Hey, snaxs. That Jade Lovely is really beautiful, like a fat pink baby in a crib. And I like the round petals.

Chun Lei "Spring Bud" is adorable. I love the pristine white flowers on the Rhynchostylis
Olya

Lovely 'chids- Rhy gigantea alba looks luscious. Dont kill the last one- it is a cutie, pl put it up for trade!

Beautiful cymbidiums - love the 'chun lei'

very nice: cym. are my favourites. any kind.
sue

Kevin and Sue, I have to confess. I am not a big fan of large Standard Cyms. I prefer smaller and miniature ones. I like thin and small leaves, for example, the leaves of Chun Lei. I find they are lovely.

Fragrance is very important to me. I saw some gorgeous Yamamoto Den at HD yesterday, but I did not buy any. They have beautiful flowers but they have no fragrance. Somehow, I am excited by fragrance every time. In contrast, I am excited by looks on the first time. For an orchid to impress me repeatedly, it must possess intoxicating fragrance.

Olay, yes, that Rhyn is beautiful.

Mehitabel, I also find it adorable. I think you will like the one below:

Cym goeringii HuangJin DaFuGui "Golden Great Wealth"

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Very nice! I can almost smell the rhyn from here.

sharon

Love those species/primary hybrid Cymbidiums. I'm trying C. goeringii planted outside in a shady raised bed for the first time this year. I kept one division in the greenhouse for safety's sake, but by all accounts this one should be hardy here, although this winter isn't proving to be much of a test so far. Now that I've said that, the temperature will probably plummet!

Hi Bubba (or maybe the church pianist :-),

What miniature Cym cultivars do you have? You might not know what you are getting. Are you ready to be impressed? This post is from last year, but you might enjoy it. Check back after you have experienced the fragrance :-)

Link - http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/orchids/msg0715550931399.html?14

Congratulations on the good growing. I like the little Cyms, too, and have a goeringii 'Teikan,' marginal variegation. The Jade Lovely is just that.

If you use artifical light, how many hours do you give your Rhyn during the late fall, winter, and early spring? I have one w/ lovely foliage, and it's missed blooming at least twice.

Whitecat8

snasxs,

Chun Lei "Spring Bud" is charming. Please tell me how tall it is.

Those are beautiful plants and pictures. Thank you!

Sc

Oh my, I am in awe! I too am very fond of fragrance have that as an imperative when considering new plants since space and light are at a premium here, particularly this time of year. I am totally weak when it comes to intoxicating scent and have been pining for a genuine Chinese Cym. goeringii.
Please tell me before I go mad, where did you find classical Chinese Cymbidiums? I am very fond of Cym goeringii but have not been able to find stateside vendors of the Chinese variety, only Japanese versions which I have been told are not as fragrant as the Chinese versions. I did find a listing on Ebay (did I mention that I am desperate?) but they are listing from China, and worse they are stating that the plants are apparently wild collected. As badly as I would like a nice plant with the fragrance of a Chinese style Cymbidium I am not so desperate to consider a wild collected plant. It seems to me that these plants have been cultivated for many millennia there should be no need for wild collected plants. It may be that the Chinese English translation is misleading me on that point, I still think there should be a domestic source for these extraordinary plants. Help?

Richard

How embarrassing. I just looked again at the auction info, and it turns out it did not say they were wild collected, it said they are from SiChuan Province. Sorry for the miscommunication. My bad translation of my own native language. Duh.

Still, it is eBay and the grower is a long way from home.

Whitecat,

Your Rhyn has not bloomed for two years. Oh my, I feel you. You must miss the fragrance.

I am sure other growers will explain the process to you in detail later. Please enjoy the foliage for now ;-)

Has your 'Teikan' bloomed for you? According to Japanese tradition, you are supposed to enjoy the foliage as much as it blooms. It is priced for the jade leaves with gold markings. Why don't you post a picture of your treasure?

Sc,

You have great insight. Yes, 'Chun Lei' is of a very popular type. Based on my estimation, her longest leaf is about 12 inches.

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Richard,

Japanese vendors have Chinese cultivars. The names are the same. The authenticity is reliable. The price is prohibitive though. I am sure for someone desperate, it does not matter ;-)

Bubba (also the church pianist and wrangler of children) here: Those are impressive; I'm envious, but not quite desperate! My goeringii is just an unnamed cultivar purchased at least 5 years ago from Andy's Orchids in CA, and I have a couple of other pedestrian mini Cym hybrid meristems (C. Golden Elf 'Sundust' and I think the pink one is C. Meglee, or something like that - I'm too lazy to go look at the tag!), but I enjoy them because I hunker the pots down for the summer in the garden where they bloom in late summer/fall. Because of the size, I can only afford space for two or three of these. I also wonder how many more years I'll be able to lift these monsters in and out of the greenhouse (along with the giant crinums, clivias, etc.). It's fun (and inexpensive!)to live vicariously through your exotic collection.

