One of the parents is Odm.Florence Stirling - Dr.Stirling who made it was of the generation before me - he was an old gent' member of the Orchid Committee (RHS) who had a kindly word for the young man ( me) asking him about odont' culture , in the 1960s.... So of sentimental interest, to me, this cross. Odm Flo.Stirling btw was so variable that the long-gone Odont specialist nursery, once had 24 different colour variants of it as the cover picture of their catalogue. Yes, back in ancient days, orchid nurseries had printed catalogues...and their prices were almost exactly the same as today ! A young odont seedling in flower for the first time in 1961 when I bought my first plant, say US$25 - which at that time was what, say, a postman would earn in one week.I was not a postman- but I couldn't afford to buy many !
However, this is a first flowering since I bought it some 10 months ago , put straight into S/H - which these things really love. Should do better on the next bulb , although the object of making this cross was to get branched spikes into odonts, which needs extremely good culture to produce. rarely seen by amateurs, I regret - but the Eric Young Foundation ( of whom you will have heard ?) manages it a lot - they grow sopping wet in rock-wool , a recipe for disaster for most of us.
The pics
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