Dendrobiums at Bournemouth Show. First of two postings.

[Dorsetman]

Dendrobium kingianum alba. I had this once and did grow it and flower it well – that was many years ago, living in a different part of Uk with a harsher winter, and different growing houses, including one glass-house heated to just about 7 or 8 degrees C in the winter ( used for Disas mainly) and I put it in there for months and months… I also found that the colder it got, the paler the flowers. True alba ? It had been down to 5 ; pale pink ? only 10, and so on. Now my one heated greenhouse is too warm, and my unheated tiny (tomato ) house is too cold in these past winters , so never a flower. BTW - seeing the pics displayed I may have confused the two kingianums as to which won the Novice cup - but that won't affect these postings, its just for the record.

Dendrobium spectabile – also on the Society stand and at the back so that I couldn’t get to read the label – could be the hybrid D.New Guinea ? Or another – one of the smaller UK nurseries did a lot of breeding in this group a few years ago but when I asked for one recently I was told they had long all been sold.

Dendrobium kingianum x Dendrobium tetragonum - I think this makes Dendrobium Ellen ? If not, it looks like it.