Made several trades using that one, it should be twice as big but it's coming along.

Nick

Here is another Gracillimum crossed back to a speciosum. Dendrobium Gracillumum 'Pure Gold' x speciosum 'Yondi Moon'. I think it is of superior quality than the first one. Of course it has a double dose of speciosum so the comparison is not fair.

Nick

The entire plant, it has never been divided but I got it much later than the first one.

Nick

This should have been posted in the gallery, Oh well.

Nick

Those are beautiful plants!

I'm speechless again....what a collection!

Jane

Registered name Den. Gracious Cascades, nice, but it shows the dead-end reached by using some of the Australian Native Dendrobiums: More of the same.
The way forward was to introduce Den. tetragonum into the mix.
I'll agree about the extent of the collection. Amazing variety of quality orchids.

On the AU orchids, I was on a collecting spree about 8 odd years ago and bought a bunch of speciosum crosses from an AU vendor along with other hybrids. Most of this stuff came to me from 50mm tubes. A quaint way of describing 2" seedling squares, in other words small plants, inexpensive, minimal transportation cost as they were all shipped bare-root. The speciosums take a long time to mature and I'd guess only about 1/3 of the ones I have bought have bloomed by now. They are finally all of significant size and should bloom in the next couple of years. There some good crosses there and I can't wait for the first bloom.

The other crosses of non-speciosum nature have matured and are blooming away. See Dendrobium 'Donovan's Opulence' for example, pictures on the gallery. I have not bought any AU Dendrobiums for quite a few years but these buggers are getting bigger and bigger and are demanding more and more space. They love our SOCAL climate and are very difficult to kill here.

My AU Dend collection then is the result of purchases made quite a few years ago. For many years I looked at green leaves, now the rewards are pouring in. I have a section of the backyard set aside for them under 50% shadecloth, the rest of the plants are under 63%.

Nick

Just lovely!

Those are really well grown. It is hard as heck to find Aussie dens out here in Michigan. I think there is a grower near my FIL in San Diego so next time I am out there I intend to check him out.
I'm wondering if the rules for getting them shipped has changed since you got yours: I have been looking at a couple of Australian nurseries to try to do just what you did.. get a bunch of little ones and grow them out.. but nobody ships out of the country.

Check out Santa Barbara Orchid Estates, they have a large selection of Au Dends. Unless things have changed it is possible to get small ones from Australia. Shoot me a private email if you are interested.

Nick

Cannot find "Dendrobium 'Donovan's Opulence' in the register of Hybrids, but just say the label got mangled and it is Dendrobium Donovan. If so, it adds to the point I was making above about "more of the same"
Dendrobium 'Donovan's Opulence' looks nothing like kingianum or speciosum but if in fact it is Den. Donovan then both those orchids are ancestors as well as tetragonum and bigibbum. In Australian parlance it is a hot/cold Dendrobium and may be easier to grow than say Den. kingianum in parts of the USA away from California.

This post was edited by arthurm on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 18:50

Here is another cross. Dendrobium Gracillimum 'Mel' x Yondi Tina 'Goliath' FCC/AOC produces very deep yellow flowers. First bloom, when it gets rolling, 2 to 3 years from now , it should put on quite a show.

Nick

Funny, I posted something 10 min ago and it does not show up.
Will check later.

Nick

Very Nice. Registered name is Den. Bill Dobson.

Thanks, Arthur, I'll add it to my tag

Nick

Nick, you and Arthur make a good team!

Love those dends, especially the darker colored Mel with Goliath.

Sheila

This has become somewhat a post on Australian Dendrobium hybrids so I'll post this one here.

Dendrobium Victoria Flare x Avri'ls Gold. As Arthur said they somewhat are similar but I do enjoy them never the less as there are distinct differences.

Nick

Australian Orchid Nursery have a Redback one of these which looks nice

unsure if they ship to the USA

but I have bought from them before but I'm in the UK

Another pretty one Nick. Wasn't the Australian Orchid Nursery the one you used those eight years back. It's wonderful to see your good results! The plants definitely did not like living in hot, arid Central Texas :(