Firetail Orchids Cymbidium Flask List 2015/16

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Introduction

Welcome to the sixth seedling flask list issued by Firetail Orchids.

This List is made up of crosses from the 2014 flowering season.  Pod retention and germination was good.  We continue with our usual practice of including in the List crosses with a reasonable germination (15 to 20 flasks) and good germination (more than 20 flasks available).

Kevin Black continues in his mentoring role and we appreciate his help greatly.

Pam and Trevor Hughes

	FLASK LIST F, 2015/2016
	Miniature Seedling Flasks (Bloom size less than 60mm)
F 01	Jimbo Tupp ‘Stevie’ x Ruby Eyes ‘Rose Red’ (4N)
	July.  Pink.  Similar to E 01 last year, but using our tetraploid version of ‘Rose Red’ instead of ‘Red Baron’.  ‘Stevie’ brings very stiff, upright, straight and taller stems that should convert the arching stems of ‘Rose Red’ to upright.  We expect these to be pretty and floriferous.

	Intermediate Seedling Flasks (Bloom size 60mm to 85mm)
F 02	Kusuda Shining ‘Geyserland’ x Katy's Gold ‘Cameron’
	March/May.  Orange (25% Alba Yellow).  Great germination from a time of the year when most attempts fail because of the high ambient temperatures prevailing this early in the season.  Both parents are fast growing and free flowering so these should ensure a colourful start to the season.
F 03	Gypsy Rose ‘Princes’ x Mesa Zia ‘Preview’
	April/May.  Pink.  This cross has a similar ambition to many of our hybridising efforts, which is to move forward the good qualities of the plant that flowers later (here ‘Princes’ which flowers in early May in time for Mother's Day) by crossing it with a plant that flowers very early (here ‘Preview’ which flowers in April).  These will be fast growing, free flowering, very early and colourful.
F 04	Gypsy Rose ‘Princes’ x Firetail Guru ‘Jay’
	May/June.  Dark Pink.  The ambition here is similar to F 03, but here ‘Princes’ is the early anchor and ‘Jay’ the plant with the more desirable qualities from later in the season.  Yes, you guessed correctly - they will be fast growing, free flowering, very early and colourful.
F 05	Artistic ‘Piper’ x Firetail Adorn ‘Lola’
	May/July.  Green.  Continuing the theme, here we are using ‘Piper’, one of our production Mother's Day mericlones, in an effort to drag the superior bloom qualities of ‘Lola’ forward in the season.  Blooms should be in attractive shades of clear and clean green while labellums should be heavily marked, although not quite red-barred.  Expect all to be great pot plants, and the best to do well on the showbench.
F 06	Katy's Gaze ‘Siany’ x Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’
	July. Alba Green and Lemon.  We have a high opinion of the fabulous Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’.  The ambition with this cross is to move the superior qualities of its blooms, particularly tepal width, to the smaller Intermediate size.  Expect a profusion of blooms above moderate foliage in mid-season.
F 07	Zen Emerald ‘Angus’ x Kimberley Valley ‘Zoe’
	July/August.  Green.  The development of green flowering plants has lagged fairly significantly behind other colours but with crosses like this one we feel that we are starting to make some progress.  The plan is to add the flatness of ‘Angus’ to the wider tepals of ‘Zoe’.  They will grow quickly and flower readily.
F 08	(Fury Land x Red Nelly) ‘Rhyce’ x Jim Barron ‘Fifi’
	July/August. Red and Pink.  As well as its small blooms, Miniature ‘Fifi’ brings small bulbs and foliage, thus ensuring that the blooms from this cross will not be smothered by full size foliage.  ‘Rhyce’ brings richer colour.  We expect a very commercial result – fast growing and prolific.
F 09	Jim Barron ‘Fifi’ x Reggae Rose ‘Sabrina’
	August.  Pink.  Like F 08, blooms will be in the smaller half of the Intermediate range.  Again, expect fast growing and prolific, with blooms above moderate foliage.  These will be a bit later and with better shape from ‘Sabrina’.
F 10	Dynamic Khan ‘Missy’ x Reggae Rose ‘Sabrina’
	August/September. Red or Dark Pink.  For very late in the season, rich attractive coloured blooms on fast growing and prolific plants.
F 11	Touchstone ‘Janis’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Justin’
	August/September. Orange.  The ‘Janis’ used here is a superior plant from a batch of mericlones, suggesting that it has probably been converted from diploid to tetraploid.  It blooms freely, usually both sides of each new bulb.  ‘Justin’ brings tall stems, but the progeny may have stems that do not lift the blooms entirely above the foliage.  For very late in the season, these will have attractive orange blooms with very eye-catching labellums.

