Hi Guys,
We've had a slow spring in the UK with a cold April holding back the development of all the cyps apart from formosanum which I had to bring inside to protect the flowers.
Its finally warmed up in the last week and things are really moving.
All the cyps had several nights of slight frosts as they were emerging, including this one, but it didn't have any effect on any of them.
This flower bud on fasciolatum is a first for me and I can hardly wait to see the final result.
Its a seedling from Peter Corkhill in its second year with me.
The flower appears to have a 'crease' across the lip to accommodate it during its growth within the shoot.
You can just about make it out on the top of the flower.
I hope that this irons itself out as the bud develops.
Does anyone know whether this is usual?
I hope that this means it will have a large flower, not a deformed one!
I'll post a photo next week when its fully out - it is growing very quickly now,
Regards,
David

hello David,
lets wait and see what will happen.
this is my fasciolatum seedling from Peter Corkhill,
fairly nice clone and true to name, not that "imported stuff" ;)

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/6779/1fasciolatumpeterzy1.jpg

enjoy and let us see YOUR pic later :)

best
dieter

Beautiful cyps, both of you!! :thumbsup:

so pretty:heart::heart::heart:

Wow thats very nice!

Wow...awesome cyps!:cool:

They are gorgeous thank you guys!

Looks fine David. Nice to see such a healthy specimen...speaking of which, those are fantastic Dieter!

Be sure to post more shots as things open up guys. Thanks!

Hi Guys,
thanks for the messages and Dieter - that is a great shot of your fasciolatum.
This flower has emerged a bit more and now its possible to see all the flower parts.
Its coming up out of the shoot 'backwards' and almost fully developed.
I've not seen this before.
You can see the translucent 'windows' at the base of the flower to encourage insects to crawl in the correct direction and ensure pollination as well as a well developed column.
The sepals are a pale yellowy green with faint brown stripes, rather like Dieters' flowers.
I suppose that is not surprising as they are likely to be seedlings from the same batch.
I'll post a final photo when the flower finally emerges and swivels round into the correct position,
Regards,
David

Very nice Cyps, guys! :thumbsup:

Wow thats a great pic!

Isn't that different! I can't wait to see the finished product! :thumbsup:

Hi Guys,
final photo of the open flower.
The crease didn't work its way out of the flower but a side shot manages to hide it.
Not as much brown striping in the sepals as some I've seen -its almost a 'concolor' - but I'm still well pleased with this result from a first flowering.
Thanks for looking,
David

Very nice plants! I am really pleased with the way fasciolatum is doing here in New England. I have plants this year (their third season with me) that have gone from one stem the first season to four now. So far, however, I have had low yields of protocorms from their seed. I need to experiment with the medium as I get lots of early protocorms but most die, leaving only a relatively few nice seedlings. Curiously, we have been making many hybrids using fasciolatum and every one of those has produced seedlings that grow rampantly - some even faster than reginae.

Ron

Hi Ron,
I have to agree about fasciolatum as a parent.
Here is a photo of Sunny ( fasciolatum x calceolus) flowering today.
Its been treated the same as the rest of my plants but is twice as vigorous as any other.
It started off two years ago as 4 growths and one flower, progressed last year to eight growths and 5 flowers and then this year has twelve growths and nine flowers.
The plant again came as a seedling from Peter Corkhill and he tells me that the rest of the cross have similar levels of vigour.
I just wish that some of the other plants grew so well!
Regards,
David