My Orchid Hybrids (Seedlings & Flasked Crosses) Not for sale

Phal Tying Shin Fly Eagle x bastianii 

Pollinated: April 2, 2018
Sowed Mother Flask (dry seed): Nov 7, 2018 (7mths after pollination)
Replated #1: Jan 2, 2019
First Flower: Mar 18, 2023 (4.5 years seed to first flower)
Outcome: Not remarkable; colour is maroon, but the shape is good. Crossing spotted bastianii onto the even and highly-saturated TSFE results in flowers that are densely flecked (almost like a snake-skin pattern) rather than having clear spots, which I don’t find appealing. While the color is dark when the flower opens, it fades (as predicted), but this causes a muddy-looking almost-brown flower. Fragrance is not great—the first day it smelled like latex + vanilla but in the days after it smelled almost funky like processed cheese; I felt TSFE smelled like hotdog water…so maybe I should consider this an improvement.
I do see potential in the amount of yellow in the flower; when back-lit the flower has a lot of pigment. A better outcome may be achieved if I do a sibling cross and redistribute the bastianii spotting and tetraspis genetics. However, I’m unsure if I want to invest another 5 years linebreeding this specific cross.
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This was the  first cross I ever sowed. Prior to getting this seed pod, had experienced a lot of failed pod attempts and this was the first to make seed. You can track my photo journal of this hybrid, here. I’m expecting smaller flowers that have red spots on yellow background. The heavy influence of bastianii may mean that the flowers change color over time, fading from red to more of a coral-peach. Ideally the influence of tetraspis (formerly speciosa) from Tying Shin Fly Eagle combined with the color fading of bastianii will result in chameleon flowers that have both random red petals AND colors that fade over the duration of the flower. It should also be very floriferous taking the traits of bastianii and Tying Shin Fly Eagle. If the flowers are too homogenous in how they look, I may double down on this cross and make a sibling cross in an effort to remix either parent’s traits more uniquely.

Photos

Phal Tying Shin Fly Eagle x bellina fma alba

Pollinated: May 5, 2018
Sowed (dry seed): Dec, 19, 2018 (7mths)
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I love the shape and vigor of both of these plants and together I expect good things. The alba may dampen the colors of Tying Shin Fly Eagle; possibly blocking the reds entirely, or just reducing the intensity of the red resulting in vibrant pinks or yellows. It would be cool if the the alba trait was fully passed on – it may result in green flowers? Both the Tying Shin Fly Eagle and the bellina fma alba parent are very fragrant, and I expect the offspring will be too. The fragrance will possibly be a blend of Goat cheese and spicy citrus (so who knows what they might smell like). So…expecting pink flowers that have good form and strong fragrance.

Best outcome of this cross

Phragmipedium Memoria Frank Louwe (Pink Panther x Hanne Popow)

Pollinated: Nov 22, 2018
Sowed (dry seed): February 26, 2019 (3mths)
First Flower: Aug 17, 2020 (1.5 years seed to first flower)
Outcome: These plants have been extremely vigorous and fast growing. The first one flowered 1.5 years (18months) after sowing the seeds; a second began spiking only a few weeks later. The first flower was a perfect blend of the two parents—taking the color from Pink Panther and spreading it across a shape more similar to Hanne Popow. I detect a hint of fragrance…but it’s so slight that it may just be wishful thinking on my part.
Why This? My very first phrag flasking and hybrid. I love Pink Panther because it’s vigorous and compact; I love Hanne Popow because the flowers smell like raspberries (a trait of phrag schlimii). I suspect the flowers will be pink and largely look like phrag schlimii but with more color. Hopefully they also bring forward that fragrance as both parents are primary hybrids of schlimii.
More about this plant: Registering my first orchid name
Photos (incl second bloom)

Phrag Pink Panther x self

Pollinated: Nov 22, 2018
Sowed (dry seed): February 26, 2019 (3mths)
Why This? – I’ve always wanted to know what a selfing of a primary hybrid would result in. In theory a bunch of your non-dominant traits should align and reshuffle meaning you get a bunch of seedlings that look vastly different than the parent. This is often a good way to test if a plant is a species or hybrid—blooming out the selfing of that plant will show either consistency (meaning the parent was a species) or a high degree of variation (meaning the parent was a hybrid).

