Quote Originally Posted by JOHNnDC
Yes, Mike is tied with Peter for having the most gorgeous plants on the planet. Mike (and Peter), so what's the real deal with the length of the petals on phrags? Does each type of plant pretty much have a set length, or what? - i.e., this caudatum's petals looks a lot longer than Peter's plant in the other pic. I LOVE long-petaled phrags, but am wondering how to ensure that I get one that really is long-petaled.
Each species or hybrid will have a range of lengths, and it can vary a great deal. In hybrids, it may depend greatly on the quality of the parents used, maybe even ploidy. For example, I've seen Grande with 7" petals, and some with 18 or even 20" petals. The same *clone* of any given species or hybrid will tend to have a constant petal length across various bloomings, if healthy, although that may increase a bit if that plant is allowed to grow into a specimen. If you're willing to "settle" for 12" petals or so, which is still "long-petalled" in my book, then you can go for a hybrid like a Grande, Penns Creek Cascade, etc. But if you want the really long stuff, like 20"+, then you'll have to get a species, or maybe an awarded clone of Grande.

While we're discussing size, and I know that is a favorite pastime here, caudatum and warscewiczianum seem to have the most potential--while I've seen 16-17" ones, most run longer and awards have been given to clones of each of these species with 32" petals. wallisii is considerably shorter, maybe from 16" to 24" (which seems to be the maximum), and lindenii is a tad shorter still, 15" to 20" maybe. But you do get three petals with that one.