Cymbidium Bulbarrow 'Friar Tuck'

[Dorsetman]

Bred by my now late friend, Keith Andrew , who developed a whole line of pendant flowered cymbidiums using Cym.devonianum as the influential parent.
Named for what is the second highest hill (Bulbarrow)in the county which I love , and where I now live .
It is not all that high, Dorset is not a mountainous place, but the top is at about 1000 feet, and there is a walk I used to do starting from the top, walking down to a village at the foot of the hill, close to sea-level, and then back up. About 12km, 7 miles and a favourite which I guess I shall not do again in view of advancing years.
Friar Tuck was of course ( ? if you know the UK tales about Robin Hood, who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, in the days of King John - in about the year 1200...)one of Robin Hood's men.
I do like a bit of background on my orchid names...

This plant is a meristem , unusually - since Keith did not approve of them because one of his - V.Cambria 'Plush' FCC was meristemmed to death , more than 2 million plants being produced every year for several years, and he never made a penny out of that. Whatever, Keith has gone now, and a Belgian nursery either meristemmed this grex , or bought some in, and jolly glad I am about that, since although Keith was an acquaintance and then friend for 50 years, he was a bit near ( and I wonder if that Yorkshire expression is understood elsewhere ? I mean he was generous with his knowledge, but not with his plants, and never gave me one - but welcomed me with open arms when I took a coach load of potential customers to his nursery from whatever orchid society I belonged to).
This plant, this grex, I Love it.
First flowering shown here.

p.s I just added a second pic to show the pendancy of the spike. Sorry about the light in the background ( from a growlight further along the bench) - but the plant is plumbed in to a drip-line, and I did not want to disturb that to take the plant out for photography.

[CattyRobb]

Very nice. Well done. I love the stories you share about your plants. It’s nice to hear them.

Cymbidiums are the one type of orchid I most wish I had room for. Maybe I can get one of those Chinese miniatures when the current batch of plants are fully culled. Unfortunately there’s not much room to winter a large one. I used to be a floral designer many years ago and I would marvel at the color variety and long lasting cut flowers. In fact, I think cymbidiums can be credited with my initial interest in orchids. Pity but I’ve never had the conditions and/or space to be able to grow them.
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[JDT]

Beautiful display of blooms!

[Dorsetman]

Very nice. Well done. I love the stories you share about your plants. It’s nice to hear them.

Cymbidiums .....I would marvel at the color variety and long lasting cut flowers.
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When i started growing orchids in uk, everyone here grew cymbidiums. My first collection, all sold when I was sent abroad to open a new office, was of awarded cyms of what were then called “miniature cyms”. The standard ones, before miniatures started, had been bred to be ever bigger and bigger - the plants as well as the spikes as well as the flowers. The standard greenhouse for an enthusiastthen was 12 x 10 ft. When it got that you could only get a dozen mature plants in, we all went off them.
The first miniatures were Cym. Formosum x any good hybrid but after that the big ones disappeared, and breeding got more and more complex, and now I don’t think there are any divisions at all.
But there are still a few of the old ones I would grow if I saw them about - Esmerelda for example - 30 green and whiteflowers on an arching spike....

[Roy]

Been a day or thousands since I first saw this Cym. Still like it as much as I did back then.

[Sheryl]

It's beautiful Geoff!

[Keysguy]

That's beautiful Geoff.
Cyms are my wife's favs. Had several in our GH up north (and boy do they take up a lot of space!) but they tend to not flower here in FL.
We are trying some "warm tolerant" crosses now but in spite of it having been a fairly chilly winter so far, still not a spike in site.

[Dorsetman]

That's beautiful Geoff.
Cyms are my wife's favs. Had several in our GH up north (and boy do they take up a lot of space!) but they tend to not flower here in FL.
We are trying some "warm tolerant" crosses now but in spite of it having been a fairly chilly winter so far, still not a spike in site.

I have heard of growers watering with iced water in the summer, when the spikes are initiated, to get over that problem. Done by places in California, so I heard.

[tibs480]

Just beautiful!

[zainal abidin]

Amazing black lip really nice Geoff.