A few new Neos.
 

I just received a package with a few new ones. Had a fun evening potting them up and now it's time to show off :D

Eboshimaru-Tanba, 烏帽子丸短葉 - This one is a seedling selection of Eboshimaru with exceptionally short leaves. I fell in love with the structure of the plant and the wonderfully round leaf tips.

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...mariTanba1.jpg

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...maruTanba2.jpg


Shunrai, 春雷 - This is an interesting variety that gets yellow stripes, but the leaves emerge solid green, only later developing the bright yellow stripes. The stripes emerge gradually in a mottled fashion, making the variety sometimes look like it has both tora and shima variegation. As a plus, the root tips are bright green.

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...4/Shunrai1.jpg

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...4/Shunrai2.jpg


Oemaru-Shima, 大江丸縞 - This is a famous variety with wide leaves and yellow stripes. Given certain cultural conditions it, like many other neos, can develop strong red pigmentation in the fall and spring which disappears over the summer.

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...marushima1.jpg

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...marushima2.jpg


Daisonishiki, 大壯錦 - This is a first generation Daisonishiki, also known as Daishogun 大将軍 in Japan. It's a large variegated beanie originally created by line breeding Fugaku and Tamakongo. The more recently deflasked seedlings are cheaper and more readily available but are generally much smaller in size to the ones from the first generation batch. Those will take 5-10 years to mature to this size.

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...sonishiki1.jpg

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...sonishiki2.jpg


Kongoho, 金剛宝 - The famous Tamakongo mutation with bright yellow stripes.

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...4/Kongoho1.jpg

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...4/Kongoho2.jpg


Taemyeonggeum, 太明錦 - This one is a Korean variety, famous for its wonderfully bright nakafu variegation which shows up exceptionally well on the stem area.

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...yeonggeum1.jpg

http://www.hakuminurushi.com/storage...yeonggeum2.jpg

Great additions that Kongoho is a wonderful looking neo.

Really spectacular varieties here. I really love how in Japanese cultural gardening traditions, really in all the traditions, subtle detail is really celebrated.

I do find it peculiar however how variegation is so highly valued given how unnatural it is/looks considering the more natural qualities they otherwise value. Working professionally with plants, I’ve noticed strong opinions on variegation in plants.

Few particular comments-

Shunrai is particularly appealing to me with the subtlety of the gold edge.

Oemaru-Shima is also quite beautiful with the red striping. I almost ordered a hakuseiryu for that same quality, but felt it’s something I needed to see in person and hope to find a good variegated one in near future.

How do you feel out the lighting to maintain these types of variegation?

In another note, you mentioned haworthias in another post and never quite made the connection that it’s a thing in japan, so now I may just have to seek out Japanese varietals like crazy. Lol.

Of course there are individual tastes, but variegation is historically an extremely sought after trait in Japanese horticulture. Variegated plants have been selected and cultivated in Japan with records leading back over 300 years.

While Japanese horticultural traditions definitely value the beauty of nature, they don't really shun human intervention and human artifice. Simply look at the idealism created by Japanese gardens and the whole concept of bonsai training.

There many different schools of thought in traditional Japanese horticulture, and not all of them have reached western audiences to the same level of awareness. While the horticulture of traditional gardens does strive for a sort of naturalistic idealism, many of the ideas and practices of Koten-engei (古典園芸) bothers less with naturalistic beauty per se, rather than the obsessive collection of endless numbers "strange" mutations, including dwarfed, contorted and variegated plants and pairing them with beautiful pots. When it comes to Neos, asian cymbidiums, dendrobium moniliforme, as well as non-orchids such as clivias, rohdeas, rhapis excelsa, and haworthias, it is this school of thought that really drives the demand and prices.


The Oemaru-shima, as mentioned above will lose it's red pigmentation as the seasons progress through summer. In my growing conditions, it is not likely to regain this much red pigmentation ever again. Many, many varieties of Neos will strongly blush red given certain winter conditions which include low temperatures and high light. This is not always considered a good thing for most neo varieties however, and Oemaru-shima, is usually a variety that is not encouraged by most Japanese growers to develop such strong pigmentation.

I personally don't mind it, but I will let it grow in my conditions and do what it does without trying to force it to turn red or not. Many Japanese growers in fact try to reduce the production of red pigmentation in the winter by drastically reducing the amount of light during these cold months. In the end it's all a matter of personal taste.


From experience and research, I have a general idea of what needs to be adjusted to get a particular class of traits to change. I then experiment with those adjustments to see if they work or not and go from there. If I'm completely stumped, I'll ask the Korean and Japanese growers that I know to see if they have any advice.


As mentioned before, Haworthias and succulents are a HUGE thing in Japan. They're more popular than Neos there.

Wonderful. I don’t grow Neos, this group seem like a bit of a rabbit hole, can of Pringles, or whatever euphemism you want to use.. but there is something so incredibly soothing about them. I’m not sure there is another orchid out there that is so artfully grown and beautiful, whether in or out of bloom. I love browsing these Neo pics! Thanks for sharing! I how can see how spending a day or two repotting these guys would be fun