The spring orchid show of the Orchid S
ociety
of Northern Transvaal was held on 22 – 23 November 2008, which was even later
than last year. However, despite being rather late in the normal main flowering
season starting in August, many well-grown, floriferous and colourful orchid
plants were brought to the show venue at
Brooklyn Mall in Eastern Pretoria by ONT
members. This included some seldom seen species and hybrids which made the
judges’ task to select the class winners and the champion and reserve champion
on show, even more difficult. It was also heartening to see how much the quality
of the flowers and the grooming of the plants by their owners for the show
improved over the last couple of years.
After judging was completed,
all the plants were attractively arranged on one large table-top exhibit. Thanks
to the thoughtfulness and diligence of the show chairperson Paola Copeman, all
the plants were labelled. This is very important in order to educate the public
but also to make it unnecessary for them to pull out the labels to ascertain the
names of plants. Taking labels out causes lost or misplaced labels.
The large selection of large
flowered Vandas and smaller flow
ered
Ascocentrum - and Aerides species in colourful hues of yellow and orange to
pink, lavender, wine – red and blue kept the judges very busy in selecting the
best Vandaceous species and the best Vandaceous hybrid on show. Eventually the
Vandaceous group also provided the Grand Champion and Reserve Champion plants on
show. The best Vandaceous species class winner was a very clean and well
flowered Aerides mitrata (new genus
Seidenfadenia) brought in by Henriëtte Ströh. The same plant was also selected
as a very worthy Grand Champion on show for 2008 and Henriëtte is to be
congratulated on this achievement. Seidenfadenia mitrata is a terete leaved
species from Myanmar
and Thailand
and grows under intermediate to warm conditions.
The Vandaceous hybrid class
winner was a very large, flat and full flowered complex hybrid
Vanda Robert’s Delight ‘Garnet Beauty ‘
FCC/AOS. It was also selected as the Reserve Champion on show. This hybrid
of two well known parents V Kasem’s Delight x V Madame Rattana has deep
raspberry pink flowers. Congratulations to Frikkie Marais who brought this plant
to the show.
The Best Specimen Plant on
show was a very large Phragmipedium
caudatum with many flowers in very good condition. Henriëtte Ströh is also
the owner of this well grown plant. This species grows as an epiphyte or
lithophyte naturally in the South American countries of
Bolivia,
Peru, Colombia, and Panama. Special mention must also be
made of two very floriferous specimen plants of
Eulophia petersii grown to
perfection by Ralph Smith. This indigenous terrestrial orchid needs a well
draining terrestrial growing medium, a long dry period during winter and warm
conditions to survive and is not easy to cultivate. Ralph is to be congratulated
on his achievement.
A special award was granted
to Christian Giesel’s Liparis formosana
or more correctly, Liparis nervosa. Although this species has insignificant
wine-red and greenish flowers, Christian’s plant has lovely green and white
variegated leaves and is particularly well grown. This species grows
terrestrially and occurs in Taiwan
and Japan.
An exceptionally bright pink
large flowered, Laelia majalis
(previously Laelia speciosa) was the Laeliinae (Cattleya type) species class
winner and Laeliocattleya Ann Akagi ‘H &
R’ HCC/AOS the best Laeliinae hybrid. Both were brought by Henriëtte Ströh
and once again are proof of her skill as an orchid grower and the good quality
plants she has. Laelia majalis occurs naturally in Mexico and requires special growing
conditions. Lc Ann Akagi has Laelia anceps in its back ground and should be
easier to cultivate.
Oncidium
phymatochilum (now classified in the genus
Miltonia) of Christian Giesel was deservedly the best Oncidiinae
species on show. This species has many small yellow-green and white flowers on
branched inflorescences and occurs in a large area in the
Americas
from Brazil in the South to Mexico in the
North. The best Oncidiinae hybrid on show was Paola Copeman’s
Miltoniopsis Evergreen Joy. The
perfectly flat flowers are pink-lavender with a dark maroon mask and are very
charming.
The
Paphiopedium bellatulum
of Henriëtte was best slipper species on show because of the particularly
good quality of the single flower. The flower was full, rounded and evenly
spotted. This orchid species hails from an area in Myanmar and NW Thailand to S
China and grows under cool to intermediate conditions and dislikes
being cultivated too wet. On the other hand
Paphiopedium Berenice (= Paph lowii
x philippinense), owner Paola Copeman, was selected the best slipper hybrid
because the flower was colourful. It has the distal part of the petals the mauve
colour of the Paph lowii parent.
The Dendrobium genus class
winners were respectively a semi-alba
Dendrobium parishii (owner Henriëtte) as best species and
Dendrobium Hiroshi Tokunaga (owner
Paola Copeman) as best hybrid. The Dendrobium parishii semi-alba with it’s
brilliant white sepals and petals and contrasting raspberry red lip is seldom
seen and very striking. The Dendrobium hybrid is very floriferous and has white
flowers (from Den. infundibulum, and Den. formosum) and bright yellow and orange
lips inherited from the ancestral species Den. cruentum.
Cirrhaea
saccata, a seldom seen species from Southern Brazil, was selected as the best miscellaneous
species on show. Christo and Aletta Page are the owners of this interesting
plant. It had two pedant inflorescences with many flowers.
Christian Giesel provided
the best South African orchid species namely a mounted plant of
Mystacidium capensis. This
particular class winner had quite a number of inflorescences with many white
flowers. Although small, the flowers were significantly larger and fuller than
those of the other plants of the same species on display.
Not many hybrids have been
made of South African indigenous orchids and are thus not frequently seen on our
shows. Pieter de Bruin’s plant of
Mystacidium Neil McCormick (Mystacidium capensis x Mystacidium braybonae)
was the exception. It inherited the best characteristics of both parents:
exceptional floriferousness, clear creamy- white flowers, fullness of flowers
from Myst. braybonae, etc, and was best hybrid on show made with South African
indigenous orchids.
The colourfull display of a
wide range of different orchid species and hybrids and good quality plants sold
by the 4 commercial orchid nurseries ensured a steady stream of visitors to the
ONT orchid show. Congratulations and thanks to Paola Copeman and her committee
on a highly successful show. A special thanks also to Marietjie and Emile
Houghton, who were in attendance for most of the 2 days of the show and the
commercial nurseries for their support.
