2011 MOS Show

The Maryland Orchid Society annual show was held this weekend at the state fairgrounds in Timonium, MD. I went for a look on Friday evening and brought back the following images for you. This year the show seemed smaller than in previous years, and at the risk of being critical, there were a surprising number of flowers in less than optimal shape. I rather think folks should only send their best. That said, there were still several gems to be seen at the show.

First, lets look at some exceptional Cattleya hybrids:

Rlc. Lebenkreis, exhibited by Fishing Creek, was awarded an AM of 80 points at the show. It had wonderful color, velvety texture, and pleasing shape. The plant is bred out of Slc. Circle of Life and at first, that is what I thought I was looking at. A very lovely little thing.

A very nicely grown Slc. (a.k.a. Cattlianthe) Hazel Boyd 'Apricot Glow' HCC/AOS. This cross is of special note for its extensive use in hybridizing. Hazel Boyd was registered in 1975, and since, 154 hybrids have been registered which used Hazel Boyd as a parent. I don't know offhand how many grandchildren it has, but I'm sure there are many.


Incidentally, Slc. Jewel Box was a parent of Slc. Hazel Boyd. This clone is 'Dark Waters' AM/AOS, and is very well grown and bloomed out.






For this group, we'll end with Slc. Memoria Alvin Beggman 'Poem', which I thought was devastatingly cute. In fact, if you know who might be offering these wholesale, please let me know. The plant was very compact, and the color was clear and bright.

From here, we'll move on to Cattleya species, which have become a fascination of mine of late.

First up is Cattleya intermedia var. orlata 'Crown Fox' HCC/AOS. The plant was wonderfully bloomed with more buds emerging. A wonderful show of a nice variety with excellent color. I have some C. intermedia v. orlata seedlings in the shop.

C. lueddemanniana 'Lovelei' is another nice, but likely overlooked species. It has the look of a generic "big purple cattleya," but still has some nice markings that set it apart. Look at the venation/striping in the throat - very striking.

Laelia jongheana 'Turnberry' AM/AOS is a species I see occasionally at shows, and possibly I'm even seeing the same plant or couple of plants making the rounds to the spring shows. It doesn't seem to be a commonly grown species, nor commonly for sale as far as I've noticed, but it does produce very nice, flat, pastel but color saturated flowers, making a very pleasing image.

Last in this group is a very tiny Laelia bradei, with several sunshine yellow flowers on a tiny little plant. The plant was perched up on the top edge of the display, almost out of my photographic reach. This is one of those rupicolous Laelias, typically found as a low-growing, fleshy plant on rocky areas.

Following the L. bradei, we'll look at a couple other miniature species found at the show.

Cadetia taylori is a species I've always thought was adorable. This is a tallish one at perhaps 4" tall, and grown into a neat porcupine on its little stick mount. Flowers are typically about half a cm with fragrance like anise, though I've always thought if I sniffed to hard I'd snort them right up my nose.


Leptotes tenuis, approximately a 2-3 inch tall plant.




And no miniature selection would be complete without a cute little Bulbophyllum species. This one was labeled pleuro-thallianthum, which I've never heard of and isn't listed in the ISOPE database, but that isn't hard to do with Bulbophyllums. There are so many. Its flowers remind me of a species I once had called macroleum, but I think the growth morphology was slightly different.

In closing, I'll leave you with my favorite Paphiopedilum of the day:
This Paph. haynaldianum x philippinense had beautiful markings with striking contrast and clear, deep color. I suspect it wasn't finished opening, though, and as it matures, the petals will probably twist and may elongate. The only thing that would make it more awesome would be a dark pouch. But even still, I'd really like to have that.