charlesworthii

[Leo Schordje]

Paph charlesworthii, a seedling from a flask I bought back in 1994 from AnTec. I have bloomed a half dozen survivors from that flask over the years, this one is my favorite of that batch. The others were sold or had perished over the years. Another Paph that has become an 'old reliable'. I love the intense color, but the dorsal size and petal width is not up to the standard set by the Orchid Zone breeding of the last few years. I believe its parents were plants that had originally been collected. One parent I believe was 'Pink Fan' HCC/AOS, the other parent was possibly a Joe Kunisch plant. So this is only an F1 from original stock. This plant has survived 18 years of my watering, and random, occasional episodes of neglect. One tough plant, I'll keep it.

 

[W. Beetus]

Great color!

 

[Stone]

I can understand why you like this clone Leo, beautiful shape, rich colours, very desirable:clap:

Mike

 

[Shiva]

I would certainly keep it as well. :smitten:

 

[emydura]

That is an intense pink. Great colour. I'd keep it but then I'd keep and charleworthii that would survive.

 

[SlipperFan]

18 years old??? Wow. Great plant! Beautiful flower.

 

[tenman]

Beefy. I like it; let me know when you get an extra piece of it.

 

[JeanLux]

A beauty!!!! Is that pink on the petals or a reflexion of the dorsal's? Jean

 

[Ross]

Still a very nice flower and toughness is the most important characteristic of any Paph!

 

[NYEric]

Yes, I agree. thanks for sharing.

 

[Leo Schordje]

A beauty!!!! Is that pink on the petals or a reflexion of the dorsal's? Jean

The petals really do have a pink flush this year.

What is interesting is that even though locally we are having a fairly mild winter, because there has been little snow cover and a fair amount of wind, my basement growing area has been cooler than normal. The cool while in bud really brought out the color intensity. The petals have a nice thin wash of pink that shows through the brown. The close up photo, with a little glare has natural light coming in from the right side, making the blues and anthocyanin purple colors 'pop'. The second photograph was taken with ambient incadescent light only (at midnight :evil: I'm a night owl) in the 2nd photo, the pink isn't quite as obvious. But the flush in the petals is there.

This clone has a lot going for it, which is why I have kept it all these years, and it is a resiliant plant, surviving neglect and bouncing back. Once it got shuffled to a back corner, and did not get repotted for 6 years, when I found it the bark potting mix was a semi-liquid mush, like decomposed peat moss. It did not have a single live root longer than 1/4 inch. I repotted it, and 2 years later it was blooming. I have been more careful with this plant since that episode, but it gives you an idea how sturdy this clone is. Definitely a keeper.

 

[SlipperFan]

Your basement is cooler because your furnace hasn't had to work as hard to keep the rest of the house warm. Bet that has changed, these past two nights!