The inflorescence in Aug. Off course it's called Avril's Gold, sorry about the spelling.

Nick

The flower Dec 24, 2013, same plant.

Nick

The inflorescence in Dec. It may keep blooming into March but I don't expect any more red.

Nick

What a change. It appears the gold pales also as the red pigment deepens. What a fascinating plant.

You have such a fantastic collection Nick.

Jane

Actually it's my photography which pales, not the flowers which are the same rich, deep yellow. It's one of my favorite Dendrobiums, would be my all time favorite if all the flowers bloomed at the same time instead of dribbling over 6 month.

Nick

Jane, it is fascinating and very expensive, being of frugal nature i've never shelled out the $50 or more dollars required for a bit of a nice clone.
Some of the colours on orchids seem to be hard to capture.

Actually I lucked out on that one. Found a small division of a Dendrobium speciosum, no further Identification, for $30 at an LA vendor in roughly 1996. 5 years later it finally bloomed, in June no less. By then I knew enough about Dend speciosum to know that they don't bloom in June.

David Banks was in town and he gave the lecture at our yearly installation banquet. Very funny and a real good speaker by the way. His 1st three slides were upside down until he remembered that he was in the northern hemisphere and got the rest straight. He identified it as Dend Avril's Gold and thought it might be award quality. He also advised me not to divide it as they tend to sulk for a year or two after a division. That took place a dozen years ago, it's been one of my favorites every since. Slow grower, one, maybe 2 new canes a year, never more.

Nick

Gorgeous!

This one is on my wishlist. SBOE had one of their silent auction this fall. I think it had 24 growths in a 5-6 inch pot. The minimum bid was $600. Needless to say, I did not place a bid.

I will enjoy Nick's for now.

Another nice spike. We have had a very warm January with daytime highs in the 70s and 80s. Note that the amount of red has decreased.

This plant has had a bloom open almost continuously since August. This is the late Jan/early Feb spike. The next one is 2 to 3 weeks from opening and another one is just poking out. By the time it will finish in March it may have had 15 to 20 inflorescences but never more than 2 open at the same time. If it would only open them all at the same time it would create a fantastic show. Oh well.

Nick