C. walkerianas, 'Tis the Season

[mab3362]

'Tis the season for walkeriana's. Here are some recent walkerianas in bloom that I have and a Walkerinter. Enjoy, too bad you cant smell them through the web!

C. walkeriana coerulea
C. walkeriana coeulea 'Andy' | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

C. walkeriana select form
C. walkeriana select | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

C. walkeriana
C. walkeriana '242' | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

C. walkeriana tipo wild form
C. walkeriana | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

C. Walkerinter (primary hybrid between C. walkeriana and C. intermedia)
C. Walkerinter | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Sorry, but its too much trouble to make photos smaller to post directly

[krystle]

very nice they all look beautiful!

[P&S]

I love walkerianas!
You have some realy fantastic flowers from your plants.
Thank you for sharing with us.

[tuvoc]

Great bunch! I have a question about the 'tipo'. Is it fairly representative of the wild form? The reason I'm asking is, that if it is, it seems that they have had almost all the 'wildness' bread out of them, like the intermedias we see today, which bear little resemblance to the wild forms. Just curious.

Kim

[mab3362]

Well, alot of the wild/field collected and thus older plants do have that non-flat form. So yes there has been alot of improvement in shape with years of breeding.. that being said, there have been several field collected cultivars that have had excellent form and shape that look line bred, such as the Luiz Castro walkerianas, Divinia, and a few others. Alot but not all flatter walkerianas of today may have some 'Pendentive' breeding in them as well which does improve their form but makes them questionable as pure walkerianas. Such as 'Kenny' FCC/AOS, 'Elizabeth' AM/AOS, 'Linwood' AM/AOS, 'The Chairman' AM/AOS, and several others. However, the AOS does currently consider 'Pendentive' to be a pure walkeriana although this is highly controversial and doubtful. (see threads by Catwalker)

[Duane McDowell]

I really like the '242'. That's a beauty!

[Anglo]

Hey mab3362, it's nice to see another walkeriana grower in Texas -- I have a couple of them blooming and budding in San Antonio!

[mab3362]

Anglo,
Yes they do pretty good for me here in Texas. Did I get my Luiz Castro division off you on ebay? Its doing great.. Maybe it will bloom next year..

[Anglo]

Oh yes, that’s right! I remember now mailing it to Houston. I originally got a piece of 'Luiz Castro III' as a three-bulb division from Brazil in December of 2007. It grew beautifully, but didn’t bloom until May 2010. I think it was confused for a couple of years by the reversed seasons. It should be completely readjusted by now. My plant might bloom again this winter. There appears to be a swelling toward the top of a developing new growth.

The first blooms were from the top of a pseudobulb rather than from a flowering growth -- which by the way, has been very common in my experience with walkerianas, even though they are known for blooming from flowering growths. Some plants consistently bud from flowering growths, some bud from normal pseudobulbs, and some alternate, doing it one way and then the other. I don’t know if it’s genetic, cultural, or what. I sometimes wonder if maybe they decide which way to flower based on environmental conditions, energy reserves, or some set of conditions at the time.

But I’m getting off the subject. Keep us posted on when your division flowers. It would be interesting to see if both divisions bloom at about the same time(s).

[smweaver]

Fantastic blooms on all of your plants (I even like the wild tipo one; even if it's not flat, it's still a really pretty flower). Congratulations.