Phrag L’ Rock (Hanne Popow x Sam Crothers)

Pollinated: Jan 1, 2019
Sow (dry seed): Mar 26, 2019 (3mths)
Deflask: Jan 1, 2020
Why This? – Expecting round and mostly pinks for the bulk of the flowers; however some may result in rich or deeper colors from the influence of besseae and kovachii in either parent. This cross is two unrelated primary x primary parents, so I expect a great deal of variation across the progeny as traits from all four species (bessea, schlimii, kovachii, fischeri) is redistributed.
Outcomes: the plants are growing vigorously also and I suspect will bloom at year 2.
Photos

Phal pallens x self

Pollinated: Jan 18, 2019
Sowed (dry seed): June 9, 2019
Replate: Oct 14, 2020
Deflasked: May 10, 2020
Why This? – Phal pallens is a cool miniature species from the Philippines. I expect the progeny to look  like clones of the parent. They’ll be pale yellow with flecks of brown. This was more of a test flasking for me than anything—when I first started hybridizing I was having troubles getting my plants to hold seed pods, but I still wanted to learn the process. I made this selfing to do that—and then with this seed pod I made a series of orchid breeding tutorial videos.
You can find those videos here:
Video 1: Sowing Dry Orchid Seeds
Video 2: Update / Germination 
Video 3: Orchid Seedling Replate
Video 4: Phalaenopsis Seedling Deflask
Photos

Phal Li Sun High (mariae f. flava x tetraspis f. alba) x Jennifer Palermo (tetraspis f. alba x violacea f. indigo)

Pollinated: Dec 14, 2018
Sowed (dry seed): July 22, 2019
Replate #1: Sept 24, 2019
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Double tetraspis alba from both parents should increase the odds of fully white flowers with some of these plants. I hope the cupped flower form of Li Sun High is reduced by the influence of tetraspis and vioalcea. Ideally too, the traits from mariae and violacea result in nicely fragrant flowers. For flower color, best case I would hope for purple (coerulea) spots on a pristine white flower. Flower looks aside, this should produce prolific blooms, taking high flower count from mariae and the ever-blooming nature of tetraspis. I lost the original mother plant (Li Sun High) since I made this cross, so I am hoping to replace her from this lot with a new plant with better color and form.
Photos

Phal bastianii x self

Pollinated: Apr 19, 2019
Sow (green pod): Mar 3, 2020 (11mths)
Why This? – I wanted to confirm that my bastianii is a species. Selfing it and flowering the progeny can help verify that. Plus, it’s a great plant – flowers like crazy – so it’s good to have a couple extra around.
Want to know more about this species? Read this
Photos

First to flower

Phalaenopsis Entourage (Zheng Min Anaconda ‘Peter’ x Matthew Chen)

Sowed (dry seed): Oct 16, 2019
Replated: Mar 3, 2020
Deflasked: Sept 1, 2020
First flower: Sept 19, 2022 (3 years seed to flower)
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I was obsessed with Zheng Min Anaconda when I first got back into orchids—this plant is one of the reasons I started breeding orchids. It’s a wonderful looking harlequin (spotted) flower with lots of variation across the hybrid and it’s orange which is rare in the phal genus. My hope is for strongly fragrant orange flowers that have lots of pigment. Matthew Chen is made with indigo violacea and many of the siblings of my plant had incredibly deep red or magenta flowers; I lucked out with an orange colored flower. Matthew Chen is so strongly fragrant that it can fill a room with the smell of cinnamon with hint of baby’s breath. ZMA smells like an even blend of violacea and bellina (cinnamon + citrus), so I expect this will be quite a fragrant plant too.
Reflection based on first flower – Looking only at the parent, it’s a bit surprising how red the flower turned out. But I mentioned that the siblings of Matt Chen were magenta and red, so it’s not totally unexpected. I have high hopes that some of the seedlings will be bright orange. The hybrid is very close to Phal Zheng Min Smaragdine, so it’s interesting to see the similarities in outcomes. Fragrance on this plant isn’t quite as strong as I had expected, but I’ll give it more time to mature before I make an assessment.
Photos

Phal (Lyndon Golden Age x Mituo Golden) x Matthew Chen

Pollinated: Mar 9, 2019
Sowed (dry seed): Oct 30, 2019
Replate 1: Mar 3, 2020
Why This? – I like harlequin phals because they tend to have a broad range of outcomes. This means growing and flowering out a flask of 50 plants is more “exciting” simply because of the possibilities. I don’t know what to expect for the flowers from this; however the plants seem to be quite vigorous and the cross was very fertile with many many seeds germinating and growing up.
Photos

Phal Sogo Pony ‘YS’ x Tying Shin Fly Eagle ‘Wilson’

Pollinated: Mar 9, 2019
Sowed (dry seed): Sept 1, 2019 (6mths)
Deflasked: July, 2020
Why This? Expectations – In theory, this cross shouldn’t be possible. In practice, it clearly is! When I first posted about this cross, a couple people barked that Sogo Pony was a ‘triploid’ (3n) and would therefore be sterile—a mule—and that I wouldn’t get any seeds. This resulted in a research spiral to find out what that meant for my -then- developing seedpod. I ended up having lots of unanswered questions – “how does anyone know this specific plant is actually triploid?” (answer: they don’t unless they’ve counted chromosomes themselves), “Is it possible that one plant of a hybrid is triploid, while others of the same cross (from the same seed pod) are diploid?” (a: turns out, yes you can have a mix of ploidy from a group of progeny [source]), “how is it possible that this plant is triploid—and allegedly sterile—if I have a seed pod (which since proved to have viable seeds)?” (a: it turns out ploidy isn’t as black and white as some people think it is, and in about 31.9% of triploid plants, seed production is possible and across those progeny, diploid and tetraploids are a more common occurrence than you would expect [source – see p478–483]).

