Mount Baker Orchid Society Show

Saturday, March was spent at Skagit Valley Nursery working at the annual Mount Baker Society Orchid Show.  Our society is quite small and the show accordingly small, with six displays and about an equal number of vendors.  It is usually the only show I in which I put in a display and one of only a very few I attend, so it is especially enjoyable for me.  The photos below show some of the displays including that put in by our society, a display which won the American Orchid Society's show trophy.

I put in my showcase, as I do every year, but instead of the mountain scene I've used the past few years, I put in something a little more formal.  It included 35-40 plants and I won two American orchid Society awards, a Certificate of Botanical Recognition (CBR/AOS) for Dryadella pusiola 'Erin', awarded with around 200 flowers and a Certificate of Cultural Merit (CCM/AOS) for Effusiella cypripedioides 'Ashlynn' awarded with sixty flowers and buds as Stelis cypripedioides.

Dryadella pusiola 'Erin' CBR-CHM/AOS

Stelis cypripedioides 'Ashlynn' CCM/AOS

Photography is always a challenge at a show.  The lighting is variable and sometimes poor, in this case not very strong, the backgrounds tend to be cluttered and in large displays the flowers are often beyond reach.  I enjoy the challenge, however, and spent quite a bit of time at it, since this is likely the only show I will be able to attend.  These are some of the better pictures I was able to get, the flowers identified wherever possible and divided into different types of orchids.

PHALAENOPSIS

Dtps. Sin-yuan Golden Beauty 'Fairy Tale'

Phal. Fuller's Sunset

Phal. cornu-cervi alba

Phal. Ching Ann Diamond 'Mei Datstar'

Phal. hybrid

Phal. Taida Firebird 'Jane'

Phal. Ho's Amy Christopher

Phal. equestris 'Seagrove's Gabriel

Phal. hybrid

Phal. Luchia Fire 'Fu-Shing'

Phal. schilleriana 'Pink Butterfly'

PAPHIOPEDILUM

Paph. Red Phantom x Jim Iverson and Paph. Sunbeam

 Paph. hybrid

Paph. Norito Hasegawa and Paph. Myra

 Paph. Emerald Sea x primulinum

 DENDROBIUMS

Dend. Nora Tokunaga

BULBOPHYLLUMS

Bulb. wendlandianum

Bulb. echinolabium

Bulb. picturatum

CYMBIDIUMS

Cym. hybrid

 Cym. hybrid

CATTLEYA ALLIANCE

Brassolaeliocattleya Memoria Crispin Rosales

Sophrolaeliocattleya Mem. Alvin Begeman

Epidendrum parkinsonianum

Epidendrum parviflorum

ONCIDUM ALLIANCE

Vuylstekeara Jerry Lawless 'Golden Gate'

 Vuylstekeara Carnivale

Miltoniopsis hybrid

MISCELLANEOUS SPECIES AND HYBRIDS

Dendrochilum cobbianum

Dendrochilum uncatum 'Stony Point'

 Amesiella monticola

Sarchochilus hartmanii

Pleione formosana 'Aunt Trudy'

Maxillaria porphyrostele

Fredclarkeara After Dark

Bletilla ochracea 'Chinese Butterfly'

Phaius pauciflorus

Lycaste Absolutely Stunning 'Grantham's Glory

Stenorhynchos glicensteinii

Lepanthes calodictyon

This is one of the most desirable species in the genus, Lepanthes, not for its flowers but for its beautiful patterned leaves.  It is from Colombia and Ecuador and the plant is about 5cm tall with leaves 3cm in diameter and flowers that are only 8mm.  The species name refers to the net-patterned leaves.  I have trouble growing this with my cool-growing plants and am growing it now in a warmer area in a small terrarium.

Effusiella cypripedioides 'Ashlynn' CCM/AOS

Effusiella cypripedioides goes under quite a few different names.  If I am not mistaken the most current name is Stelis cypripedioides, but it can also be found under the name Pleurothallis cypripedioides.  By any name it is an unusual plant.  The plant itself is around 10cm tall and looks like many other Pleurothallids.  The flower spikes, however are different.  They are pendant and some of them have reached a length of nearly 15cm.  They bloom over a very long period of time, with a number of flowers open on each spike at once.  The 1cm flowers, too, are very unusual, a creamy green spotted with purple.  They do not open widely but the opening and interior of the flower is covered with white hairs.  This plant received a Certificate of Cultural Merit from the American Orchid Society (CCM/AOS) last week at the annual show of the Mount Baker Orchid Society and was awarded under the named Stelis cypripedioides.  The species is from Ecuador and Peru.

Dendrobium vexillarius

Dendrobium vexillarius is a high altitude miniature species from Papua New Guinea.  It is variable both in plant size and in flower color.  My plant is 8cm tall, but may grow larger since it was grown from a seedling and began flowering when only half its present size.  The unusually colored flowers are 3cm and last for many months.  They are produced at the end of the older pseudobulbs, often after the leaves have fallen off, and are usually two or three to each growth.