C walkeriana new awards

[catwalker808]

I finally sent some C walkerianas in for judging.

It was 3 weeks ago toward the end of the blooming season, but a few plants had nice blooms & there was an AOS judged show. Sent in 3 plants, these 2 were awarded. The third was very nice, but it had only one flower.

Left is C walkeriana 'Ruby Queen' AM/AOS 82 pt ('Sakura Snowball' x 'Divina')
Right is C walkeriana 'HR Winter Festival' AM/AOS 81 pt ('Sakura Snowball' x 'Perfect Blush')

[dounoharm]

congrats!!! you have beautiful blooms.....good growing!!

[Zoi2]

Congrats on the awards, they're both lovely.
Joann

[Carl Austin]

Congratulations on the awards. They're both winners.

Carl

[Hawaiian Sunshine]

Congratulations and great growing. Were the awarded plants bred by H&R?

[Brenda Aarts]

Amazing, well grown!! I can only hope....one day....

[tuvoc]

Bravo. Lovely blooms.

Kim

[Eyebabe]

How wonderful!
Congratulations on the beautiful blooms and especially the awards.

[RosieC]

Congatulations, well deserved awards!

[catwalker808]

Thank you for your kind remarks. This is the first time, in more than 20 years growing C walkeriana, that I’ve sent a plant in for judging.

Thank you Rosie & Ysa. It’s the first time I’ve seen the “Like” tags & I’ve read it’s a new feature.

Yes, I made both of the crosses. They came out as well as I hoped for, but better than I expected. ‘Sakura Snowball’ is a very good breeding parent. Years ago, when we first bloomed this plant, the flowers were excellent: semi-alba, with a full wide pink lip; about 5” (almost 13cm); full & flat; with a very thick crisp substance.

Since I associate so much with the Japanese C walkeriana professional growers & hobbyists, my first impression of the flower was of a huge white rice ball with a large red pickled plum in the center. But because “Ume Onigiri” (rice ball with pickled plum) didn’t seem very elegant for a name, I called the plant ‘Sakura Snowball’, instead. (Sakura means Cherry Blossom)

‘Divina’ is a small, star-shaped flower, but with dark reddish flames on the tips. ‘Perfect Blush’ is like a very round semi-alba, except with a bright pink picote (a narrow pink edge around the petals). ‘PB’ has also proven to be an excellent parent. I made ‘Sakura Snowball’ x ‘Perfect Blush’ very late in the season with old flowers, so the seed pod started to split at 4-1/2 months & had little seed. As luck would have it this turned out to be a very good cross. I managed to remake the cross & let the pods mature for 9-1/2 months. Lots of seed this time.

‘Divina’ is a division of a natural plant. The other plants are all from our own breeding lines.