Firetail Orchids Cymbidium Flask List 2013/14

This list has now closed and no further orders will be taken.

Introduction

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

This list is made up of crosses from the 2012 flowering season.  Germination was poorer this time with more pods terminating, producing no seed, or producing a reduced quantity of seed.  Therefore, as well as 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), we have included some crosses with availability as low as only 5 flasks.  Where availability is between 10 and 15 flasks, the description will state that availability is limited, and between 5 and 10, is very limited.  Availability was revised early December 2013 - in many cases availability is better than first thought, and the list has been revised.

We continue our association with Kevin Black who will undertake all of his usual tasks in the management of orders.  We appreciate his help greatly.

Trevor and Pam Hughes

FLASK LIST D, 2013/2014
Intermediate Seedling Flasks
(Bloom size 60mm to 85mm)
For details of new registrations, please go to our Registrations page.
  Because we run a wholesale pot plant nursery, all of our seedling crosses are designed to produce great pot plants.  A great pot plant Intermediate is also a great showbench plant!
 
D 01 Jessie Blackiston 'Tetsugetses'Jessie Blackiston ‘Tetsugetses’ x Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’Firetail Speedway 'Danica'
April/May.  Orange.  Sorry, we got the spelling of ‘Tetsugetses’ wrong in earlier lists!  It is a Miniature plant with tiny red blooms on short but upright stems in late April.  We attempt to have all colours available throughout the flowering season, but there is currently a gap for early orange which will be filled by this cross.  The free flowering May Standard ‘Danica’ already has some orange toning and while not strongly red, ‘Tetsugetses’ will nudge it further towards full orange.  We expect these to be floriferous with blooms above compact foliage.
D 02 Jessie Blackiston 'Tetsugetses'Jessie Blackiston ‘Tetsugetses’ x Khan Flame ‘Lucifer’Khan Flame 'Lucifer'
May.  Red.  The well-known red Standard ‘Lucifer’ flowers nearly as early as ‘April’, reputed to be the earliest Khan Flame, but has much stronger, taller, straighter stems and better colour and bloom count.  These will be dark, with blooms above compact foliage, and floriferous.  Our fingers are crossed for a few in April.
D 03 Munno Para 'Chloe'Munno Para ‘Chloe’ x Firetail Inspire ‘Sandy’Firetail Inspire ‘Sandy’
May/July  Yellow.  ‘Chloe’ is a beautiful Intermediate with masses of blooms on strong upright no-nonsense spikes early in May for Mother's Day.  It is not very shapely, but has a Margaret Thatcher and a Tracey Reddaway as parents, both with more shapely blooms, so shape should come back fairly readily when matched with a plant with shapely blooms.  Although a bit cuppy, ‘Sandy’ has blooms with wide segments and a very well presented labellum.  Given that both of its parents are Standards it is surprising that it is an Intermediate.  It has tall stems with blooms held high above the foliage late in July.  One word will describe these – "eye-catching"!
D 04 Khan Fury 'Glisten'Khan Fury ‘Glisten’ x Ruby Eyes ‘Red Baron’ (4N)Ruby Eyes 'Red Baron' (4N)
June/July.  Red.  This cross has been inspired by the very successful Ruby Valley grex, also featuring ‘Red Baron’.  We have been surprised to notice that many Ruby Valley seedlings flowered earlier than both parents.  By substituting the June flowering Standard ‘Glisten’ for the mid-August flowering Valley Regent ‘Reggae’, we expect an even earlier result, but otherwise with all of the good qualities that made Ruby Valley so successful.
D 05 Blow Torch 'Clarinda'Blow Torch ‘Clarinda’ x Jim's Harmony ‘Triumph’Jim’s Harmony ‘Triumph’ (Very Limited)
June/July.  Pink.  Both of these parents grow vigorously and flower freely.  The off-white ‘Clarinda’ (65mm) is quite close to fitting under the 60mm Miniature bloom size limit, and both it and the pink ‘Triumph’ (75mm) have quite tall stems at around 90cm.  We expect fast growing, attractive, floriferous plants producing a great show, well above compact foliage.  There is a real chance of some with Miniature-sized blooms given the Miniature influence on both sides.
D 06 Rebekah Akehurst 'Misty'Rebekah Akehurst ‘Misty’ x Kimberley Splash ‘Belinda’Kimberley Splash 'Belinda'
June/August.  White.  We were inspired to include the Miniature ‘Misty’ in our breeding program after flowering 'Lovable'Misty Angel 'Lovable', which came from the cross OG 01 by Battack Orchids and which also appears in this list.  The Standard ‘Belinda’ will bring heavier substance and wider bloom segments.  We expect free flowering whites and off-whites with pink highlights.  Most should have compact foliage.
D 07 Gentle Touch 'Bon Bon'Gentle Touch ‘Bon Bon’ x Firetail Showcase ‘Jackie’Firetail Showcase 'Jackie'
July/August.  Green.  ‘Bon Bon’ is an Intermediate dark green which regularly flowers profusely both sides of a new bulb.  It has had considerable success on the showbench in recent decades.  It is a demanding plant, requiring regular grooming as spikes develop to ensure an upright presentation.  The Intermediate ‘Jackie’ is a good complement, having much better spike habit.  We expect mid-green blooms of good shape, some with attractive pink blush labellums.
