First bloom magic

[TZ-Someplace]

This is Magic Melody x Mari's Magic which will undoubtedly get the name Magic Magic when someone gets around to registering the cross -LOL.

I got this seedling (1 of 3) from SVO in late October (still for sale as of 1/23/22). Probably in sheath or just maturing the new pbulb when it arrived, but I take full credit for the spike which appeared in the sheath in December. I cut off the second bud as soon as it cleared the sheath and once the bud started opening I put the plant in a covered translucent tote-box for 100% humidity. This is the bud that was blowing raspberries at me with the frilly lip sticking out of the bud for three weeks prior to opening.

The flower is 3.5 inches across. The first day, it opened greatly curled back-reflexed, and then last evening it was cupped, and today, midday it seems to have stabilized. The colors were Minnesota Viking purple and yellow on cream until today where the purple has expanded and become more of a dark fuchsia.

[Roberta]

Love those SVO creations... big flowers on compact plants. You can sure see the Tokyo Magic and Mari's Song in this one! Fred Clarke uses both a lot, to wonderful effect.

[itzi]

Wow! What a stunning bloom! Is it peloric? It looks like the petals are mimicking the lip

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by itzi

Wow! What a stunning bloom! Is it peloric? It looks like the petals are mimicking the lip

Precisely... That is the contribution of the Lc (C.) Mari's Song - It is peloric, and imparts that pattern to its progeny very strongly.

[TZ-Someplace]

It was not supposed to have the red ring around the petals and lip. Neither parent had that. I am wondering if it is luck of the draw from the genetics or if growing the bud cool (low to mid 60s) contributed (I read someplace that cool temp bud development enhances/darkens color). I guess I'll find out from the other two plants of the same cross but they won't bloom until hot weather.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by TZ-Someplace

It was not supposed to have the red ring around the petals and lip. Neither parent had that. I am wondering if it is luck of the draw from the genetics or if growing the bud cool (low to mid 60s) contributed (I read someplace that cool temp bud development enhances/darkens color). I guess I'll find out from the other two plants of the same cross but they won't bloom until hot weather.

This is a fairly complex hybrid... so the genetics can give you surprises. One of the charms of getting seed crosses (as opposed to mericlones) - you'll get variation, and may get something really special. They'll all be good... SVO uses excellent parents, but within the combinations, characteristics from several generations back can pop up here and there. Fred Clarke does very few mericlones - he prefers the creativity of new crosses to "predictable" clones. (He cloned some of the earlier Fredclarkeara After Dark cultivars, so very popular, but even there now he's do doing new hybrids rather than reproducing copies of what was popular in the past)