I sowed the seeds expecting none to germinate based on what I had been told, but many did and I have well over 30 plants growing either in a pot or still in flask. This plant is an experiment and proof point for me and I suspect the flowers of the progeny will be impressive. From that study I linked above, there is evidence that progeny from triploid plants (either crossed on diploid or triploids) have a higher chance of being tetraploid (4n)—with an average of 6.3% of the progeny being tetraploid, but up to 13.9% in select cases. 3n x 2n crosses specifically had an average of 9.8% outcome of 4n progeny. So, it’s a good lesson about understanding complex topics and while I’m sure I still have much to learn, it’s important to remember just because someone says, “you can’t” or “don’t” and maybe has the loudest voice…doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right. Let your curiosity guide you.

Notable Outcomes: From a care/culture perspective, these are more like a classic grocery store phal—the roots need to dry out between watering. I unknowingly used too much sphagnum on the first deflask and lost some roots. After decreasing the depth of the moss, those plants are recovering and the second set of deflasked seedlings are growing on well with the first.
Photos

Phal Zheng Min Anaconda ‘Peter’ x Kingfisher’s Lemon Drop ‘HBN#4’

Pollinated: July 14, 2019
Sowed (dry seed): April 21, 2020 (9mths)
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Like I said – really love that Zheng Min Anaconda. Was curious what a white flower might impose on the spotting. This is experimental—perhaps high contrast spotting on well-shaped flowers. The Kingfisher’s Lemon Drop is also fragrant but of citrus—you can read more about that hybrid in this other post.

Phrag x roethianum x self

Pollinated: May 27, 2019
Sowed (dry seed): July 22, 2019
Deflasked: Feb 14, 2020
About this cross – I expected deep red flowers with elongated petals, but it turned out to just be an accidental self-pollination. The flowers are identical to the seed parent with no influence from the pollen donor.

From my notes before flowering: the contribution of kovachii from Yelva Myhre should increase flower size a bit and keep the general petal form more round. Not many seeds from this cross were viable and the seedlings did poorly in vitro. I deflasked much earlier than is normally recommended in an effort to save the 8 seedlings that remained. 3 of the smallest didn’t make it and I’m down to 5 plants. The remaining plants are quite vigorous and I am anxious to see the first flower. And yes, one of the seedlings is variegated. I hope that this variegation is stable and is present with the new meristem growths.

Photos

Phal Yaphon Green Jewel x (javanica x hieroglyphica fma. flava)

Pollinated: Dec 14, 2018
Sow (dry seed): Oct 30, 2019
Replate: Apr 21, 2020
Why This? – The world needs more javanica hybrids, so I made this one. Both javanica and Yaphon Green Jewel are small plants, so I suspect that some of the progeny should carry that trait forward and I’ll end up with many compact small phals. Both of the parents are good growers and flower often with many blooms—who knows what the flowers will look like, but I suspect that it will be a rewarding plant.
Photos

First Flowering

Phalaenopsis August’s Occasion (schillerina ‘Silver Leaf’ x Yaphon Green Jewel)

Pollinated: Jan 18, 2019
Sowed (dry seed): July 7, 2019
Replate: Oct 6, 2019
Deflasked: May 7, 2020
Why This? – The flowers might not look like the best pairing. My schilleriana doesn’t have the “full form” (round) flowers that everyone has come to know and Yaphon Green Jewel is small and quite round; BUT, Yaphon Green Jewel also has mannii in it’s lineage and mannii x schilleriana (Bronze Maiden) has really cool leaves and nice flowers. This cross was largely experimental and I really wanted to make a cross between the subgenus phalaenopsis with polychilos AND use schilleriana in at least once.
Notable Outcomes: The leaves of the progeny are varied. Most are olive-green and flecked with spots or fringed with color. None are fully mottled like the parent schilleriana; but I’m looking forward to seeing these grow up and flower. From a care/culture perspective, these are more like a classic grocery store phal—the roots like to dry slightly between watering and the plants seem unphased by my dry climate.
First flower: looks like a perfect blend of both plants; pink flowers with the texture of schilleriana but shape closer to that of Yaphon Green Jewel.
Photos

First Flowering

Phragmipedium Ketchup Chips (Memoria Dick Clements x Sam Crothers ‘HBN#1’)