D 08 Zen Emerald 'Angus'Zen Emerald ‘Angus’ x Firetail Showcase ‘Holly’
July/August.  Green.  The new ‘Holly’ (sorry, no photo) comes from the off-white Show White ‘Ikeda’ which has proved that it can deliver just about anything – redFiretail Showpiece 'Luella', whiteFiretail Showtime 'Chicago'and now greenFiretail Showcase 'Jackie'.  ‘Angus’ is a powerhouse, spiking both sides of the bulb, tall stems with masses of blooms.  This cross will surely deliver floriferous plants with shapely blooms above the foliage.
D 09 Red Fury 'Checkpoint Charlie'Red Fury ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ x Ruby Eyes ‘Red Baron’ (4N)Ruby Eyes 'Red Baron' (4N)
July.  Red.  Like D 04 above, this cross is inspired by the very successful Ruby Valley grex, also featuring ‘Red Baron’.  Of course that plant is a pendulous Miniature, so care has been taken when selecting the other parent to ensure that its stems are strongly upright.  The stems of Standard ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ are very strong, with excellent height to the bottom bloom.  Many of these will have quite dark purple red blooms with attractive labellums, and flower profusely above the foliage.
D 10 Red Fury 'Checkpoint Charlie'Red Fury ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ x Ruby Beacon ‘Gabrielle’ (Very Limited)
July.  Red and Pink.  Similar to D 09, but using ‘Gabrielle’, which has a Ruby Eyes as a grandparent.  It is a free flowering attractive Miniature with a high bloom count.  It has stems that can be trained upright and stiffen to become self-supporting, so with the very strong stems of ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ these will be floriferous and need minimal grooming to produce upright stems with blooms well above the foliage.
D 11 Blow Torch 'Clarinda'Blow Torch ‘Clarinda’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’Perfect Gleam 'Bella'
July.  Pink.  ‘Clarinda’ is a productive off-white, having small Intermediate blooms and quite tall stems at around 90cm.  The Small Standard ‘Bella’ over the last couple of seasons has produced consistently high quality progeny of surprisingly clean white (given that it has yellow parents) when crossed with a white.  We expect shapely blooms in a range of white and off-white, perhaps with pink highlights, held well above the foliage.
D 12 Cracked Pepper "Adele'Cracked Pepper ‘Adele’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’Perfect Gleam 'Bella'
July.  Pink and Blush.  A different task here for ‘Bella’, one of our "go to" parents.  Intermediate ‘Adele’ effortlessly produces masses of blooms on tall straight upright stems, but lacks shape and needs colour improvement.  We expect these to be ideal pot plants, vigorous and fast growing, floriferous and colourful in a range including shades of pink, ice pink, white, off-white and pink blush.
D 13 Zen Emerald 'Angus'Zen Emerald ‘Angus’ x Kimberley Valley ‘Stephani’Kimberley Valley 'Stephani'
July/Sept.  Green.  ‘Angus’ is a powerhouse, spiking both sides of the bulb, tall stems with masses of blooms of surprisingly good shape for a small bloom.  The Standard ‘Stephani’ is our new shapely parent from our remake of a successful grex, Kimberley Valley.  Together they should produce a high proportion of offspring with shapely blooms on tall stems.
D 14 Khanebono 'Jacinta' AM/AOCKhanebono ‘Jacinta’ AM/AOC x Firetail Showpiece ‘Kristy’Firetail Showpiece 'Kristy'
D 15 Khanebono 'Jacinta' AM/AOCKhanebono ‘Jacinta’ AM/AOC x Firetail Showpiece ‘Luella’Firetail Showpiece 'Luella'
Both August.  Red and Pink.  ‘Jacinta’ obviously has few faults, having received a high award.  We could quibble that the blooms are more cupped than desirable.  ‘Kristy’ and ‘Luella’ have flatter blooms, a trait passed on by their parent, Show White ‘Ikeda’.  Both also grow vigorously and flower profusely.  We found it hard to choose between these two crosses so we are really looking forward to growing both of them!
D 16 Applause 'Taylor'Applause ‘Taylor’ x Rotorua Dream ‘Teresa’Rotorua Dream 'Teresa'
August.  Pink.  ‘Taylor’ has had a high honour bestowed upon it – being named by its hybridiser, Kevin Black, after one of his granddaughters!  At its only showing, at the September 2008 meeting of the NSW cymbidium club, it attracted much favourable comment and was judged best seedling.  Intermediate ‘Teresa’ is from a Valley Orchids cross which brought together four famous mainstays of their mericlone production - Dream Valley, Rotorua, Valley Splash and Valley Regent.  We expect vigorous, floriferous, compact plants with masses of small blooms late in the season.
Small Standard Seedling Flasks
(Bloom size 85mm to 100mm)
  Because we run a wholesale pot plant nursery, all of our seedling crosses are designed to produce great pot plants.  Great showbench Small Standard plants must meet higher standards.
We will indicate below (with SB), which crosses also have a showbench expectation.
 