	Small Standard Seedling Flasks (Bloom size 85mm to 100mm)
F 12	Threshold ‘Birthday Boy’ x Olympic Swimmer ‘Lucas’
	April/May.  Green.  In our conditions, blooms on ‘Birthday Boy’ start opening in the second week of April.  It has stems that are thick and strong with bloom counts well above 20 per stem.  ‘Lucas’ brings higher quality blooms from later in the season.  There will be a range of flowering times but most of these would have great potential to make a mother happy on Mother's Day!
F 13	Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’ x Mesa Zia ‘Preview’
	April/May.  Pink.  ‘Evie’ has blooms of the kind of undoubted quality that tends to be lacking in plants with an ultra-early flowering time like ‘Preview’, which flowers in April.  Good bloom counts on good strong, straight, upright stems very early in the season.
F 14	Valley Fire ‘Inferno’ x Regent Pepper ‘Paget’
	April/June.  Red.  Again a combination aimed at bringing mid-season bloom quality forward in the season.  Both parents grow well and flower freely, so expect these to flower prolifically from robust plants with moderate sized bulbs and foliage.
F 15	Kusuda Shining ‘Geyserland’ x Firetail Intuition ‘Honey’
	April/June.  Orange and Light Brown.  It is difficult to be confident about flowering time here.  ‘Geyserland’ flowers in April and ‘Honey’ late in June so we expect most to flower in May, but we will be hoping for a few in late April to assist further breeding development.  They should all grow quickly and flower prolifically.
F 16	Pink Celebration ‘Carmel’ x Firetail Angels ‘Farrah’
	May.  Mid Pink.  We have been deeply impressed with the number of stems produced by ‘Carmel’ and it is now one of our Mother's Day production mericlones.  The wider tepals of ‘Farrah’ will bring shape improvement.  These will also be very pretty.
F 17	Pink Celebration ‘Carmel’ x Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’
	May.  Dark Pink.  Like F 16 but, as well as being much darker, ‘Evie’ brings even better shape characteristics – and a well-earned reputation as a parent, having produced the FCC awarded Serhan's Passion ‘Marion’.
F 18	Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’ x (Happy Promenade x Ruby Eyes) ‘Jude’
	May.  Red.  This is a commercial cross looking for masses of dark red blooms.  ‘Jude’ is a flowering machineand, like F 17 above, ‘Evie’ will provide significant bloom shape and substance improvement.
F 19	Dural Snow ‘Maytime’ x Snow Storm ‘Luscious Lynda’
	May/June.  Alba White.  For a long time ‘Maytime’ was thought to be triploid and therefore infertile.  The quite normal germination achieved in this cross confirms that it is not triploid.  ‘Maytime’ is an excellent Mother's Day Standard plant from Gordon Giles, while ‘Luscious Lynda’ is a prolific Small Standard flowering in late June.
F 20	Firetail Feline ‘Mishka’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Phoebe’
	May/July.  Yellow.  We like ‘Mishka’ for its compact growth and ease of flowering but acknowledge that, for commercial purposes, its stems are a bit short and its colour a bit pale.  ‘Phoebe’ has good tall stems and rich colour.
F 21	Munno Para ‘Chloe’ x Gwen Thomas ‘Elan’
	May/July.  Yellow.  A Mother's Day production mericlone at our nursery, ‘Chloe’ flowers prolifically with blooms that are rich in colour but lacking full shape.  The full shaped ‘Elan’ will bring mid-season shape and substance for a very colourful result.
F 22	Firetail Feline ‘Mishka’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Jaiden’
	May/July.  Orange.  Like F 20 above, this cross matches the pale blooms of the early flowering ‘Mishka’ with a strongly coloured and later flowering plant.  The outcomes should be attractive, vigorous and productive.
F 23	Kusuda Shining ‘Geyserland’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Poor Yorick’
	May/July.  Orange.  This pairing of the April flowering ‘Geyserland’ with the August flowering ‘Poor Yorick’ was made possible by an aberrant late stem on ‘Geyserland’.  Ultra early, flat and lacking shape crossed with late, cupped and shapely can only produce a very wide range of outcomes, but all will be prolific, colourful and attractive.
F 24	Cracked Pepper ‘Freight Train’ x Regent Pepper ‘Paget’