Pollinated: Feb 10, 2019
Sow: April 20, 2019
Deflask: Oct 27, 2020
Why This? – I expect darker-colored flowers (red/maroon) with round shape. Similar in shape to Phrag Vyonne Fay Wilson and ideally colored more like Phrag Acker’s Beauty. This cross initially struggled in flask and were quite slow—I due to a bad batch of media. Many from my first deflask in October struggled, but I deflasked a second more robust batch July 31st, 2020 and those so far seem more established and healthy overall. I see a lot of potential for this cross, but similar to the parent Mem. Dick Clements parent, they are slower growing and seem more sensitive to variations in water quality than the rest of my phrags are. I have a theory that Phrag lindleyanum, sargentianum and that related cluster of species from the NW corner of South America, are well-adapted to the really soft and low-mineral water there, unlike the phrags from the Western Andes which are more adapted to alkaline and mineral-rich soils of the limestone outcrops they grow on. We’ll see though—I don’t intend on giving these RO water so if they can’t survive with my alkaline tap water…it might be a “Darwinian selective pressure.” lol
First Flower: leaned more toward the Dick Clements parent, red color, but with a bit rounder petals.
Photos

Second Flowering

Phalaenopsis Micro Mini Milli Willi (MD’s Mercy Me x wilsonii)

Pollinated: Feb 18, 2020
Sowed (Green pod): Jul 30, 2020

Deflask: Jan 11, 2021
First to Flower: Feb 12, 2022 (1 year, 7 months after sowing seeds)
Why This? – The world needs more Aphyllae hybrids—like WAY MORE! Not only are they extremely compact and well adapted to mild and dry home conditions, they’re also unlike other phalaenopsis and look a bit like an epidendrum flower. Aphyllae is a subgenus of phalaenopsis which are typically high-elevation (cool-growing) small plants. They tend to be harder to hybridize because their chromosome count is 4 or 2 less (34-36) than your normal phal (which is 38). From this cross, only few seeds germinated (12). I am very excited about this cross.
I expect the plants and flowers will be compact; wilsonii has a tendency to override flower shape/form, but wilsonii x javanica really brings forward a nice blend of the two species. Phal celebensis seems to have a dominance for shape, so the flowers might be a bit wonky in that regard; but typically the further you dilute the cross, the less those oddities are inherited. I have a hunch the flowers will be fragrant; the flowers of the wilsonii I used in this cross smell like grape soda and the javanica hybrid smells like orange blossom.
First Flower: pink, a lot like wilsonii, but with more round petals
Photos

Phal Yaphon Pool (Jennifer Palermo x violacea ‘HP Norton’)

Pollinated: Aug 11, 2019
Sowed (Dry Seed): TBD
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Why not, right? I’m a huge fan of coerula (blue/purple) flowers and violacea, but my violacea ended up dying, so I’m hoping at least a couple of the seedlings of this can replace that plant. This is a remake of a cross registered by Yaphon Orchids in 2016. Due to the reclassification of the tetraspis alliance (speciosa), there are many similar crosses, and I suspect bottom line…It’ll be more resilient than phal violacea alone with good color and form.

Phal Yaphon Green Jewel x wilsonii

Pollinated: Feb 12, 2020
Sowed (Dry Seed): July 30, 2020
First Flower: Mar 22, 2023 (2.75 years seed to first flower)
Outcome: Really nice mini phal with white flowers that blush pink in the center. The flower is flat and as you would expect, wilsonii’s influence is unmistakable in the genetics. The flowers look like a bloated version of wilsonii—wider and less star-shaped—but you likely wouldn’t be able to identify Yaphon Green Jewel in the parent lineage by only looking at the flower. The lip is nice, a vibrant purple like wilsonii, that creates a focal point in the middle of the flower, and it’s shape is uniquely balanced between the two parents. The leaves are small and dark green, the roots are abundant and do well with drier indoor conditions (likely making it an ideal houseplant). I’m happy with this outcome and I hope it flowers abundantly like Phal Micro Mini Milli Willi.
Why This? Expected Outcomes – When I said, “WAY MORE Aphyllae”, I was serious. Yaphon Green Jewel is made up of 25% of each: micholitzii, amboinensis, violacea, and mannii; so I think this cross should have some good outcomes. Both parents are fragrant, both parents are small plants, and a slightly-related hybrid, Phalaenopsis Isabelle Dream (mannii x wilsonii) looks insanely cool—so I am optimistic for what will come of this hybrid.
Story time: I sowed these seeds without sterilizing the seeds or pod because it had broken open while I was away on vacation. There were so few seeds that I wouldn’t be able to capture them for sterilization in hydrogen peroxide. So, on a whim, I just pulled the chaff from the seedpod over open flasks (in the glove box) and let whatever few seeds existed, fall into the flasks. It worked surprisingly well and of the 4 mothers I sowed, only 1 had contamination (so far and it’s been over a month).
Photos

Phalaenopsis (javanica x hieroglyphica fma. flava) x (Yin’s Pure Love Isles x Phal. Yaphon Super Jaguar)

