Dendrobium Sunny Vista 'Monster' x Dunokayla 'Tuyet' AM/AOS

[Dorsetman]

First flowering, both for me and the plant. Bred in Hawaii by a breeder/nursery famous for (among other things) the almost black catasetoid - Fredclarkeara After Dark. Hawaian and indeed US plants in general; are simply not available over here in Western Europe. I guess the people selling them have a big enough home market, so why engage in all the troubles and expenses etc necessary to sell half the world away. We did at one time get one or two good growers from Illinois visiting our shows, but I recall one getting very irritated when she was tod that to take home the unsold plants after a show she had to pay another CITES fee, and make an application which would take 6 weeks to process, and she vowed to stop visiting UK. Who could blame her ? Our loss, and the bureaucratic system to blame - but one devised by Kew ( our National Institution - a Government department ) , and as botanists they tend to say that orchids belong in the jungle ( or in their herbariums for "scientific use" ), and they would like to stop all orchid trade. Maybe they don't go that far, but they certainly don't do anything to make trade easier...
Rant over. One enterprising US trader, actually a specialist in paphs , offered a list of Dendrobium hybrids from this Hawaian place. Quite expensive, but nothing like them ever seen on sale here. So I bought half a dozen. That was about 18 months ago.
Took ages to start growing, but eventually all made super growths, better than any previous. This is the first to flower, with 4 spikes. One from each of the last four bulbs. This is the first spike to open.
Big flowers, 3 inches , almost 8cm, in the north south direction ( natural spread).
Have the curious habit of half closing at night, then reopening in the day.
I like it, a lot. I hope that the first spike will last until all four spikes are open, but rather doubt that.

[Sheryl]

I like it too! Rant on, I understand.

[Keysguy]

nice. looks like a pumped up speciosum flower.

Geoff- I guess I never considered your predicament about buying US plants. Have never done this but could you possibly access some of that stock buying through that famous online auction site? It seems as though a lot of US breeders sell through that outlet.

[Dorsetman]

nice. looks like a pumped up speciosum flower.

Geoff- I guess I never considered your predicament about buying US plants. Have never done this but could you possibly access some of that stock buying through that famous online auction site? It seems as though a lot of US breeders sell through that outlet.

That famous site actually has several versions. The US one is notusually available here, and I guess you would have difficulty in seeing the UK one. But “our” version does have e.g. Thailand and Malayan stuff, but my experience has been poor. Either the prices asked are ridiculously high, or the postage asked is as much as the plant, or alternativelythe plants on offer are practically ex-flask, and three weeks in the post for plants like that is hardly a flying start.
But maybe I will see if I can find a way to access the US site, out of curiosity....

p.s. I tried, and always had the UK site open....never got to the US one.

[Chris in Hamilton]

Nice! That'll make quite the statement when it matures.

[CattyRobb]

Really nice Geoff. Those big flowers are awesome.
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[JDT]

Certainly is Sunny, nicely done Geoff!

[zainal abidin]

Wow beautiful Aussie Dendrobium.

[nora_cy_lee]

Nice looking hybrid.