Moon Shadow, Klehm & Home Depot

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Leo Schordje

wilted blossom
Joined
Aug 22, 2006
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Location
NE Illinois
Jackpot :rollhappy: :rollhappy: :rollhappy:
I wandered into Home Depot on Dempster in Niles, IL today, looking to have a key made. I could not resist browsing the orchids. For those who don't know, Arnold Klehm Grower, is one of the orchid suppliers for the North Central Distribution area for Home Depot. This means his plants can appear in Home Depots from Minneapolis to Memphis and east as far as Detroit. There are at least 3 maybe more wholesalers servicing Home Depot in this region, so I am not saying everything there is from Klehm's. For a number of reasons Arnie no longer encourages walk in retail customers, he simply does not have time. I see him at AOS judging regularly, and we often talk. I know he occasionally will slip surplus divisions of seriously top quality plants into the stream of first bloom seedlings that make the bulk of Klehm's Home Depot product line. Arnie is an AOS judge and a serious breeder, all his crosses, even though they are being sold for the "Potted Plant Trade" are crosses he makes to bring Phal and Paph breeding forward. So his product is as good as any other serious breeders.

SO whenever you are in a Home Depot, it is worth looking for the orchids whose bar code price tags include the word Klehm, that means its his product.

Look what I found:

Moon-Shadow-3-3-2010a.jpg


Paph Moon Shadow '10-92' (Snowram x Skip Barttlet) - I recognize the clone designation to mean a plant he selected for his stud collection in October of 1992. Back when he had retail trade, he would sell divisions of this plant for a couple hundred bucks. I got it for $25. Wowzers. The pod parent Snowram is 25% FC Puddle, and Snowram was a cutting edge exhibition white of the early 1970's. The pollen parent is Skip Bartlett, the current top stud plant for creating whites. So this is a white x white. The natural spread on a small 1 growth & new start division is 12 cm, or a little less than 5 inches across. I expect it to improve with time. Not as big as some of the whites that Dean has been showing us, but for $25, who can complain? This is a top shelf exhibition white at a Phal price. Wow.

But wait, that is not all, look what else I found:

Pescatoria-coronaria-Andrea-3-3-10a.jpg


Pescatoria-coronaria-Andrea-3-3-10b.jpg


Pescatoria coronaria "Andrea" AM/AOS
this is a division of the original plant found by Andrea Niessen of Orquideas de Valle, Cali, Colombia. This is probably the finest example of the species in cultivation. Arnie had a division of this plant from Andrea, and it was the one he used for many of his (Pescatoria x Cochleanthes) crosses. Back in the 1990's I tried to buy a division, and the price was $$$. Got it for $17.50. The flower is more reflexed this blooming than it usually is, this is only a one growth and new start division. It will need to be a multigrowth plant to put on it AM worthy show, but I don't mind waiting, having seen what it can do in the past.

So remember, Arnie sometimes slips surplus from his reserve benches into the Home Depot. Its like playing the lottery, if you are there and the first to notice the special plant, it is yours for a small fraction of its collector value.
 
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I'd love to see these at my Home Depot. But all I get is some unnamed paphios, cyms or phals.
 
Lucky find, Leo! I was browsing the orchids at my local Home Depot on sunday. They had a bunch of sorry looking no-tag Phals and a couple of out-of-bloom Cymbidiums. Not a single Phal or anything unusual. I guess that not all Home Depots are created equal.
 
Very interesting scores Leo! No home depots here, but I've seen some neat stuff at a couple home improvement stores (like HD but about 1/4 the size) - mostly mini-catts, pleione, a few native orchids, and even a bout of delenatii hybrids for a while - that's were I got my Armeni White, Deperle, and Lynleigh Koops.

Love the Pescatoria esp!:clap:
 
You are a wealth of information Leo! Thanks for sharing, I am sure a few people may benefit knowing these might show up at local stores. Of course, you have the advantage of knowing what is a good find. I really like the White Paph!
 
Wow, Leo! Arnold must know which Home Depot you frequent! I don't think I've seen orchids of any kind at our Home Depot in recent years.
 
Wow, Leo! Arnold must know which Home Depot you frequent! I don't think I've seen orchids of any kind at our Home Depot in recent years.


:rollhappy: I am certain he did not know which store I was at, the Niles store is nowhere near where I live, I was there making a key for my parents, some 45 miles away from my normal Home Depot.

I doubt Arnie plans for certain plants to reach certain HD Stores. Plants in "Saleable" condition (flower buds just opening) get moved onto rolling carts and then packed into trucks, he is servicing several hundred stores, 2 or 3 truck loads leave his nursery every day. I really doubt he has much clue at all as to what plant is heading where beyond, put on the truck so many Phals, so many Paphs and so many miscellaneous.

I think he does this because he no longer has a retail outlet, and it might be a good way to generate interest in his product at Home Depot, he makes somebody really happy with a high quality plant and that person and their neighbors will make a point of looking at what is at their local HD's for quite a time into the future. Noticing these two plants has certainly caught my attention. :D I know I won't be able to drive past a HD without at least thinking of checking to see if a 'good one' is there.
 
I was at a local Home Depot the other day and came upon a Paphiopedilum Gratrixianum with 5 growths! It was very lovely, but I don't have room for a 6 inch pot on my shelves, right now :( I'll post pictures once I get home...so yes, people...browse your midwest Home Depots!!
 

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