Pollinated: Mar 27, 2020
Sowed: Oct 26, 2020
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Look at that pollen-donor flower! It’s the color of those pink popsicles you use to have as a kid! Neon pink and it’s so vibrant that the flowers sort of glow from across the room. I made this cross is because I think that pink flower has so much potential for bright waxy flowers. If you look at Phal Arlington (pulchra x heiroglyphica), the flowers have bright pink flecks. I hope this cross will produce larger spots that that cross, with more pink and some of those orange sunset tones from javanica. Looking at Phal Adyah Prapto (javanica x luedde), the color combinations are really amazing. With the common lineage, I see these landing somewhere between those examples, but with more color b/c of the violacea and tetraspis mixed in. Of course there is a very good chance these flowers will be cupped, face downward, and have terrible form, with javanica, hieroglyphica and the pink mess on the right all contributing less than awardable flower shape…but who cares? I want something novel…like neon summer colors on a glossy flower! Should be lightly fragrant too as both parents are. Blooming time should be early to mid spring (late January thru June)
General Ancestry:
25% P. javanica
25% P. hieroglyphica fma flava
23% P. violacea
15% P. lueddemanniana (fma pulchra?)
9.4% P. tetraspis
3.1% Phal. amboinensis

Phal Kingfisher Lemon Drop ‘HBN #9‘ x (Yin’s Pure Love Isles x Phal. Yaphon Super Jaguar)

Sow: April 8, 2020
Replate: Jan 19, 2021
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Both flowers are super saturated—I’ve heard that yellow x magenta often stacks to creates red flowers…which I don’t really want. I kind of see red as “all in” on colour (a combination of all possible pigments in phals), which is less interesting to me than the individual bands of colour. We’ll see though, right? These are complex enough that there should be a good spread of outcomes. I am mostly concerned about shape. I expect many will have patterns/spots because of the high contribution of genes from amoinensis and leudde from either parent. Whatever the outcome, the flowers should be packed with colour/pigment.
General Ancestry:
35.4% violacea
18.5% amboinensis
16.0% leuddemanniana
9.8% micholitzii
9.4% tetraspis
6.3% bellina
2.3% mannii
2.3% venosa

Phal GZZAS Rainbow (amabilis fma aurea x stobartiana) x bellina alba

Pollinated: June 14, 2020
Sowed (green pod): Oct 26, 2020
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Hybrids of hybrids with the section aphyllae (stobartiana etc) are rare. It’s likely because Aphyllae Phals have a lower chromosome count than the rest of the genus and when you cross them on to ‘regular phals’, the resulting progeny have odd-numbered chromosomes (which are largely sterile?) I have tried crossing this mother plant on to many other plants an none have produced viable seed except for this one cross…kind of. Only one single seed germinated. Just one. It had slowed down in flask and needed to be replated; the roots were also reaching up away from the media which can be a sign the media is too wet, so I deflasked this plant very early in the hope that extra airflow and light would help it grow better. As long as I don’t kill it, it’s going to be a very cool flower: I expect very high flower count on a compact plant. I assume the flowers will be yellow or green, but there’s a chance the amabilis combined with alba bellina produces a fully white flower.

Phal Yaphon Green Jewel x Tying Shin Fly Eagle

Pollinated: Jul 24, 2020
Sow (dry seed): Oct 30, 2019
Replate: Apr 21, 2020
Why This? – The two parents were good growers and I had idle hands…so I made another cross. The outcome should result in high flower count with probably pink flowers.

Ludisia discolor (‘Standard Form’ x ‘Lightning’)

Pollinated: January 10, 2021
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I tried self-pollinating my parent Ludisia, but the seeds failed. A friend here, Marquess had the Lightning form in flower at the same time as mine, so he sent me some pollen and we got viable seeds! I expected leaves somewhere between my plant and his, but already I see a lot of variation in leaf color—some are green, some dark, and some are yellow (which will most likely die?). It will be interesting to see them grow out, but at this point it’s nice to have seedling Ludisia that aren’t clones of the same dang plant (which seems common at the moment for available Ludisia discolor plants across north america—most are clones, not seed grown).

Photos

Paph Delophyllum x primulinum fma. alba 

Pollinated: Nov 8, 2020
Sowed: TBD
Why This? Expected Outcomes – There is a very similar hybrid, Paph Cahaba Angels, made with Deperle, so I suspect these will look nearly identical to that cross. Given the high occurrence of the alba/flava form of primulinum, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these seedlings also come out yellow (depending on what my Delophyllum had in its lineage). Best case I’m hoping for a broad range of colors from yellow to pink, and ideally with a high level of saturation because of the amount of color in my primulinum and the amount of pink in my Delophyllum.

