Orchid growing is not for the fainthearted. So I have the greatest respect for people like Sandy Gibson who grow from seed. The seedlings above are grown in a sterile environment in flasks until they are ready to face the new world. It is a very time consuming business and you are not guaranteed to harvest every seed. A single cattleya seed can take up to a year to get to a viable stage in the flask.
Breeding orchids is like any other lining. It is the crossing of plants for the purpose of isolating the best genes. Sandy has been doing this since the 70's and he has documented every cross. It is all recorded in ledgers like below. All neatly dated and referenced.
It is an absolutely beautiful flower. My mother always called every Oncidium a Cedros Bee so I was quite shocked and very impressed when I first came face-to-face with this beauty. The one below has been carefully bred by Sandy and is about a fourth-generation plant hence its sturdy shape and excellent colour.
The orchid below is Colmanara Wildcat and it does have a kind of jaguar-ish feel about it.
The one below is one of my favourites. It reminds me of birthday confetti. It is known as Epidendrum stanfordianum and it actually frilly.
Don't be confused by the shy look of this orchid. He's a big gun. This is Caularthron bicornutum "Galeota". He is what we know commonly as the Virgin Orchid but he is not white, but pink! And all his seeds have bred white. So more respect to you Mr. Galeota. Perhaps there are more of you in the Galeota forest but chances are that I will never see them so it is a privilige to meet you.
Don't be confused by the shy look of this orchid. He's a big gun. This is Caularthron bicornutum "Galeota". He is what we know commonly as the Virgin Orchid but he is not white, but pink! And all his seeds have bred white. So more respect to you Mr. Galeota. Perhaps there are more of you in the Galeota forest but chances are that I will never see them so it is a privilige to meet you.
4 comments:
Love learning about orchids on your blog - your really peak my curiosity about them.
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Orchids are truly beautiful, and the great variety of them is great!
Hello, my name is Brenda and I have in my possession an orchid which I believe to be the Cedros bee,I live in the central area of Trinidad,I got it from on the top of a west indian cherry tree which is in my back yard among two very old Julie mango trees, but I did not notice that there was a flower spike and it got damaged, I notice that the tip of the spike(took off the damaged part) has what seems to be a bloom coming out and along the stem of the spike there are two more of the same things(like what I would say is a joint. I wold like to post a pic of it so you can see, but I wanted to know if that is how the flower comes out or is it a new shoot coming out, I do hope that someone sees this post.
Hi Mags,
I would be very excited to see a picture. Can you send me a pic via email, my email is ronmil4@gmail.com. I can pass it on to an Sandy Gibson and he will confirm for you whether it is indeed a Cedros Bee. Thanks for your feedback.
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