Flowering of Chinese Paphs

[Bolero]

I was just reading about the flowering season of a number of paphs. Some flower in Summer, some in Autumn, some in Spring and some in Winter........so if you have a hybrid can they flower anytime?

What influences the season that a hybrid will flower in?

;-)

Thanks

Darren

[weng]

Hi Bolero,

You are right in surmising that hybridizing confuses the offspring no end. I don't think there is sufficient experience with Chinese Paphs yet, but some hybrid Cattleyas can flower twice a year as a result of hybridising with spring & autumn flowering parents.

Equally, some hybrids may inherit conflicting flowering triggers from their parents and become difficult or impossible to flower. The beautiful Paph Delrosi (rothschildianum x delenatii) comes to mind.

Weng

[ScottMcC]

A good place to read about slippers is here: www.slipperorchids.info

Stephen has compiled a ridiculous amount of information about almost every slipper orchid species and a great number of the hybrids. You could easily spend a few days sifting through it all...

[Ray]

In response to "what influences flowering in hybrids", the single most important factor is its overall health and vigor. The more highly "seasonally complex" the hybrid is, the less of a role the specific seasonal variations play, so a healthier plant can and will bloom more often and at any time.

[Bolero]

Ray, thanks for the information. It makes a lot of sense that the health of the plant makes a big difference to how often and when it will flower.

Scott, you're right!!! That is an amazing website and I didn't even know it existed. I have book marked it and will be going back to it regularly.

Thanks for the link.

[Patrick]

Hello,

I live in northern France and have a collection of slipper orchids. Re flowering of hybrids, I can add that Mme Martinet (callosum sanderae x delenatii) is a very shy-flowering plant, and I have made a cross of villosum x delenatii more than 17 years ago, that to date has never flowered. As both parents are winter flowering slippers I would think that besides the health of the hybrid and the flowering seasons of the parents the very nature of one parent (here, delenatii), has much to play in the flowering ability of the hybrid.

Greetings from France and thanks for the interesting postings.

[justatypn]

sweet a couple of paph's per season for year round blooming...