Thank you, Snasxs. Twelve inches is a nice small size.

I have always loved Cymbidiums from afar, since I don't have the conditions to grow them. So, while I'm trying to avoid being so desperate as to buy an orchid I probably can't grow, you just "had to" post a close-up that tempts me further :)

She is a beauty.

Sc

snasxs, they're all very beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I love them.... Wow!

Xuan

Snasxs, thanks for the commiseration on the Rhyn.

The Onc Twinkle looks good to me. Is there some reason in particular you want to Kev it?

My Teikan didn't bloom the 1st year I had it, which was last year. It shows no signs of blooming this year, either. Too soon to know whether I can get it to bloom or not.

It doesn't help that Kerplunk, the spike-killing cat, LOVES these Cym leaves, so they're kinda raggedy. He chomps on'em when the plant's in the kitchen for flushing, etc. Not his fault.

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A leaf that's escaped Kerplunk's attention -

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SC, the Cloud's Orchids sheet on Cyms - to the extent it's right - says various Cyms grow in warm, intermediate, and cool temps, adding, "However, these plants are very resilient and can tolerate a wider range of temperatures if the humidity and watering are adjusted."

So, could you maybe grow some? Sure hope so!

Whitecat8

Here is a link that might be useful: Cyms, Cloud's Orchids

Whitecat8,

(Kerplunk ~ I love it!)

Oh, my! I went to Clouds and read it all. I think I'm on a slippery slope...

Cloud's culture sheet says Chinese species and at least some of the hybrids between Chinese species and classics can be grown indoors in good Phal conditions. I surely have those and can provide both the light and a good cool down. How exciting!

Snasxs ~ Look what you started! They are just too beautiful to ignore...and fragrant too!

Ever since I saw Calvin's Cymbidium sinense Chin Hua San (tentative ID) on the Gallery side, I've been making a little list of Cyms that were small enough and for which (much hoping) I might have sufficient light.

Calvin, if you are there, please tell me that Chin Hua San (URL below) is not too large : )

Thank you Snasxs, WhiteCat, and Calvin...for aiding and abetting.

Sweetcicely

Here is a link that might be useful: Calvin's Chocolate Kitten Cym

Hey Sweet! We all realize that Snasxs is very mean, posting these kinds of pictures! I'm going to be getting a few more asian cymbs from clouds this weekend, thanks to the enablers out there :D

And I must say WCat isn't helping at all - the leaves of that teikan are magnificent!

The cymbidium sinense seems to be medium sized..not too small, sadly. :( About 12-14" leaf span. But the leaves are very neat and stand upright, which I like! (unlike the typical cymbs which have long thin leaves that droop..which I like too, but can get messy when they get old and flop all over the place). Best of all, it doesn't need too much light, although I'm sure more light will only do it good. I have it in a south facing window in winter without supplemental lighting, and in the summer it goes outside under dappled shade until first frost by which time it's already made buds! :)

Hi Calvin, many thanks for responding! That's good news (or bad, as the case may be). I'm a cat (one "t") fancier and keep seeing the face of your pretty chocolate cym in my mind's eye. With three other SSE windows, I may be able to find space...(further and further she slides...)

WC's teikan leaves do illustrate the Japanese tradition of which Snasxs spoke. So fresh and lovely.

And Snasxs' Chun Lei makes me sigh each time I see it.

(Calvin, wouldn't you think that oriental tradition would confer on the enablers the responsibility to help if we run into trouble? :) )

Thank you all.

Sweetcicely

I came back to this thread to stare at the beautiful Cymbidiums and was looking at the media the first one is potted in. Snasxs, what are you potting your Asian Cymbidiums in? It looks like some pearlite, something else I don't recognize, and ?tree fern?

I had someone recommend fish tank gravel topped with moss for the Asian Cyms, and have since seen the same recommendation in print from a couple of other resources. I have my 2 minis in a small CHC mix, and a 3rd in one of the "Fafard" peat based mixes from OHG. They recommend this mix for Zygo and young Cym, but I ended up taking my Zygos out of it because it held too much water (or I watered too much). I have 3 standard Cym species that seem to love it though.

