SHOW Reports
The first half of 2006 was busy for us with several
shows, the two more important for us being Jacksonville and Orlando, both in our local state of Florida. The Orlando
Show, put together by the Central Florida Orchid Society, was also the AOS Trustees Meeting, and this certainly
gave it a status of more than a local show. In this quick report we are going to show pictures of some of the most
interesting or showy plants we had a chance to put together. After the 3 hurricanes of 2004, I am glad to show
that we are recovering.
1- Jacksonville, March 2006
This has been one of our favorite shows for many
years now. It also happens that it is held in a time of the year when we have lots of Brazilian Cattleya species in flower. Here are a few pictures.
View of our display, with mostly species. Cattleya intermedia and C. loddigesii
were the bulk, with also several
specimens of C. lueddemanniana and a few rupiculous laelias. It is interesting most people
think that Cattleya species don't last for more than one show, but we had several
on display that were open for more than 2 weeks before the show and a few even lasted for Orlando. That is about
5 to 6 weeks!!!
These three plants opened their flowers about 2
weeks before the Jacksonville Show, went also to Orlando and finished their flowers about a week after the Show
(that is, less than one week ago). The two intermedias represent about the highest quality one can expect from
contemporary seedling batches of the species. The Cattleya
loddigesii is sister of the one that
got an FCC/AOS a few weeks ago. The quality of this seedling batch is simply outstanding. Flower at more than 5"
across, excellent shape and substance.
2- Orlando, April 2006
Detail of the front middle of the display, where
most Cattleya intermedia plants can be seen (including the two from Jacksonville
show 3 weeks before) and also a plant of Laelia
jongheana alba which got best show
plant in its category. Detail of plant shown below.
The right front part of the display, showing the
first blooming seedlings of Cattleya
intermedia on the back left side.
In the center, our (by then) Cattleya
nobilior that got an AM/AOS of 82
points (Frank Smith from Krull-Smith Orchids is now the happy owner of it). Detail of the plant below.
Again, the two Cattleya intermedia
from Jacksonville, still in prime condition! And before somebody asks why they have only one flower, these are
second blooming seedlings that bloomed out of season the first time.
Two more showy plants. On top, Cattleya intermedia orlata 'Miranda Orchids', probably our best plant of this variety. Below, one of the first blooming
seedling, still in a 3" pot. These are producing flowers with rounder shape than the norm (and this is what
we expect, of course)
The Orlando Show was also good in other respects.
I had a very good response to my presentation on Brazilian cattleyas, where we had a long discussion how to separate
pairs of related species (as for example, Cattleya
loddigesii and C. harrisoniana), and also on problems caused by artificial propagation (like several hybrids touted as
pure species - a big problem for the future preservation of species).
Francisco Miranda
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