Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Pretty picture: Phalaenopsis Sogo Rose


I'm not the biggest Phalaenopsis fan, though it's not because they're bad plants. I just get tired of seeing the same ones over and over. We have a lot of white ones at the moment (long story1), and while there's nothing objectionable about white, it's a little boring.

We got this one when it was in bud but not in bloom yet, so I've been keeping an eye on it, and I have to say, I like this better than most. I didn't expect this color from a Phal (the photo doesn't do it justice, actually: it's very close to, but not quite, red), and I'm even more pleased about the petal shape. The odd little points on the petals make it work for me. So this one's okay.

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1 A customer wanted to get some for a mid-September wedding, so I ordered some from Florida when I did the rest of our tropical order, in mid-August. Upon arrival, they all went kerflooey: buds dropped, the few flowers that were open already developed unpleasant black spots (about which I posted previously), and we wound up having to order more. The replacements were smaller, and better, but for some reason we only received three (the customer had originally asked for six, and failing that "at least four"). Those ones did fine, but the customers apparently wound up changing their minds anyway (I suspect they were encouraged to do so by the flower shop, who knew we didn't have as many as they wanted, though this is not what the flower shop says), leaving us stuck with nine white Phalaenopsis, six of which have dropped most (but not all) of their flowers and aren't particularly sellable until and unless they decide to bloom again.
Hence, sick of white Phalaenopsis.


2 comments:

william said...

Nice to look at on a winters day.. It is difficult to give away kindness. It keeps coming back to you. I love fragrant orchids. I am looking for, as many varieties as possible, highly fragrant Phalaenopsis and Cattleyas, etc.
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williamgeorge
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a said...

You do have to give it to orchids for longevity of bloom, though. Sometimes a single blossom can last for months! I really like those waxy ones... I forget what parentage gets them that way - it's not the usual phal. amabilis that gave us the rows and rows of perfectly white ones.