D 17 Pink Celebration 'Carmel'Pink Celebration ‘Carmel’ x Khan Flame ‘Lucifer’Khan Flame 'Lucifer' SB
May.  Red and Pink.  Our aim with these early crosses is to bring mid-season quality to Australia's Mother's Day (2nd Sunday of May).  The well-known red Standard ‘Lucifer’ flowers nearly as early as ‘April’, reputed to be the earliest Khan Flame, but has much stronger, taller, straighter stems and better colour and bloom count.  ‘Carmel’ is a floriferous, attractive small Intermediate pink flowering late in April, and with the shapely Flaming Vulcan ‘Dural’ as one parent, we are expecting shape to come back in this cross.
D 18 Firetail Gymnast 'Handstand'Firetail Gymnast ‘Handstand’ x Zen Emerald ‘Angus’Zen Emerald 'Angus'
D 19 Firetail Publicity 'Limelight'Firetail Publicity ‘Limelight’ x Zen Emerald ‘Angus’Zen Emerald 'Angus' SB
Both May/June.  Green.  Another example where we found it hard to choose between two crosses.  ‘Handstand’ has a slightly better shade of green, a vivid red-barred labellum and an April flowering time, whereas ‘Limelight’ has extraordinary shape considering its early May flowering.  ‘Angus’ is an early July powerhouse Intermediate, spiking both sides of the bulb, tall stems with masses of blooms of surprisingly good shape for a small bloom.  We are expecting these to set a new standard for early green Small Standards.
D 20 Lancashire Jim ‘Laconic’Lancashire Jim ‘Laconic’ x Khan Flame ‘Lucifer’Khan Flame 'Lucifer' SB
May/June.  Red and Pink.  It was the stem habit (four upright, straight self-supporting stems) that set ‘Laconic’ apart from its siblings and commanded our attention.  The blooms were well presented just above compact foliage.  We should acknowledge the potential for shape to come back because the shapely Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’ is a parent of ‘Laconic’. With ‘Lucifer’, described above, we expect excellent stem habit and plenty of well shaped blooms held well above reasonably compact foliage.
D 21 Pink Celebration 'Carmel'Pink Celebration ‘Carmel’ x Khan Fury ‘Glisten’Khan Fury 'Glisten' SB
May/June.  Red and Pink.  In our opinion, ‘Carmel’ is fairly close to the perfect Mother's Day cymbidium.  It has all three attributes we look for.  It has vigour, growing quickly but not producing excessively large bulbs and foliage.  It has excellent colour.  It is floriferous.  In this list we have crossed it with three of our earliest Standards looking to transfer these qualities to a larger bloom size and bring their qualities forward to an earlier flowering time.  The result with ‘Glisten’ will be similar to D 17 above, shapely but a little later, blooming above foliage of modest size.
D 22 Pink Celebration 'Carmel'Pink Celebration ‘Carmel’ x Moroccan Fury ‘Chelley’Moroccan Fury ‘Chelley’ SB
May/June.  Pink.  Similar to D 21 in every respect, but all pink.  The Standard ‘Chelley’ has much better shape characteristics than can usually be expected at its early June flowering time.
D 23 Raquel's Sonnet 'Fixate'Raquel's Sonnet ‘Fixate’ x Moroccan Fury ‘Chelley’Moroccan Fury ‘Chelley’ (Very Limited) SB
May/June.  Pink.  This cross is a bit of a gamble!  The colour of ‘Fixate’ can only be described as "stunning", so on that ground alone it is worth working with.  However, the blooms stay cupped, probably because the segments have quite heavy substance and the bloom binds up when it is supposed to be opening.  We are looking for the flatter shape of ‘Chelley’ to alleviate the cuppiness of ‘Fixate’, but for their progeny to take on its bright clean colour.
D 24 Munno Para 'Chloe'Munno Para ‘Chloe’ x Perfect Bliss ‘The Flirt’Perfect Bliss 'The Flirt'
May/June.  Yellow.  ‘Chloe’ is a beautiful Intermediate with masses of blooms on strong upright no-nonsense spikes early in May for Mother's Day.  It is not very shapely, but has a Margaret Thatcher and a Tracey Reddaway as parents, both with more shapely blooms, so shape should come back fairly readily when matched with a plant with shapely blooms.  ‘The Flirt’ is also very productive and flowers in June.  It passes on intense clean colour.
D 25 Munno Para 'Chloe'Munno Para ‘Chloe’ x Gwen Thomas ‘Old Gold’Gwen Thomas 'Old Gold'
