Paph kolopakingii var topperi

[Spaph]

Amazingly grown and photographed, what a Christmas present!:clap:

 

[Leo_5313]

Merry Christmas! This is outstanding. I love it.

 

[eaborne]

Outstanding!

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Those are impressive photos. Good job. I love kolopakingii, and I'm envious of anybody that has room to grow one, can grow it well and manage to flower it. Something about the flowers -- I just think they're neat.

Kolopakingii is a really impressive species, and it seems like it's highly variable, too. The v. topperis I've seen seem to be smaller (that's a relative term) in terms of foliage, produce slightly fewer, lighter colored flowers and the fragrance is sort of musty reminiscent of cat pee but not entirely unpleasant.

The "standard" kolos I've seen seem to have noticeably larger foliage, in some cases I'd say massive, have more flowers with muddier or more tan/brown color, and a fragrance that was a bit sweeter and reminded me a bit of honey or molasses.

I'm wondering if those are the qualities that are used to distinguish the varieties.

Out of curiosity, is your plant fragrant?

 

[JeanLux]

Happy Holidays David!!!! Your kolo is an extreme Beauty!!!! Jean

 

[Trithor]

A real treat to open this thread and see these fantastic pictures of a superb kolo. A Christmas gift to us all! Thank you.
Merry Christmas everybody.

 

[2Toned]

That's an amazingly beautiful gift, David. Bet it's got you beaming

 

[Carper]

Absolutely fabulous bloom with 6 flowers as a start is just great. I purchased a NBS plant last year from Sam (kolopakingii var. topperi x sib (Jeanie’s Green Giant x Jamboree) which in 12 months I,ve had to pot on twice. It,s going for it and just filling the pot again. No new growth yet but at a lspan of over 80cm I'm hoping it won't be long. I'm going to be well pleased if it's similar to yours.

Gary:clap:
UK

 

[Stone]

What everyone else said....Fantastic!

 

[emydura]

T
Out of curiosity, is your plant fragrant?

If I put my nose right up against the flower there is a mild fragrance. Certainly not strong or offensive. I don't have a good nose for these things though.

Absolutely fabulous bloom with 6 flowers as a start is just great. I purchased a NBS plant last year from Sam (kolopakingii var. topperi x sib (Jeanie’s Green Giant x Jamboree) which in 12 months I,ve had to pot on twice. It,s going for it and just filling the pot again. No new growth yet but at a lspan of over 80cm I'm hoping it won't be long. I'm going to be well pleased if it's similar to yours.

Gary:clap:
UK

That is already bigger than mine Gary, so it couldn't be possibly be that long. Look forward to seeing it in flower.

One thing that amazed me with this species was that it took 3 flowering sheaths before I saw a spike. It dragged on so long I was wondering whether I was ever going to see any flowers.

 

[GuRu]

These flowers, the well grown plant and last but not least teh beautiful photos - what a great show altoger. Unfortunately photos of this species are very rare here the more I enjoy them.

 

[AdamD]

Beautiful blooming and what a Christmas present indeed! This is my favorite species and it looks to be a promising clone. Well done. Beautiful photography as always. Thanks for brightening our Christmas morning!

 

[SlipperKing]

Congratulations David. I'm happy to see the third sheath was a charm and that you had patience to wait on it! At times its like time stand still.
High quality flowers for your effort as well. Santa has been good to you!
One thing I find really cool is the black warts/bumps on the petals. They're huge compared to any other markings on the flowers.

 

[SlipperFan]

Beautiful plant and photos -- one of the nicest kolos I've seen.