Masdevallia amabilis - My first Masdie blooming

[Paphy]

Originally Posted by u bada

Andy has his under shade, at least 50% shade, but maybe as much as 70% from what i saw...

Yeah, that's what I've since heard about his nursery set-up. But the amabilis he and I were discussing were about his personal amabilis, one's at his home. He said they get full sun but at which point in the day was kinda unclear (I think mostly morning) and the overall duration as well was mirky, so miscommunication between us, most prob more on my end. Either way, no way I'm putting this baby back out in full sun.. 'ama-not-goin-back-out-there'.. 'ama-stay-just-where-ama-am!' lol

Originally Posted by u bada

A cultivar name can be given to a seedling of a species if it is particularly exceptional. Afterall, if you propagate a bunch from seed it is highly probably that they will not be the same. If awarded then you could clone it under that cultivar name. This is especially true for breeders that find a single plant of a species that has larger flowers or an errant color than others of same species... while I don't think clonal varieties are awarded to growth habit and such... some species, if not given a sub species taxonomic indication, may have a more prostrate growth, or a more vigorous growth habit, then these would definitely fuel a breeding program.

This amabilis for instance, if more heat tolerant, could lead a new breeding program for heat tolerant amabilis, patented, and could be cloned indefinitely, and that nursery/ grower could make a fortune if picked up by mass market... happens in garden plant industry all the time.

Looking at other pictures I took at andy's there was one i pictured that looked similar though...

Oh gee, you had me goin' there for a sec.. was counting dollars already. lol But it does make a lot of sense. Anomaly happens.

[silken]

That's a beauty!

[Kevinator]

Nice amabilis! I just got one too! Andy told me to give it full morning sun and shade in the afternoon, but i'm growing it more like my vietchiana, 30% shade cloth with full morning sun and partial afternoon shade.

[Paphy]

Originally Posted by Kevinator

Nice amabilis! I just got one too! Andy told me to give it full morning sun and shade in the afternoon, but i'm growing it more like my vietchiana, 30% shade cloth with full morning sun and partial afternoon shade.

Hi Kevinator- Thanx! I'm really enjoying this little one. I'm about to take pics of the first bloom again tomm. as it'll be 11 days old. I'm not really sure what the usual duration of these blooms are. But it now looks very different than the first days of peak color intensity that it's showing in these pics. I just want to show the difference as it matures. I'll prob post the pics here in this thread since it relates to my overall experience with it.

After my 'burning, near melt down' experience, I'm not going to risk any direct sun, at least for awhile, I'm way too gun shy and feel I dodged a bullet. For morning sun this one is getting light filtered thru 55% shade cloth. At noon it gets 70% filter. At late afternoon it goes back to 55%. It seems happy enough, the leaves show healthy shape and color and it's punching out new growth like no tomorrow. I wish it could get longer duration of light overall but my outdoor conditions prohibit that. I would say it's getting about 6 to 6 1/2 hrs total direct light and a couple few where it's still daylight but in total shade.

Looks like we're in close proximity... (SoCal).. Are you along the coast too? or inland?

I'm curious, which medium are you using for the vietchiana? clay pot I presume? and are you having great success with it here in SoCal? A friend of mine got one, and albeit she tried to grow in substandard indoor conditions,, along with a scorching summer (last summer), the poor thing didn't last 2 wks. She swore off Masdevallia but it only made me more interested, a silver-lining effect I suppose. Now I'm fascinated with ALL Pleuro's!

Oh, and one last question: What do you plan to do with your outdoor Masdie's once we get hit with our usual demonic Aug/Sept heat??

[Paphy]

Okay, here's some shots of the amabilis bloom at 11 days old now. There is a visible lightening in hue intensity... but the trade-off, if you will, is the striations are markedly increased giving it a striped candy cane effect. And, the frontside of dorsal sepal (is that right?) is now a more orangey-rust color which I like a lot. I think it harmonizes beautifully with the pink-fuschia. The whole backside of the bloom is mostly this same orangey-rust (you can see on side view shot).

[u bada]

Wow, the capture of the striations of the shadows in the background with the spikes forming and the open flowers make for a really fantastic image!

The coloring on that thing is truly amazing...

[No-Pro-mwa]

I'm wanting one real bad.

[Paphy]

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa

I'm wanting one real bad.

This is the color at first pop. Pretty intense.

[PaphLover]

Oh, gorgeous!

[Tindomul]

What an elegant bloom. Congrats.