Well, after a month almost all spikes stalled/died, but Phal hieroglyphica pulled through with 3 buds on 3 spikes, nice ratio!

Funny thing is that out of the compot it was in, it's the only one to bloom with regular colours. Its siblings have very pale orchre patterns on a yellowish background.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c61ee171_k.jpg

Beautiful Phal! Is it possible that the siblings are the alba form? Sounds a lot like it based on your description.

You bet I would have kept them if they were :biggrin: they're just a paler form than usual, but not alba/flava/decolorata or whatever.

you ditched the sibs?! whaaaat?

Hiero grows fast and big, and since I didn't like the blooms of the other ones, no need to sacrifice space for plants I don't fancy!
No plants were harmed, I simply used to trade stuff with the local greenhouse owner.

i meant to tell you that while we don’t have much/anything to really offer you for a trade, we would always entertain any offer :biggrin:

not sure how we would go about trading across the border, but we might be able to figure something out

I don't have much at this point unfortunately, I got rid of some stuff before moving.
Maybe Phal Little Sister, but I might cross it with Phal lobbii.

One more: Phalaenopsis javanica

I hit the anti-jackpot with this one, its parents are alba/semi alba, and was expecting an alba as well.
Fortunately it's a very strong grower with good genetics, I will self it in hope of getting a bunch of nice alba.


https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...49f94ae1_k.jpg


Unusual species from... Java; where it was poached so much, it was thought to be extinct in the wild.
Flowers are very small (about 2cm) and cupped downwards. Those traits are dominant and pass onto its progeny, making it undesirable and underused in hybridization.

Very cool species that stays rather compact, and can have dozens of spikes at once, blooming with unique, slightly fragrant flowers.

They are all very nice!

Your thread reminds me that I should resize and post the pictures I have been taking of my orchid blooms. Maybe after the bud opens on that small Cattleya that will have its first bloom (hopefully a nice one).

What a shame about that javanica! So as we were thinking, the genetics behind flower color are rather complex for this one... It would be interesting to self it, and if you kept a lot of the offspring and bloomed them, the ratios of the different colors would give you an idea of what's going on.