Paph tigrinum (markianum) x self

Pollinated: December 19, 2020
Sowed: December 6, 2021 (1 year after pollination)
Notes: This pod was on the plant for nearly a full year and it still had not split. I decided to crack the pod and see if it even had seeds. To might delight, it did. I sowed the seeds without sterilizing them (or the pod)—basically, I used sterilized tweezers to dislodge a small amount of seeds over an open flask. I’ve done this a few times now with great success. I keep the remaining dry seed just incase the first attempt results in contamination, but so far my results are good. All three mother flasks did not have contamination after 6 weeks and germination started roughly 3-4 weeks after sowing. The flasks were not kept in total darkness, but they are on the bottom shelf under the active flasks and recieve very little light.
Why This? Expected Outcomes – It’s a self-pollination from a sibling-crossed plant. The outcomes are expected to be the same as the parent. I’m hoping to create some of these to distribute to other collectors though, as Paph tigrinum are very rare. They are also reportedly difficult to raise from seed with many attempts resulting in failure as a result of poor germination and/or early death of the protocorms.

Phal Mikken x equestris
(tetraspis [/speciosa] × stobartiana)

Pollinated: Jun 26, 2021
Why This? Expected Outcomes – this is a throwback to one of my first “special” phalaenopsis which was a Braquestris Melmi. That plant had earthy colours and produced a lot of flowers. I expect the same from this cross.

Phrag Ketchup Chips x Mem. Frank Louwe

Pollinated: Nov 23, 2021
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is my first gen 2 cross using exclusively hybrids I created. I am hoping for brighter colours as the selected parents have more presenation of besseae. However, what will be the most interesting is the picotee (dark fringe) that both flowers have, along with the sort of 2-tone petals which have more colour above than below. As this is a more complex hybrid, the range of outcomes should be greater too – perhaps some will be more pink, more white, or at the very least more varied in shape and size.

Paph Judy Adams x philippinense

Pollinated: Mar 8, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Judy Adams is lowii x lowii var richardianum—which is technically just paph lowii (if you believe lowii var richardianum is just a variety of lowii; given some morphalogical differences, I think it’s important to include the complete lineage). That said, the expected outcome… likely just like Paph Berenice. Hopefully with better red colouration from the highly pigmented philippinense parent that I used. Plants will probably be fairly robust and big – with leaves averaging 12-18″.

Paph lowii x Judy Adams

Pollinated: Mar 30, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Guaranteed not-inbred paph lowii! With Judy Adams being lowii x lowii var richardianum, this may not technically be considered “a hybrid”; I’ve kept the lineage in tact, just in case richardianum ever regains its speices status (like what happened with phal violacea & bellina). Regardless of the taxonomic details – this is pretty much just Paph lowii (with a 1/4 contribution from lowii var richardianum). The mother plant came from awarded parents and has great colour but it also gave me grief if conditions or water chemistry was off; the father (Judy Adams) grows very well for me. My hope is for robust and easy to grow lowii plants that have good colour.

Paph primulinum (‘Huge Dorsal Sepal’ x ‘Orchid Inn HBN Yellow’)

Pollinated: Dec 9, 2021

Sowed: Oct 12, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I have always wanted a green primulinum. The mother plant is mostly green and has a very large dorsal sepal that sometimes restricts the flower from opening; I’ve noticed this with a few other maduiae paphs that have over-sized dorsal sepals. The father (I feel) has a better balance of proportions and darker pigment though it’s more yellow. I’ve crossed them in the hopes of pulling forward the good traits from both and maybe if I’m lucky I can get a few that are more green than yellow with a large dorsal sepal that’s balanced enough to not affect the bloom as it opens.

Paph Miva Adele Hugo (Delophyllum x philippinense)

Pollinated: Mar 8, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is a remake of Miva Adele Hugo. I could find one photo of the cross online and I think there’s a chance to really improve the outcome. My Delophyllum has a lot of colour and likely used a vinicolour delenatii; similarly my philippinense is very dark; so, I expect the outcome will be good. I had sown 1 mother and it had a small contamination, so I did an emergency removal of the media that had the growth and -surprisingly- it caught the contamination; I’ve tried this since and not been so lucky. My point – I only have a small number of seedlings from this cross – maybe a dozen or less. Will be neat to see flower one day.

Paph Saigon Pink (Ho Chi Minh x philippinense)

Pollinated: Mar 26, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Like the previous cross, this has contribution of delenatii and philippinense. It is a remake of Paphiopedilum Saigon Pink which has quite stunning flowers. They are pink with a white pouch and have the flat-wide-and-pointed petals like many multifloral-parvisepalum crosses. I don’t have many of these in flask and they seem a but fussy with the media I’ve chosen, but they are still progressivly getting larger, so I’m hopeful I’ll end up with a few plants to deflask eventually.

Paph helenae x Mystically Contrasting ‘HBN#1’

Pollinated: Dec 27, 2021

Deflasked: M1 Oct 15, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Dark compact flowers – obviously. This cross is my second most anticipated paph cross. They have grown really well in flask, the leaves are slightly mottled with darker lines and with the nearly-black flower colour of Mystically Contrasting, the potential for a stunning flower is high. My only hold-back on this cross is that helenae doesn’t have the greatest presentation from an award-winning perspective (the petals sit forward rather than flat), but some of the funky traits of each plant should result in a better outcome. Mystically Contrasting for example has a big dorsal sepal that sometimes traps the flower petals as they’re opening—the smaller dorsal of helenae should fix that. I may try and sib-cross the progeny in the far far future; however, cross-sectional hybrids like this are often harder to breed, so…we’ll see.