May/July.  Yellow.  ‘Chloe’ is described in D 24 above.  As is often the case we use plants like it as an anchor to drag mid-season quality forward to an earlier flowering time.  ‘Old Gold’, flowering early in August, is simply a beautiful orchid and this crossing is also designed to transfer that beauty to a smaller size bloom.  It brings wide segments, well-presented labellum and intense colour.  From a commercial standpoint, these will say: "Buy me!"
D 26 Munno Para 'Chloe'Munno Para ‘Chloe’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Bee-Sting’Foxfire Crush 'Bee-Sting'
May/July.  Orange.  ‘Chloe’ is described in D 24 above and this is its fourth and final appearance in this list but by no means the least!  One of its parents is Tracey Reddaway ‘Marie’ which has a fairly orange bloom, so we are guessing that the intense orange of ‘Bee-Sting’ will ensure that most of these are orange, and all will be colourful.  Wide bloom segments and well-presented labellums should also feature.
D 27 Firetail Speedway 'Danica'Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’ x Firetail Inspire ‘Sandy’Firetail Inspire ‘Sandy’ SB
May/July.  Yellow.  The orange/yellow Standard ‘Danica’ flowers early in May for Mother's Day.  It is one of our production mericlones, selected for its vigour, colour and floriferousness.  The new Intermediate ‘Sandy’ flowers early in August and has obvious bloom quality even if it is somewhat cupped.  We are expecting free-flowering, vigorous, fast growing plants with shapely blooms, many clear and clean.
D 28 Firetail Monarch 'Mary'Firetail Monarch ‘Mary’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’Perfect Gleam 'Bella'
May/July.  White.  We have been breeding with ‘Bella’ for several years and in the last two flowering seasons saw the first results, which were excellent.  It is a chance white from yellow breeding, providing very welcome genetic variation and is producing clean whites despite its parentage.  ‘Mary’ is a clean May flowering white with a beautiful labellum, but producing a bloom count that is marginal.  This fault should be corrected by ‘Bella’, which on a good flowering gets into the mid-teens.  Above all else they will be pretty!
D 29 Valley Van Hoogenband 'Discus'Valley Van Hoogenband ‘Discus’ x Firetail Showcase ‘Blythe’Firetail Showcase 'Blythe' SB
June/July.  Green.  The Firetail Showcase grex was a successful experiment to see if Show White ‘Ikeda’ could produce green flowering plants, and therefore introduces different genetics to green breeding.  ‘Blythe’ has good round shape with an upright dorsal sepal inherited from ‘Ikeda’.  ‘Discus’ should not be confused with the Valley Zenith of the same name.  It has good shape characteristics and produces a good shade of green even under our high light conditions.  All of these should be good but the best, combining the best characteristics of each of the parents, should be marvellous!
D 30 Bountiful Dan ‘Finalist’Bountiful Dan ‘Finalist’ x Khan Fury ‘Glisten’Khan Fury 'Glisten'
June/July.  Red and Pink.  We expect the shape in the parentage of ‘Finalist’ (Wyong Flame ‘Bountiful’) to come back strongly when matched with a plant that has shapely blooms, like ‘Glisten’.  We expect medium to compact foliage, tall stems with good height to the bottom bloom, guaranteeing blooms above the foliage.  Both parents have upright dorsal sepals so these will be a classic circular shape.  We hope that many will have the lustre shown by ‘Glisten’.
D 31 Firetail Prosper ‘Landon’ x Valley Champion ‘Dr. Jeff’Valley Champion 'Dr. Jeff' (Very Limited)
June/August.  Fawn.  Sorry, no photo of ‘Landon’, but it is similar to ‘Tristan’Firetail Prosper ‘Tristan’, but with wider bloom segments and more cupped.  On a commercial basis we find that colours outside the common colours attract keen interest and overcome the "I've got one of those at home" syndrome.  We are not entirely sure what to call this colour, but the parentage includes a red/brown, two purple/reds and a splash white so we expect a range of noticeably different colours from floriferous, vigorous plants.
D 32 Red Khan 'Negrita'Red Khan ‘Negrita’ x Musket ‘The Emperor’Musket ‘The Emperor’ (Very Limited) SB