WhiteCat, hahaha, now we know why you are called whitecat ;-) Your Teikan is divine. Look at the texture of the leaves. What flow of life in it! Just to mention, there are Teikan types with silver markings. There are fans asking about light requirements. You might share your practice.

Let me share with you: the philosophy is supposed to avoid keeping too many orchids. You should just enjoy the leisure, simplicity, fragrance and perfection of a few. However I have to confess, I have a hard time to practice the philosophy myself.

The Onc Twinkle is a cutie. I am just "pushing" her for more blooms. If you can smell the fragrance, you know I am joking.

Sweetcicely, Chun Lei "Spring Bud" has great potential. It is not only beautiful but also low-cost. A very special feature of this type is that their flowers change. The picture below is taken when a flower just opens. Over the next weeks, the petals slowly grow longer.

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In addition to these, there are many miniature cyms that are known for their fragrance.

cym goeringii: yu hu dieh (Yu's butterfly), song mei (Song's plum), xi shen (west god), da fu gui (great wealth & nobility), long zi(dragon's marking).

cym faberi: zheng xiao he (Zheng-xia's lotus).

cym ensifolium: yu xue tian xiang (jade-snow & heavenly fragrance).

cym sinense: lu yun (green cloud).

The perfume is light but far reaching. Triggered by direct sunlight, it will reliably fill up a room everyday. You might want to evaluate the wafting scent at some distance throughout the day. The scent of goeringii can be described as smooth and peaceful. The scent of sinense is sweet. Kanran has a clear or pristine perfume. When the temperature is high, ensifolium has the most close-sniffing intensity.

rfraser, there are special cym mix. Please do not use fish tank gravel.

Snasxs - Oooo - leaves w/ silver.

As for light for this Cym - it's not right yet. Rereading my notes, I realized it's supposed to have natural daylight hours during the winter, rather than the 16, w/ supplemental lighting, that it's been getting.

Did you see what I just wrote, Howard? There is such a thing as too much light. :)

This *may* be why it hasn't bloomed. This also may mean it needs another owner. Making a 3rd growing area just for this orchid doesn't seem feasible. Sigh.

Whitecat8

Snasxs,

Ah! You've done it again. It seems Chun Lei is beautiful in all its floral stages. And, am I mistaken, or do lines on the petals echo those on the leaves?

I'm in love!

Sweetcicely

In case you need any more enabling, sweet (and anyone else) there were some beautiful chinese cymbidiums at the orchid show...here are some pictures! :)
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Hey Calvin,

Are you and Snasxs a tag team? :)

That golden Cym sinense is a cutie.

Sc

Sweet Cicely, no team here. I think hardy Calvin is from Arctic north. But I grow in z8-9. Hehe.

Calvin, thanks for the sinense "gold bird". Is it nicely fragrant? The show must be great despite the inclement Canadian winter.

rfraser, in addition to clouds orchid cited by white cat. I read about Eric Wolf of winterview orchid. It seems he is quite knowledgeable. Both could be good sources, although I havenÂt tried.

White cat, where did you get your ÂTeikanÂ?

Whitecat, see the strip is white in the orchid below:
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I just skimmed through the text here, but the Cyms in the photos are gorgeous! They have to be my favorite orchid! I've got one Cym... and now, thanks to this thread, I'm on the lookout for some miniatures to add to my orchid collection! Thanks for sharing all the lovely photos! The Cyms are positively spectacular!

Hey jodik !
THANKS for reopening this thread !! Was very informative and inspiring ! I'm a newly converted mini cym fan. Just added 3 from Hatfield Orchids, CA after the presentation at our OS. They were the motivation to add the outdoors to my growing area !!! Just started so no news other than morning sun from a SE facing front door landing shelf until 11am. 6 weeks = so far so good.

Chryss

... more discussion in the Orchid Gallery section:http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/orchidsgal/

Hey Whitecat,
Is that an ornithocephalus in your Feb. post? Mine is putting out flower activities now...
Ann

Hey Whitecat,
Is that an ornithocephalus in your Feb. post? Mine is putting out flower activities now...
Ann

Hi,
It's so beautiful your orchids.
I'm new here (not very good english and computer skill)
But I loved orchids, mostly the scented one. I'd like to share some of my collection, but I do not know how to post the pic. on this forum
You can see all my flowers at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paphio/sets/72157594207962711
do you have . Lc. Cahamiana var. coerulea ÂAzure SkiesÂ
or encylia cordigera etc.. they're very fragance.