Paph Hawaiian Skies x Mystically Contrasting ‘HBN#1’

Pollinated: Dec 27, 2021
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is me playing out of my comfort zone and the cross doesn’t really feel like my own as both of these plants came from Dave at Paph Paradise, from the same order. That said, I have had really poor success with maudiae crosses; my logic behind this specific attempt was to try and make a maudiae cross and grow the seedlings out under my conditions so that “natural selection” works in my favour. A lot of maudiae paphs come from non-calcaerous habitats and those have then been further line-bred under fairly optimal conditions often with RO water that is low in minerals. My conditions are not like that, so I’m hoping that from a flask of many plants, I will find a few that thrive better. Might not work out, but it’s good to experiment.

Pot-Sown Paphiopedilums – Poss’ Paph. primulinum

Pollinated: Estimated Dec ’21 – Mar ’22 (5-9 months before August 2022)
Sowed: in pot (NO FLASKING) after August 9, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is a bit of a messy situation—I don’t know exactly what these seedlings are! In early 2023, they popped up in the pot of my Paph Supreme Lady—that plant arrived August 9, 2022 and like all my plants on arrival I repotted it, stripping it to the roots (so whatever these seedlings are, they were not hitch hikers from old media). I let them grow as large as possible (about 8 months), but when the leaves started to jam up I dug them out and planted them into my propagation box which is full of live moss.

What are they? Most paph seed pods take 5-9 months to mature which means there’s a somewhat narrow widow on what these might be; there are only 3 likely seed pods I’d made in December that year (9 months prior to the repot): Paph primulinum (the grex listed up above), Paph helenae x Mystically Contrasting, and Paph Hawaiian Skies x Mystically Contrasting; in March I had also made Paph Miva Adele Hugo, Paph Berenice, a cocholopetalum-philippinense x philippinense, and Ho Chi Minh x philippinense, but 5 months a fairly short for most paph seed pods – I’ve only seen lowii pods mature that quickly. Based on this and how the seedlings currently look, I have a strong hunch that these are Paph primulinum. They continue to grow and have light tesselation on the leaves – so we’ll see…

Paph (Tropical Magic ‘Mini Spots’ x philippinense fma album ‘Mini Green Tails’) x philippinense

Pollinated: Mar 16, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Small to medium-sized philippinense is my guess. The mother plant is from Paphanatics and is VERY compact with leaves that are only about 3-4″ long. It flowers twice a year; howwever, there are only 1 to 3 flowers produced sequentially per spike. Back-crossing it on to my philippinense should introduce some size, but also bring up the flower count too. I expect these will be good growers; however, it’s quite a complicated hybrid with contributions from the sections Cochlopetalum, Coryopedilum and Paphiopedilum – that could mean a fertility barrier lies ahead that will limit the potential for future crosses from these plants.

Paph (Tropical Magic ‘Mini Spots’ x philippinense fma album ‘Mini Green Tails’) x lowii

Pollinated: Apr 10, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is similar to Paph Berenice and Paph Lipstick; So I’m expecting somewhere between the two. Should have good spotting on the petals and dark colouring at the tips of the petals.

Paph Mystically Contrasting ‘HBN#2’ x henryanum

Pollinated: Jul 30, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – dark and glossy flowers on very compact plants. This is somewhat similar to my Mystically Contrasting-helenae cross. The colour of my henryanum is dark, so these should be dark and have better shape than the helenae cross. Germination was not as plentiful with this cross, so we’ll see how they grow with time.

Phal Li’l Bit x reichenbachiana
(maculata x lindenii) x reichenbachina

Pollinated: Oct 29, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Maculata and reichenbachiana look similar and they are somewhat closely related, which is probably the only reason this cross worked. I expect the outcome will look a lot like phal maculata or reichenbachina, but who knows. I haven’t seen a single F2 generation of phal Li’l Bit and while I had tried crossing it many times, all pods aborted. When this one carried to regular term, I wasn’t surprised when I found the pod had no seeds and was just full of chaff (the fluff inside the seed pod). I sow chaff even though no seed was visible because sometimes you get lucky—AND I DID! I have one protocorm that germinated.

Paph Angel Hair x gratrixianum var. christensonianum

(+ Paph Angel Hair x self)

Pollinated: Dec 9, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I was tight on space and stupidly used pollen from 2 plants on one flower, so this is a selfing AND a cross with gratrixianum. It’s totally possible that only one or the other will come through. By mid-size I should be able to tell which is which based on how the leaves look; the gratrixianum was var. christensonianum and had very skinny and thin leaves compared to Angel Hair. I hope that the gratrixianum cross works because I’ve seen similar crosses from paphs in the section Paphiopedilum crossed with sanderianum or roth and the outcome is really stunning. For the selfing, I’m just hoping for some that have wider or longer petals.