	June.  Red.  This is a strong commercial cross for dark red shades.  The stems produced by ‘Paget’ are good, but those on ‘Freight Train’ are superb, standing up erect and straight with no grooming.  Plants will be fast growing with masses of filled in blooms held above moderate foliage.
F 25	Misty Angel ‘Lovable’ x Anna Meares ‘First Again!’
	June/July.  Light Pink.  With both parents having wide tepals, these will be shapely.  Yes, the blooms on ‘Lovable’ are somewhat cupped and bunched on shortish stems, but these defects will be offset by ‘First Again!’, where the blooms are flat and well spaced on tall stems.
F 26	Drouin Masterpiece ‘Kathy Bailey’ x Firetail Intuition ‘Honey’
	June/August.  Orange.  The Drouin Masterpiece grex resulted from a stroke of genius by hybridiser Ken Purcell, and ‘Kathy Bailey’ is a fine example, having rich colour and shape of high quality.  ‘Honey’, an excellent plant in its own right, is a very good vehicle to allow these fine qualities to be moved to a larger bloom size.  Excellent labellums will be a feature.
F 27	Kimberley Splash ‘Olivia Clare’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’
	July.  Blush and Splash White.  This cross was prompted by the excellent result we obtained from crossing ‘Bella’ with Kimberley Splash ‘Belinda’ several years ago.  We are confident of another excellent result here.  Some are expected to have pink edged labellums.
F 28	(Perfect Bliss x Valley Zenith) ‘Lewis’ x Firetail Intuition ‘Brett’
	July.  Green.  Sorry, no photo of ‘Lewis’ which is a clearer green than ‘Brett’.  These will be easy to grow and will flower profusely for a good commercial result.
F 29	Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’ x Lovely Winter ‘Kristina’
	July.  White.  ‘Bella’ is a chance near-white from yellow breeding.  We have been hybridising with ‘Bella’ for many years now and the results have encouraged us to do more, particularly because of its record in producing a good proportion with pink edged labellums.  A full-shaped clean white Standard, ‘Kristina’ is another very good white from decades of hybridising by Bryants.
F 30	Glowing Candle ‘Emphatic’ x Foxfire Sunset ‘Amelia’
	July.  Yellow.  Intermediate ‘Amelia’ has near perfect stems - tall, strong and self-supporting – but the blooms are a bit pale for our liking.  ‘Emphatic’ got its name from its intense, eye-catching colour.  We are expecting good outcomes here – prolific flowering held above moderate foliage.
F 31	Foxfire Sunset ‘Amelia’ x Valley Klim ‘Wow’
	July.  Yellow.  ‘Wow’ is a Standard from pot plant breeding by Valley Orchids, but has blooms with showbench attributes.  Here it is also providing richer colour and will be improved by the taller stems of ‘Amelia’.  Again, prolific flowering held above moderate foliage.
F 32	Firetail Showtime ‘Cabaret’ x Joanstar ‘Sensuous’
	July/September.  White.  In hybridising terms, ‘Cabaret’ provides very welcome genetic variation coming as it does from the Intermediate Show White ‘Ikeda’ (which has a Miniature Showgirl as one parent) and Valley Splash ‘Awesome’ which is a product of Valley Orchids' pot plant breeding with yellow in its parentage.  ‘Sensuous’ is another very beautiful Bryants' cut flower variety.  Genetic vigour, shape, compact growth, and productivity – this cross ticks all of the boxes.
F 33	Reggae Rose ‘Jess’ x Khan Flame ‘Energizer’
	August.  Red.  Already registered as Firetail Fedora after we kept ‘Stylish’from an earlier cross using ‘Jess’ with Khan Flame ‘Raquel’.  This time we have used another shapely Khan Flame, the darker ‘Energizer’.  We are expecting another good result, particularly because ‘Jess’ has masses of flat blooms on excellent stems.
F 34	Valley Zenith ‘Quattro’ x Foxfire Storm ‘Halle’
	August.  Green.  Stage one of a two-stage process to improve the quality of blooms in green albas by creating alba factor carriers.  ‘Halle’ has fairly good bloom substance and shape, but ‘Quattro’ has even better blooms that also bring labellums with a stark white throat and solid bar, two aspects leading to more attractive albas.
F 35	Dynamic Khan ‘Missy’ x Valley Vampire ‘Blood’
	September.  Red.  This commercial cross has intense colour and productivity to finish the flowering season on a high note.

