NEslipper
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- Feb 1, 2019
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First bloom seedling, purchased from Orchid Inn in June 2019 as NBS. The parents are the two best from the AQ group awarded to John Doherty of Zephyrus Orchids in March 2011. The parents of the AQ group were 'Dragon Dance' and 'Dark Spider'. If anyone knows anything else about those clones, I would love to learn about them. I can't remember seeing any photos of sandies from Sam posted on here, which seems strange, he always seemed to have a few grexes for sale, and he had NBS and even in spike plants for sale for a while. Hopefully, we'll see more from this cross soon. My sandie is not as nicely grown or flowered as Justin's recent entry for this species, but it still counts! I grow this plant on a south facing window, along with the rest of my multis. It grows behind my mature roths so that they provide some shade, and take the brunt of the cold winter drafts from my old windows. This plant is tough as nails though, it has had large roths dropped on it, some leaves have been broken off, but it still managed to put out a flower. I was quite surprised how quickly the spike moved once it decided to bloom. The petals are only ~40cm, but since it's quite cold here and my heat has kicked on, I'm struggling to maintain 40-45% humidity. I would never expect to get super long petals in my conditions. In his article for Orchid magazine, John Doherty notes that cooler nights result in better color, but shorter petals. So while there's a genetic component to long petals, it's significantly influenced by culture, particularly humidity. John Doherty also noted that his awarded clone 'Rapunzel' AM/AOS first bloomed with 40cm petals, before re-blooming with 100+cm petals. I don't think achieving 100cm petals is realistic for me, but I would really like to get more flowers on the next blooming. There's already a nice new start coming, so hopefully it will only be a few years until the next bloom.
One more thing about blooming this species is that it represents a significant personal achievement for me as a grower. This species is the reason I feel in love with orchids, particularly the multifloral paphiopedilums. I still remember thumbing through Orchids magazine as a kid in the mid 90s and stumbling upon a photo of Paph. sanderianum 'Jacob's Ladder' AM/AOS. I was completely transfixed, and that photo started a lifelong obsession. Quickly after discovering sanderianum I discovered rothschildianum, stonei, and philippinense and promised myself I would one day grow and flower these magnificent plants. With the blooming of this sanderianum, I have now accomplished this goal of blooming those 4 species on my windowsill - really a testament to the work hybridizers and breeders have put in over the past few decades to select for vigorous, free flowering plants more adapted to pot culture. Sorry for the novel, but I'm so excited about this plant. It was quite difficult to photograph well, and I found the black background distorted the colors, so my apologies for the distracting background but it presents the colors most accurately.
One more thing about blooming this species is that it represents a significant personal achievement for me as a grower. This species is the reason I feel in love with orchids, particularly the multifloral paphiopedilums. I still remember thumbing through Orchids magazine as a kid in the mid 90s and stumbling upon a photo of Paph. sanderianum 'Jacob's Ladder' AM/AOS. I was completely transfixed, and that photo started a lifelong obsession. Quickly after discovering sanderianum I discovered rothschildianum, stonei, and philippinense and promised myself I would one day grow and flower these magnificent plants. With the blooming of this sanderianum, I have now accomplished this goal of blooming those 4 species on my windowsill - really a testament to the work hybridizers and breeders have put in over the past few decades to select for vigorous, free flowering plants more adapted to pot culture. Sorry for the novel, but I'm so excited about this plant. It was quite difficult to photograph well, and I found the black background distorted the colors, so my apologies for the distracting background but it presents the colors most accurately.
