hilltop orchids, indiana

[seabead22]

Has anyone ever been here or have any feedback on them. I may be in the area very soon.

[Ralphonso]

It is a good sized greenhouse with friendly people. They have a wide variety of phals, paphs and some others. I highly recommend going.

[Stray59]

I have visited Hilltop Orchids several times as it is only about an hour away. Recently I purchased a HUGE pescatorea in bloom, several bulbophyllums, a paphiopedilum and some cattleya hybrids from them. They are very friendly, Dick will talk your leg off about orchids (he is a true enthusiast, not just a commercial grower). He mainly focuses on phalaenopsis and paphiopedilum crosses. He recently bred the closest thing to a black paph that I have seen. It was recently rated extremely high and will be moving into marketing soon. He also has several phrags - I'll post some pics if people want - I am sure he would do postal deliveries if you wanted. Great place to visit and very reasonable prices.
Steve

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by Stray59

I have visited Hilltop Orchids several times as it is only about an hour away. Recently I purchased a HUGE pescatorea in bloom, several bulbophyllums, a paphiopedilum and some cattleya hybrids from them. They are very friendly, Rick will talk your leg off about orchids (he is a true enthusiast, not just a commercial grower). He mainly focuses on phalaenopsis and paphiopedilum crosses. He recently bred the closest thing to a black paph that I have seen. It was recently rated extremely high and will be moving into marketing soon. He also has several phrags - I'll post some pics if people want - I am sure he would do postal deliveries if you wanted. Great place to visit and very reasonable prices.
Steve

they do mail order and I can rate them highly on that.
Darn - I need to go and see them. Would love a mature Pescatoria.

[Stray59]

Here is a pic of the pescatorea that I purchased - it was humongous and in bloom. I counted like 15 new starts crawling all over it!
Steve

[orchidsarefun]

that is a real beauty ! Congrats. What pesc is it ?
It looks like this one, but can't tell...

Pescatorea wallisii at Santa Barbara Orchid Estate

[Stray59]

dam - you are GOOD! Yes it is wallisii and when I bought it is still had 5 blooms to go - wonderful smell as soon as the grow light pops on and throughout the day. I was not sure if I wanted it at first, but it only took a second to convince myself I could not live without it. Do you know if anyone is using it in breeding crosses? If so, what are they breeding it to?
Steve

[orchidsarefun]

I see via OrchidWiz that there are 8 progeny listed.
One cross was registered by Ray - a member here. If he reads this maybe he can comment. ( Wzt Heaven's Bank ) and its the only one with a photo. The bloom is very attractive. His was the last registered cross in 2008.The first to another Pes was in 1967 !
There are crosses with 2 other Pes, and the others are various. Its difficult to judge how progeny will turn out if there are no photos.
You should have tried selfing yours, just as an experiment.

[Stray59]

Great Idea - I have no idea why I didn't think of that -- I tend to try to self X with anything that is in bloom around here. I still have blooms coming on the pesc, one opened today - I will give it a try and see what happens! Will keep you updated!
Thanks for the idea -
Steve -