What the heck?? I don't understand their response.

[Ethan]

OMG, I'm such a dork.

I meant to say:

What a great job KIM has done growing that orchid for the last ten years. Not, Camille

I'm sorry to both of you - just got a little mixed up!

[Jehitch]

Originally Posted by Ethan

Jim -

I totally understand what you are saying. If you've worked hard to earn something, you shouldn't have that taken away from you. But, why not just be honest? I would rather say "it's a secret recipe" than say "I don't know what it's called".

Ethan,
He didn't say that he didn't know what it's called, he said, "At this time, the company does not identify its orchids by name. A numeric coding system is used, so there is no additional information that can be provided regarding your phals."

As a former journalist who has read thousands of press releases written in "corporate-speak," I would say those two sentences are very carefully constructed to say, in a nice way, "we are not going to tell you the name."

Jim

[tuvoc]

Originally Posted by Ethan

OMG, I'm such a dork.

I meant to say:

What a great job KIM has done growing that orchid for the last ten years. Not, Camille

I'm sorry to both of you - just got a little mixed up!

I knew what you meant! And thanks for starting this discussion, Fred,uhhh, Nathan,uuu, Ethan! It's one of those great ones that makes this place so fun!

Kim

[Ethan]

LOL - Thanks for understanding, Camille, ummm...I mean, KIM! hehe

I agree - these discussions are part of what makes the board fun. Afterall, I have no one else to talk to about orchids.



Jim, I certainly didn't mean and disrespect. I hope you don't think that I did. I understand what you are saying. I also respect them not wanting to tell me the name if they don't want to. If I grew an incredible hybrid, I would have a hard time seeing it being 'copied' by someone else. The point I was trying to make is that just like politicians, why can't they just be honest and tell it like it is? I have more respect for honesty than an indirect answer.

hypothetical situation: I bought there orchid, new the name of it, grew it for two years, had it judged in a show and got outstanding scores - wouldn't they be proud of being credited for hybridizing that orchid?

[Jehitch]

Originally Posted by Ethan

Jim, I certainly didn't mean and disrespect. I hope you don't think that I did. I understand what you are saying. I also respect them not wanting to tell me the name if they don't want to. If I grew an incredible hybrid, I would have a hard time seeing it being 'copied' by someone else. The point I was trying to make is that just like politicians, why can't they just be honest and tell it like it is? I have more respect for honesty than an indirect answer.

hypothetical situation: I bought there orchid, new the name of it, grew it for two years, had it judged in a show and got outstanding scores - wouldn't they be proud of being credited for hybridizing that orchid?

Ethan
I didn't sense any disrespect in your answer.
Unfortunately, you can't expect direct answers from a business. When I was a journalist, talking to corporate PR people was like peeling an onion: every time you peel back one layer, you find ... another layer.

In your hypothetical, I don't think pride factors in to their decision making. If a business has a product that is better than their competitors, they will try everything possible to keep that advantage.

We have a similar situation going on the the poison dart frog hobby. Conservationists in the hobby are pressuring importers to provide collection site data, so the hobbyists can be sure they are breeding frogs from the same location, and not accidentally hybridizing different color morphs.

The importers responded by creating fake names for the frogs they import such as "Eldorado," in an effort to placate the hobbyists while keeping the collection site location secret.

The problem appears to be that these fake names are based on the frog's appearance, so an "Eldorado" imported in 2008 may resemble the "Eldorado" imported in 2009, but they may be genetically distinct populations. This is causing some conservationists to pull their hair out.
Jim

[cb977]

I think NOIDS have their place in our little world...they're a great way for somebody to pick up a (usually) inexpensive plant and start experimenting without a large layout of $$$.

I have a number of them in my collection...but they were all purchased before I became a snob...specifically a species snob

I prefer to buy from a nursery keeping the personal touch in my collection, making sure the plant has a name. I enjoy entering my plants in shows and judged events and you need a name to do that.

[cloudswinger]

Originally Posted by Ethan

Also, from what I've read, the change from catts to phals has been largely because phals are more adaptable to the average home conditions than are catts. And if you think about it, how many phals do you see in mass production and how many catts do you see in mass production? Not as many catts...I get so excited when I see a pretty catt in ANY store...not so much when I see just another pink or white phal. History shows us that old fashions have a way of coming back in style again.

Also, catts were originally popular as corsage flowers, so when people stopped wearing corsages, orchid growers had to adapt to potted plants. Catts are probably coming back in the form of mini-catts.

Here in Florida we're getting the terrestrial orchids at HD as landscape plants, so I think the variety of orchids available to the mass consumer has actually expanded. And for the most part the orchids are labelled with names and grower, although the tags are easily lost in the store(and possibly switched around).I was at a orchid grower that also took in customers plants, and a bunch had no labels. So I asked about it, and they said that the customer didn't care(it was a batch of customer plants that they were storing). So even at the specialty growers, the customer often doesn't care about ids.