Hi Guys,
its finally got to that time of year when we put our cyps to bed for winter as they die down.
The final check that I do is to scrape away the top dressing of expanded clay granules and look at next years' buds.
Its one of my favourite jobs. You can make a very quick and accurate assessment of how well they grew over the summer.
This is the plant of Cyp Sunny that I posted in the spring.
I bought it last winter from Peter Corkhill here in the UK. It arrived as a very healthy root with 4 buds. One subsequently flowered and the 4 stems sat for most of the summer in a fairly shady spot with very little sun. They received plenty of water and a bit of fertilizer when I remembered.
Its been the last one of my cyps to start to senesce - maybe because it was the most shaded?
You can see from the second photo that it now has 6 buds for next year and at least 3 look to be flowering size. I can't wait !
These new hybrid cyps seem to be quite easy to grow providing you follow a few simple rules and I'd recommend them to anyone in a suitable climate,
Regards,
David

Looks great, should be spectacular next spring!:cool:

Great! I'm sure I won't be the only one waiting to see pics of blooms next spring. :D

very nice plans.

Look at those healthy little budlings!:woohoo:

David,

I had to blow up your photo to see it better but I think maybe 5 of the 6 buds are flowering size. It certainly did very well with you and your climate.

I tried growing Sunny but it doesn't like the hot summer weather in the 90's. It perished very quickly. I am trying it again this Fall and will try to plant it in a cooler spot.

Congratulations on such a nice looking plant!

P.

Awesome...:cool: thnx

Very nice. I would love to get into cyp-growing in pots like this...someday...

Justin

Very nice progress! That plant should be quite stunning next year when all those flowers bloom!

Ron

Yup, that's how you grow them!

Nice looking plant:)
How do you "put your cyps to bed for winter in UK?
Outside or in the fridge?
Joakim

Hi Joakim,
I keep my cyps in their pots in the coldframe or cold greenhouse all winter.
We get plenty of frosts here in Cambridge, UK but very few serious freezes here so they're fine like that.
The coldframe/GH is more for keeping the rain off them. I water them maybe once or twice during this time, but generally keep them fairly dry.
I've been very pleased with the growth and rate of increase of these hybrid cyps since I started to grow them a couple of years ago. I probably have a dozen now and I've not lost a plant yet and ever since I started to fertilize and water them more frequently, they really do seem to increase quickly.
The huge white flowered reginae x fasciolatum that I posted in the spring has also got 6 resting buds, from one growth plus a tiny one this year.
The species I've tried seem to be much slower to increase but just as straight forward to grow.
I've had my reginae for 4 years now and its still has only one stem, thought it gets bigger with more leaves each year.
For next year I'm going to try Aki, Ursel and another of my favourite cross - Phillip, from Crustacare, Belgium that has been made with kentuckiense and a macranthos named 'red russian' !
Crustacare are also offering reginae x ( tibeticum x fasciolatum ) and this seems to be very similar in flower to the reginae x fasciolatum but with dark red spots on the lip. If it is it will be stunning.
Peter Corkhill is offering nearly mature plants of fasciolatum, so thats a bit of a no brainer as well,
Regards,
David

David
Thank You verry much for the information.
It is similar to how I grow/intend to grow mine in a similar but slightly colder climate. Southern Sweden.

How do You contact Peter Corkhill and Crustacare. With crustacare I had problems with the email on their webpage and for Peter Corkhill I did not find any web page. I know there are different ways of communication but internet is convienient when it works :)

Thanks again
Joakim

I just had a cyp. reginae re-potting marathon! We planted over 500 2nd season seedlings into 3" pots, with select large ones into 4 and 5 inch... I hope to see the first flowers on a good percent of them in the summer of 2008, they've really been growing well. This is the first time we have mass produced this species.

Cyp. reginae is native to MN and is also our state flower. After the first hard frost, I mulch them with about 3 inches of leaf mulch, preferably oak, but maple leaves and whatever else falls seems to do just fine (just raked up 15 garbage bags full from my yard over the weekend!). I am always baffled by how they survive the winters here as first year seedlings with 3 little roots and a 1cm new growth as we get down to 20, and sometimes even 40 below zero every so many years. Last year we hit about -18 or so (in northern MN -30 to -40 is normal every year). If you've never experienced this kind of cold, I recommend you try it at least once. Who doesn't want to feel their nose freeze just by simply breathing in air?!

I just had a cyp. reginae re-potting marathon! We planted over 500 2nd season seedlings into 3" pots, with select large ones into 4 and 5 inch... I hope to see the first flowers on a good percent of them in the summer of 2008, they've really been growing well. This is the first time we have mass produced this species.

Cyp. reginae is native to MN and is also our state flower. After the first hard frost, I mulch them with about 3 inches of leaf mulch, preferably oak, but maple leaves and whatever else falls seems to do just fine (just raked up 15 garbage bags full from my yard over the weekend!). I am always baffled by how they survive the winters here as first year seedlings with 3 little roots and a 1cm new growth as we get down to 20, and sometimes even 40 below zero every so many years. Last year we hit about -18 or so (in northern MN -30 to -40 is normal every year). If you've never experienced this kind of cold, I recommend you try it at least once. Who doesn't want to feel their nose freeze just by simply breathing in air?!

Hi Jason,

I didn't know Cyp reginae was the state flower of MN until I watched a show on HGTV a long time ago with your dad on it. :D Your dad on the show even showed a bog area in the woods with Cyp reginae growing naturally and it was pretty neat and I was very impressed!

Last year we hit about -18 or so (in northern MN -30 to -40 is normal every year). If you've never experienced this kind of cold, I recommend you try it at least once. Who doesn't want to feel their nose freeze just by simply breathing in air?!

Been there, done that, NO THANKS! Life in Florida cured me of ever wanting to live through another cold northern winter, let alone one that gets into the double negative digits! Even here in southern Japan I freeze my XXXX off each winter with temps hovering just above freezing for two or three months. Part of the problem is that older houses have inadequate heating and are so drafty you can forget about retaining heat in a room very long. It is a difficult situation for me and my tropical plants. Give me warmth!

Tom

BTW, right now is delightful out: sunny and dry everyday with highs in the upper 60's to low 70's and nights around 60. Now I could handle that kind of weather year round!