Zygopetalum hybrid question--may have received wrong plant

[avian]

What is the difference between Zygo. Advance Australia 'HOF' and Advance Australia 'Blue Velvet'? I ordered a Blue Velvet but the tag reads 'HOF'. I called the nursery today but person who answered the phone was just taking calls and had no access to order info and advised me to call back Monday AM.

Parentage is the same: Titanic x Helen-Ku.

[Roberta]

The parentage defines the grex the "Advance Australia" part. If the vendor was selling different cultivars (perhaps under different catalog numbers) you do need to ask whether that was an error. Were you looking for a specific cultivar for a particular reason? Cultivars aren't registered (have no official standing) unless a plant is awarded. If you're looking the the precise characteristics of an awarded plant, then it makes a difference. But it is Z. Advance Australia either way.

[avian]

Sent an email and received reply from seller apologizing for the confusion and stating that their Zygos are sourced from a wholesaler in Hawaii and that they have received 'Blue Velvet' in the past but are now getting 'HOF' and they are basically the same. BTW, HOF received an AM from AOS. Didn't know that this seller might source orchids from other nurseries. Orchid looks healthy and has a spike with several buds. One has started opening but flower does not look right...only 4 petals and no purple lip and seems smaller than it should be. Hopefully the other flowers will be OK.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by avian

Sent an email and received reply from seller apologizing for the confusion and stating that their Zygos are sourced from a wholesaler in Hawaii and that they have received 'Blue Velvet' in the past but are now getting 'HOF' and they are basically the same. BTW, HOF received an AM from AOS. Didn't know that this seller might source orchids from other nurseries.

Relatively few vendors breed the plants that they sell. In southern California Sunset Valley Orchids, Santa Barbara Orchid Estate, Casa de las Orquideas, Cal Orchid (mostly) do. Andy is a mixture, though he does largely propagate what he sells. There are, of course, many other "original growers" in other areas, I wouldn't begin to try to compile a list. But the big growers certainly wholesale to smaller ones. Especially with mericlones, you are mostly buying from retailers if they aren't breeders cloning their own plants. Good retailers buy from good sources, and there are many good ones.

If you are buying a specific cultivar, if it was awarded and you can afford it, pretty much guaranteed that it is a mericlone. (Divisions of awarded plants typically sell for hundreds of dollars or more) Vendors often buy flasks, or batches of small seedlings from the larger growers, then grow the babies to a size suitable for sale.

[Fairorchids]

Even the nurseries, which do their own breeding, usually only do so within a few or several genera. They also buy material from other nurseries, in order to broaden their offering.

Also keep in mind, that the nurseries in HI have close to optimal growing conditions. They can produce blooming size plants in half the time it takes to do so in CO, IL or NJ. In other words, if we were to grow the plants from flask to BS, we would have to ask for $75 for a Zygo. Buying them from HI, we can retail the plants for $35-40.