B
Brian Monk
Guest
This is Gold DOllar x kolopakingii. I gave a lecture at the Florida West Coast Orchid Society in Largo, Florida last week, and one of the members brought this plant. It was stunning in person, but I could only get this one rather poor image. Two flowers were open, with a third bud opening. Bright golden yellow, on a 35 cm (!) inflorescence, these flowers were standing at the top of a veritable flag pole! The grower informed me that this was far from the best one that had opened, and that he had 6 or 8 more at his greenhouse. The generosity of orchidists amazes me, because the next day after a tour of his greenhouse, he gave me two of the plants, an unbloomed one and the pick of the litter! The last had an almost 40 cm old spike, and he said that it held 4 flowers of better size and form than the one pictured. In addition, he had a gigantic Mexipedium growing ot of a sixteen inch pot, and he promptly broke off four pieces and gave them to me. I was floored. If you want to see his greenhouse, you can see photos at my blog. The world of orchids is absolutely filled with the most amazing people I have ever known.