Cypripedium-2015

[Tim Harberd]

Hi David,
   Great video..



   What is the name of the larger (look like) pottery balls top dressing some of the pots?

Tim DH

[monocotman]

Tim
I am not sure what they are called. They may be a large form of hydroleca. I bought them from the local hydroponics store when I could not get the usual stuff.
They are a bit big for what I want and I will not be suing them again.
David

[ian mcenery]

some nice plants shown here

Here is one of mine in the garden Cyp Axel

[Corrado & Rina]

Reposted because of possible misidentification?

[monocotman]

This is a new calcicola from Holger Perner bought a few months ago.
Smaller than tibeticum and much darker.
Holger states that this is a true form of the species and not just a dark tibeticum,
David

[Hakone]

Gabriela

[Hakone]

Rascal and Aki

[johnw]

Rascal and Aki

Hakone  - Does your Phyllostachys aureosulcata have a barrier around it? If so how do you keep it looking so luxuriant?

johnw

[Hakone]

Yes , Phyllostachys aureosulcata harbin inversa have a barrier around it . I give them
NPK fertilizers.

[monocotman]

Another iPad video hopefully this time with a better commentary.
The plants are probably at their peak.



David

[johnw]

Thanks for the information Hakone,  Harbin-Inversa is a very good one but yours looks great.

john

[angie]

Another iPad video hopefully this time with a better commentary.
The plants are probably at their peak.



David

Well, thats me so jealous, brilliant plants and so well grown. Thanks for showing this lovely video.

Angie 

[hud357]

Another iPad video
David

Keep them coming - something for us beginners to aim for 

A possibly inflammatory  question though... I'm getting a little confused regarding the naming of plants.

Here was my understanding of 'naming' (translated into Sarracenia*)... I cross any 'flava' with any leucophylla and I get a moorei. Should I get an interesting seedling from the cross then I name it eg. 'Brooks'. 'Brooks' now becomes a particular result of the cross and the only way I can obtain a 'Brooks' is by vegetative propagation. I can never re-create 'Brooks' by re-crossing flava and leucophylla or, indeed crossing 'Brooks' with itself.

How does this work with Cyps? If I purchase a Cypripedium "Ulla Silkens", am I buying a clone or a (similar parentage) cross that might look like 'the photo'?

I don't mind either way, it is just that I would like to know how this works with cyps. I understand the idea that eg pubescens x shanxiense is a 'chance purchase' of a seedling from that cross but surely if I purchase a 'named' plant then I'm getting a clone of the named plant and not the random result of a 'similar cross'?
 


*small family of plants.

[monocotman]

Hud

When you buy a named cross you are buying a seedling with all the variation that this implies.
There are almost no clones of cyps available.
So Ulla Silkens is the result of a cross between any clone of flavum ( quite a bit a flower variation there) and reginae ( less variation in this species).
Depending on how they nick together you can have seedlings with little or a lot of variation in flower shape, colour, plant size etc etc.
So knowing which parents were used in a cross can be useful in predicting what the seedlings will look like.
There are a range of hybrids now using either a coloured macranthos or the alba form.
This white form tends to be dominant in the flower colour of the resulting seedlings whereas the coloured form produces reddish purple flowers.
But they are all the same hybrid or 'grex'.
The point about most of the popular cyp crosses is that there is some variation but generally not to much.
A photo will be a decent representation of what you should see in a seedling.
It is likely that in the future named clones will become available but this will take quite some time due to their slow rate of increase.
David

[SteveC2]

Further to David's answer, Ulla Silkens is equivalent to moorei in your Sarracenia example.  The names look different as the Sarracenia hybrids occur naturally and so are written as x moorei, or  x courtii.  The x indicates a naturally occurring hybrid.  The only commonly available Cyp which is a natural hybrid is Cypripedium x ventricosum.  All the rest are man made and so are written with a capital letter e.g. Cypripedium Ulla Silkens.

As David says there are very few examples of anyone naming individual plants.  The only time I have seen anyone take it a step further is when submitting plants for RHS awards.  For example in 2013 Jeff Hutchins submitted Cypripedium Vicky's Delight "Laneside Susan" and received an Award of Merit.  If he ever divided that plant each piece would carry that name with it. 

And two seconds after I posted I remembered Cypripedium Sebastian "Frosch's Mountain King" which is a selected clone of C. Sebastian.  Every plant of this clone will be genetically identical, but even then that does not mean that they will all look identical as environmental factors will have an influence.