	Standard Seedling Flasks (Bloom size greater than 100mm)
F 36	Cadel Evans ‘Grenoble’ x Regent Pepper ‘Paget’
	May/June.  Red.  A simple plan really – take the rich, dark colour of 'Paget' and give to the early flowering ‘Grenoble’, which unfortunately lacks colour despite having more colourful parents than itself.  The result should be high quality and colourful blooms on plants that flower very early in the season.
F 37	Cadel Evans ‘Grenoble’ x Anna Meares ‘First Again!’
	May/June.  Pink.  A similar plan to F 36, but looking for high quality blooms of light pink.
F 38	Mem. Richard Arnold ‘Yellow Submarine’ x Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’
	July.  Alba Yellow.  One of the standout crosses on this List, we look forward to flowering these!  ‘Game Changer’ has obvious bloom quality, with very wide sepals and a superb labellum.  However, the blooms are somewhat cupped, which we expect will be alleviated by the flat blooms of ‘Yellow Submarine’.  There is a great chance that this cross will set a new standard for yellow alba plants.
F 39	Regent Pepper ‘Paget’ x Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’
	July.  Orange.  The productive and shapely ‘Game Changer’ again, this time to produce alba factor carriers, said by many to have more intense colour.  ‘Paget’ brings many desirable attributes, particularly a flatter bloom.  As usual, vigorous compact growth and prolific flowering can be expected.
F 40	Anna Meares ‘First Again!’ x Lovely Winter ‘Kristina’
	June/July.  Light Pink.  A full-shaped clean white Standard, ‘Kristina’ is described above and makes its final appearance in this List.  It should be noted that ‘First Again!’ is surprisingly lightly coloured given that its parents are the polychrome Cronulla ‘The Khan’ and the dark purple/red Red Nelly ‘Purple Satin’.  The question here is – is it possible that crossing ‘First Again!’ with a white might actually produce any white progeny?  At the very least many should be an extremely light pink.
F 41	Anna Meares ‘First Again!’ x Kimberley Splash ‘Belinda’
	June/July.  Light Pink.  Like F 40, the question posed by this cross is whether any progeny will be white?  That outcome is less likely here given that ‘Belinda’ has the pink Khan Flame ‘Raquel’ as one parent.  We are expecting very shapely blooms in a range of shades including light pink, ice pink, and blush white.  There will also be vigour and lots of blooms.
F 42	Via Lunagrad ‘Reynella’ x Kimberley Splash ‘Belinda’
	June/July.  Light Pink.  ‘Reynella’ is a plant that has been in commercial use as a reliable early pot plant and cut stem producer for several decades.  We have been hybridising with ‘Belinda’ for many years and have never been disappointed with the results.  We could always be wrong but again we have confidence that this cross will deliver a very good commercial result.
F 43	Via Lunagrad ‘Reynella’ x Lauren Jackson ‘Opal’
	June/July.  Pink.  Similar to F 42, with a darker result.  ‘Opal’ has a very strong commercial background with one parent each from Bryants and Valley Orchids.  On top of all other desirable attributes, these will be pretty.
F 44	Foxfire Stones ‘Mick Jagger’ x Foxfire Storm ‘Halle’
	June/August.  Green and Lemon (25% Alba).  ‘Mick Jagger’ has already proven to be a great parent of albas by passing on productivity, tepal width, bloom substance, and of course a great labellum, to Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’.  We can reasonably expect it to do the same here with ‘Halle’.
F 45	Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’ x Joan's Charisma ‘Vanity’
	July.  White.  We have said it before but we can say it again – ‘Bella’ has already proven that it can produce good quality white progeny despite its yellow background – its parents are Margaret Thatcher ‘Perfection’ and Lunakira ‘Gleam’.  ‘Vanity’ from Bryants is used extensively by the New Zealand cut flower industry.  Lovely straight stems, crisp white blooms and a good proportion of pink edged labellums should be expected.
F 46	Firetail Command ‘Sanctify’ x Firetail Dynamo ‘Lucy’
	July.  Orange (25% Alba Yellow).  Development and improvement of plants that have alba blooms or carry the alba factor is a recurring theme of this List.  ‘Lucy’ is an alba factor carrier having as one of its parents the very influential parent of the famous Khan Flame grex, Yowie Flame ‘Krakatoa’.  We expect this to provide what is just about the only thing that ‘Sanctify’ lacks, which is some flatness in the bloom.  We only do crosses that we want to grow ourselves, but we are especially keen to see these!
F 47	Firetail Dynamo ‘Lucy’ x Foxfire Stones ‘Mick Jagger’
