You are reading "The Red Tag Journal". Stuff found in this section is NOT FOR SALE. I wanted a place on my website to post pictures and write about my greenhouse or garden, or whatever... If you find it here and you want it then check my Orchid Catalog (use the search box) because THAT is where things for sale will be found. If it here but not in my catalog, I will not respond if you write to ask me how much it costs or when it will be available or if I will sell you a piece or where you can find it.

This cultivar is twice the size of other P violaceas I have.  It’s flowers have somewhat green tips and are larger than the other violaceas too.  It was sold to me as Phal viridis but it’s first bloom ruled that out.  My belief is that ‘Millie’ is an example of what Eric Christenson, in his book “Phalaenopsis a Monograph” identified as a distinct population of P violacea from the island of Mentawai.  Although, while it does have the very long inflorescences that this population is said to have, it also has a ”somewhat flattened and fleshy rachis.”  So I don’t know.  Whatever.  It is clearly a violacea.

Here is the award description: Seventy-two flowers and 81 buds on two branched inflorescences measuring up to 69 cm on a magnificently presented plant with a very robust root system growing on a 27-cm by 50-cm cork slab; sepals and petals apple green overlaid olive; lip white, midlobes fuchsia, side lobes white, fuchsia picotee, basal [...]

I spent a great deal of time using “Phalaenopsis, a Monograph” by Eric Christenenson confirming to myself that this is P. kunsteleri and not P. fuscata.  The differences in the column and lip are subtle. 1.) “In P kunsteleri the fleshy central ridge below the stigma abuts the stigma.  In P fuscata the ridge is [...]

The parents of Phal. Ken Peterson ‘Yellow Border’ are  (Hausermann’s Goldcup ‘Everlasting’ x Golden Buddha ‘Gemstone #1′)  The primary difference between this cultivar and ‘Halo’ is petal shape.  This one is more star shaped.

DPE0468 Phal. equestris ’Leesburg’.  This cultivar is itself the offspring of  ‘Riverbend’, AM/AOS 87 points.  It looks very similar.  It is very vigorous.

This picture was taken when ‘Mr. Biggles’ was just a baby. The leaf span never got much bigger than about 6 inches but the roots took over a huge cork mount. This plant has produced an inflorescence with 50 or so flowers. They are fragrant and smell like grape candy to me.

Well, so do I… Written descriptions of crosses and pictures in orchid catalogs and on the internet can be a nightmare to the uninitiated.

Here is an example of a Phal seedling in a 2.5 inch pot recuperating from a bout of stem rot or crown rot. Phals are highly susceptible to rots of all kinds. In nature most Phals grow on the sides of trees with their roots exposed to moving air and their leaves oriented in such a way that water runs off and away from the crown. Grown in a pot the opposite is true.

It’s Phrag. klotzchianum. Really. No matter what the books tell you. Get the spelling correct the first time. It’s takes a minimum of 150 years to correct published mistakes. That’s bureaucracy for you….