Cymbidium Chen's Ruby

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mrhappyrotter

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Cymbidium Chen's Ruby (Cymbidium iridioides × Cymbidium Golden Elf)

https://www.orchidroots.com/display...27462/?role=pub&related=ALL&syn=Y&searchdata=

Oh. My. Gosh! In a category filled with stiff competition, meaning warmth tolerant intersectional Cymbidium hybrids with section Jensoa ancestry, this is a real showstopper for me. I'm of the opinion that it deserves to be at least as popular and well-known as one of its parents (the famous Golden Elf). I really cannot say enough good things about this hybrid.

It's hard to describe, but I don't see any photos online that truly and accurately capture the magical color of these flowers. Certainly my crappy phone camera does not do it justice.

The flowers themselves are well-above average size compared to my other Cymbs of this type. The foliage itself is on the compact side. Not really a miniature plant by any measure, but so far it's actually a bit smaller than many similar hybrids that I grow.

The flowers are nicely fragrant, and I can't even put into words how much joy this fragrance brings me. It's so wonderful. In truth, it isn't the most powerfully fragrant Cymbidium I grow, but it's good enough that I can smell a hint of the scent when I walk into the greenhouse. Kind of neat that the scent changes over the course of the day! Starts out smelling just like C. ensifolium, later on the (presumably) C. iridioides scent kicks in, which I have to assume is where the fruity-candy-peach-citrus tones come from, towards the end of the day it's back to C. ensifolium's perfumey fragrance.

For me, this plant has been non-problematic to grow. I got it from Ebay within the last couple of years. The person I bought it from lived somewhere in the Pacific Northwest of the USA and they said they were selling it because it did not appreciate their climate. Based on the condition of the plant when I received it, I would say that seemed like a fair assessment. Starting last year, I grew it in my minimally heated greenhouse. Summer temps can get way too hot (well above 90F/32C), and winter night time lows approached freezing. This plant handled it just as well as all my other Cymbs.
 

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