangreen]

It being my first show the sales tables are what made my head spin the most! So many plants *g* I actually had a member of staff help me pick the 5 bargain plants. I really wanted to buy something from the Writhlington stand, but by the end just couldn't decide on anything! Hopefully I'll have more of a clue next time LOL.

[ruli]

Well, my first show will be in around 2 weeks, the EOC Budapest. I preordered a "few" plants, but I'm sure the temptation will be really big...

[Pelepel]

Wonderful pictures! I have tons of photos from the Pacific Orchid Expo I attended, and I understand about the "overwhelming" sense one gets when it is orchid overload.