Paph. London Wall 'Golden Crown' AM/AOS, S/CSA

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tim

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There's quite a few awarded London Walls, and it's pretty clear that the awards are primarily for color and size. This is not a grex for which form is a big standout. It's a cross of Akeley x Commander Howard Wethy registered by Black and Flory in England in 1947. Akeley is probably best known for its role as a grandparent of Peter Black (through Littledean) - I guess you can see some similarity in the terrible petal carriage of London Wall and Peter Black. Commander Howard Wethey likewise has one interesting progeny besides London Wall - it's a parent of Greatheart, which went on to make Mooreheart, and then one of the largest, finest paphs I've ever seen, Emmanuel Baptista (pictured here), which is unfortunately now dead.

In any event, this plant has an interesting award history; the original seedling population came across the ocean as seedlings to the west coast of the US, and the plants were largely given awards to that most famous early paph grower and breeder Robert Casamajor. He recieved an B/CSA in 1951, then an upgrade to a S/CSA in 1954, and an AM/AOS in 1956. Then John Hanes got a piece and it was awarded a B/CSA more than 10 years later in 1969! Weird...

There's lots of good London Walls - 'Sunbeam's' pretty nice, and I've seen pics of 'Lafeyette' (although some pix of 'Lafeyette' show a red - clearly not correctly labeled) and my personal favorite, 'St. Paul', which recieved an AM/RHS for Black and Flory much earlier and then rode across the ocean as an awarded clone.

Given its colors, I'm sure you can imagine it has a rich breeding history of trying to cross it to things making plants of the same color and better form. Some of the best are Andy Yamamoto (x Agnes de Burc), Hunter's Point (x Huntava - a great little orange), and the two most successful, Mach I (x Margaret MacCaull) and Wallur (x Bromohur). Mach I is a monster grex - the flowers are huge, some are flat, and most have been used as pretty good breeders, mostly as reds and spotteds.

Wallur has been even better, especially the pure green ones like 'Val'. Pure green Wallurs have made the following (and look at this list!!): Greenvale, Greenwall, Engraved, Frosty Jones, Olympic Mountains, Vashon Sundance, San Francisco, Via Virgenes, Via Rio Verde, and Via Vulcan Verde. Wow. Just think about what's come from those!! I have alot of them and I'll put up pix as I get around to it...this year was busy :)

Anywho here's a nice pic of London Wall 'Golden Crown' AM/AOS; I'd like to cross it with something else orange - Ute 'February' or Greenstede 'Stonehurst' or somehthing like that. Sorry for the long post. Thoughts?
 

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I had a division of Wallur some years ago, but lost it. It was a really nice green. Great to see where the size and color came from.
 
I love your posts, Tim, I learn a lot from them. Thanks a lot!

Interesting how London Wall turns up as an ancestor in different breeding lines. I love the greens from Wallur.
The late Kurt Hennis (of Paph. hennisianum fame) has bred London Wall to fairrianum to make Lofair and then crossed it with Palmengarten, to create Paph. Tatjana Hoffmann. The London Wall dorsal is clearly recognizible in that cross that has produced some nice spotted pot flowers.

You've got something like Sweet Sunrise or Break-O-Day in your collection? The cross Annette x conco-bellatulum has good colour, as far as I know. I'd be tempted to add a dose of Brachy, incl. concolor, to London Wall.
 
I concur with comments above I really enjoy your posts, even though I'm not really turned on by complex hybrids. However, some of the flowers you have posted are beauties and one day I might try growing one. That Emmanuel Baptista is (was) amazing ... I suppose replacing a plant like that is impossible.

Cheers,
Tim
 
Love the color.

I agree about the posts. And again, I say you should write an article -- you have the knowledge, skill, and photos!
 
:clap::clap: I agree with Dot!
Can't get too much history! Very interesting!
 
Carsten,

I don't have those Ratcliffe-y plants, but from looking at pictures I think their substance leaves a little to be desired, although the color is great. I just love both Annette and Sarella as parents, but I don't like the Brachy influence too much myself...it often creates fertility problems. That being said, it's a direction no one has gone with London Wall, and (very infrequently) occasionally makes nice offspring. I just wonder how many plants had to bloom before the Annette x Concobellatulum on Marriott's site was selected...
 

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