	July.  Orange (6.25% Alba Yellow).  Mathematically, crossing two tetraploid alba factor carriers should produce one alba in every 16 plants because albinism behaves like any recessive characteristic.  ‘Lucy’ is discussed in F 46 immediately above and is again bringing its flatness to this genetic mix.  ‘Mick Jagger’ has also featured above and it is worth mentioning that, in combination with another alba factor carrier (Foxfire Hibernate ‘Fabian’), it produced the wonderful Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’from the same odds of 1 in 16.
F 48	Lunar Advent ‘A-Stound’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Phoebe’
	July/August.  Yellow.  ‘Phoebe’ is from the same seedpod as ‘Bella’, featured above, and when we see its blooms opening we know that the end of the season is getting very close.  In many ways ‘A-Stound’ is a little bit better, so we are trying here to move those qualities a little later in the season.  Both showbench and commercial potential here.
F 49	Mem. Joan Bryant ‘Keen’ x Kirby Lesh ‘Pink Ice’
	July/August.  Pink.  Some of these will be better than both of their parents and that will mean that they are very good indeed!  Plenty of commercial potential here but the best could also do very well on the showbench.
F 50	Regent Pepper ‘Paget’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Poor Yorick’
	July/August.  Orange and Brown.  Blooms with rich colour, heavy substance and wide tepals from vigorous productive plants on both sides ensure good outcomes here.  Blooms on ‘Poor Yorick’ stay cupped but this should be alleviated because on ‘Paget’ they are flatter.  Attractive and eye-catching labellums will be a feature.
F 51	Ocean ‘Pleasure Cruise’ x Foxfire Valley ‘Delilah’
	July/August.  Green (25% Alba).  As yet there are very few high quality green alba blooms available in the larger size ranges, but this cross has the potential to add some more.  The 75% non-albas are likely to be a vibrant shade of green.  Pink-edged labellums will probably feature.
F 52	Ocean ‘Pleasure Cruise’ x Foxfire Stones ‘Mick Jagger’
	July/August.  Green and Lemon (25% Alba).  The final of many appearances on this List for ‘Mick Jagger’, described in F 47 above, used here again for its blooms with heavy substance, wide tepals and outstanding labellum.  With ‘Pleasure Cruise’ we are hoping for a result like Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’, but with green blooms.
F 53	Pure Valley ‘Spectre’ x Loch Watten ‘Saintly’
	July/August.  Alba White.  Under trial in New Zealand as a cut flower producer, ‘Saintly’ from Bryants is a high quality white alba Standard.  Our ‘Spectre’ has good quality blooms and is insanely productive.
F 54	Loch Watten ‘Ice Peak’ x Snow Storm ‘Casper’
	August.  Alba White.  ‘Ice Peak’ is by courtesy of Kevin Black from a Bryants cross and has compact growth and good straight stems that are somewhat short to be good as a cut flower stem.  On the other hand our ‘Casper’ (also from a Bryants cross using the very productive intermediate Portuguese Passion ‘Snow Blossom’ as one parent) has shapely blooms of heavy substance, but has bulbs and foliage that are overly large and stems that are strong and straight but overly tall.  We expect a very good commercial result.
F 55	Firetail Adorn ‘Mike’ x (Wonder Arc x Glowing Sands) ‘Fruitious’
	August.  Green.  Sorry, no photos, although ‘Fruitious’, a very shapely light green, features on the Bryants Orchids website.  It is under trial as a cut flower variety in New Zealand.  ‘Mike’ is from the same seedpod as ‘Lola’ (see F 05 above), and has large, shapely mid-green blooms of heavy substance on good stems.  We expect a very good commercial result with the best offering showbench potential.
F 56	Foxfire Valley ‘Delilah’ x Foxfire Storm ‘Halle’
	August.  Green (25% Alba).  Green albas have represented a gap in our attempts to cover all bloom colours and sizes throughout the season and this cross, along with F 06, F 44, F 51 and F 57, at last starts to plug that gap.  The 25% green alba component will be shapely with light yellow markings on the labellum.  The 75% non-albas are likely to be a vibrant shade of green, and pink-edged labellums will probably feature.
F 57	Foxfire Hibernate ‘Fabian’ x Foxfire Storm ‘Halle’
	August.  Green/Orange (25% Alba Green).  Firm predictions of colour here are impossible.  The alba background of ‘Fabian’ is yellow and it produced the intense lemon yellow Peter Rochfort ‘Game Changer’.  With the green alba ‘Halle’ there is a danger that the 25% albas may be halfway between green and yellow, the dreaded "grellow", but the potential rewards make taking this risk worthwhile.  The 75% non-albas are likely to include interesting and unusual khaki shades.
F 58	Kimberley Lady ‘Phaedra’ x (Red Fury x Lady Angela) ‘Heath’
	August/September.  Red.  ‘Phaedra’ is one of our late season production mericlones.  It won "Best Seedling" at a show in the first week of October on its first flowering.  ‘Heath’ has the spotted Lady Angela ‘Ikeda’ as one parent so a range from solid colour through to spotted may well result.  Visually interesting to end the season.