Paph (Tropical Magic ‘Mini Spots’ x philippinense fma album ‘Mini Green Tails’) x Angel Hair

Pollinated: Dec 9, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Lots of potential for unique flowers on relatively compact plants. Because the mother plant is an old Paphanatics plant, I went a little crazy and crossed it with everything. If nothing else, they should grow well in most home conditions provided they get enough light.

Paph Hamana Spice x Angel Hair

Pollinated: Dec 30, 2022
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is probably a terrible cross. Who cares – let’s find out.

Paph Henryvan x Angel Hair

Pollinated: Jul 1, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – My #1 most anticipated paph cross! The doubling up of rothschildianum from both parents has a lot of potential to produce wide flowers. The colours from Henryvan are bright pink and green – if some of that transfers to the progeny, then rothschildianum-esque plants with unique colours could be the outcome. I’d be very pleased with that. Both of the parents are good growers for me.

Phal August Occasion x Lioulin Blue Pheasant

Pollinated: Jul 1, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I only have 2 protocorms of this cross. With August Occasion having an alba parent on one side, I think there’s a chance the Lioulin’s courulea colours could carry forward. Ideally pastel blue flowers would be nice; pink with spots is more likely though.

Paph Mount Toro (philippinense x stonei)

Pollinated: Apr 4, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – This is a remake of Mount Toro so the outcome is fairly cut and dry – it should look like this. If anything the darker colours from my philippinense should bring forward more red in the petals. The pollen from the stonei came from my friend Ken Avant, so this cross is extra special and I’m excited to grow them out.

Paph philippinense x Anita Baby

Pollinated: Apr 4, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – The pollen from Anita Baby is also from Ken Avant. Those plants are so dark and we are both excited to see what will come of this cross because my philippinense is dark too. I belive Dave/Paph Paradise has already made this cross, so it will likely be named by the time I grow these out and flower them.

Paph philippinense x self

Pollinated: Apr 8, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Expecting more plants that look like the mother! Lots of people have commented on my philippinense, so I figured I’d try selfing it and growing a few out. If they do well, then I can use them for trades.

Phal Marianne Schmoll x wilsonii coerulea
(honghenensis x cornu-cervi chattaladae) x wilsonii

Pollinated: Jun 6, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Marrianne Schmoll is a really cool phal hybrid—it smells like bacon and double bubble, the flowers are super dark, and it flowers like crazy…AND it’s an easy grower. The wilsonii coerulea is unique on its own. Crossing them…I’m hoping for tan or even coerulea flowers that are strongly shapped like Aphyllae phals.

Phal Marianne Schmoll x violacea ‘Indigo’
(honghenensis x cornu-cervi chattaladae) x violacea

Pollinated: Jun 6, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Like the previous cross, this has lots of potential. The violacea is the darkest I’ve ever seen in person and its flowers smell wonderful. Mixing this all together, I’m guaranteed to get dark pigments and strong fragrance – beyond that…who knows what will happen.

Paph Mystically Contrasting ‘HBN#2’ x philippinense

Pollinated: Jul 1, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – More black paphs! Though it’s uncommon to see maudiae x multifloral crosses, I think they have a lot of potential…especially when they are as dark as these! So now we wait.

Paph liemianum x Mystically Contrasting ‘HBN#2’

Pollinated: Jul 1, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – Black black black. Right? I had seen a similar cross with maudiae x cochlopetalum and liked the outcome…so I figured I’d give this a shot.

Paph Judy Adams x Mystically Contrasting ‘HBN#2’

Pollinated: Jul 1, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I’m like a kid who just discovered the black crayon, I know. But my longer-term goal is to try and cross any of these together so I can focus the dark colours but with different shapes and sizes OR bring forward more of the maudiae leaves but combined with multifloral ease of care.

Phal Kingfisher’s Lemon Drop x Mok Choi Yew

Pollinated: Jul 23, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – I don’t have a specific vision for this cross; my hope is that the flowers have good shape and vibrant colour. I wanted to use my jumbo Mok Choi Yew in a cross, and this is the first one that took. Should be very fragrant and have bright colours.

Phal Entourage x TSFE-bastianii

Pollinated: Sep 23, 2023
Why This? Expected Outcomes – My second F2 generation. Both parents have potential for orange flowers and that’s my goal. But we’ll see.

Seed Pods on the Go

• Paph (Tropical Magic ‘Mini Spots’ x philippinense fma album ‘Mini Green Tails’) x gratrixianum

• Paph (Tropical Magic ‘Mini Spots’ x philippinense fma album ‘Mini Green Tails’) x Hamana Spice

Name

Pollinated: Date
Why This? Expected Outcomes – About this choice