June/August.  Red.  Hybridising is an activity that has its highs and its lows and it is a big disappointment that only one cross using new Standard ‘The Emperor’ has made it onto this list – rest assured that we are trying again for the next list.  The bloom in the photo has not been manipulated in any way – it opens to a flat circular shape naturally!  ‘Negrita’ is a vigorous, compact growing, floriferous Small Standard with blooms of reasonable shape and rich dark colour.  Together they will produce blooms that are a lustrous rich red brown with heavy substance and excellent shape.
D 33 Misty Angel 'Lovable'Misty Angel ‘Lovable’ x Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’Perfect Gleam 'Bella' SB
July.  White.  ‘Lovable’ is a Small Standard from the Battack Orchids cross OG 01 and displays most of the much desired shape characteristics, lacking only "flatness".  Stems are on the short side but the foliage is very compact.  ‘Bella’ features in D 28 above, and will assist with greater height to the bottom bloom, lifting the blooms further out of still compact foliage.  Beautiful labellums will be a feature.
D 34 Show White 'Ikeda'Show White ‘Ikeda’ x Star Tiara ‘Janine’
July/August.  White.  The Standard ‘Janine’ has been used as a cut flower producer and came from a Bryants Orchids cross.  It has wide bloom segments and good substance, but is somewhat triangular in shape.  Intermediate ‘Ikeda’ has proven many times that it produces progeny with a classic circular, sightly concave bloom and although not having wide bloom segments itself, always brings these back in high percentage from its Gardalvin parent.  We expect floriferous plants with compact foliage.  Labellums will be lightly marked with many featuring an attractive pink blush.
D 35 Red Valley ‘Abundant’Red Valley ‘Abundant’ x Dazzling Pepper ‘Adam’Dazzling Pepper 'Adam'
D 36 Red Khan 'Negrita'Red Khan ‘Negrita’ x Dazzling Pepper ‘Adam’Dazzling Pepper ‘Adam’ SB
Both July/August.  Red.  We did these crosses after Small Standard ‘Adam’ was selected on the basis of a one stem first flowering.  However, in the second year of flowering it demonstrated excellent productivity, producing 4 stems in a 175mm pot – both sides of two new bulbs.  A Small Standard, ‘Abundant’ is grown by many as production pot plant mericlone where its desirable features include its rich colour, prolific flowering and late flowering time.  ‘Negrita’ is a vigorous, compact growing, floriferous Small Standard with blooms of reasonable shape and rich dark colour.  In both cases we expect vigorous, fast growing, prolific plants with lustrous rich red brown blooms with good substance and shape.  Crosses like these bring us closer to our aim of producing plants that are both good as pot plants and good on the showbench!
D 37 Valley Champion 'Dr. Jeff'Valley Champion ‘Dr. Jeff’ x Firetail Parade ‘Zach’Firetail Parade ‘Zach’
August.  Fawn.  Similar to D 31 but later.  Again attempting to overcome the "I've got one of those at home" syndrome with a colour outside the usual colours.  Standard ‘Dr. Jeff’ produces at least 15 blooms per stem, and has good stem habit, good substance and good shape.  ‘Zach’ is a large Intermediate with blooms with some good shape characteristics, but a bit lacking in substance and segment width.  We are expecting vigorous, fast growing, prolific plants with blooms of unusual colour on tall stems above the foliage.
D 38 Zenation 'Good Golly'Zenation ‘Good Golly’ x Kimberley Valley ‘Stephani’Kimberley Valley 'Stephani' SB
August/September.  Green.  ‘Good Golly’ is a prolific Intermediate with many fine attributes but a few obvious deficiencies, such as stems that are too tall and that require grooming to ensure that they are straight and upright.  ‘Stephani’ is a Standard that perfectly complements these deficiencies with stems that are a bit short but are easily groomed.  Both have surprisingly good shades of green given our high light conditions under 50% shade this late in the season.  Given that three out of the four grandparents of this cross have a strongly red barred labellum, we are expecting most, if not all, to have a labellum with a red bar, contrasting with a clean white or cream throat.  They will have good substance and of course with excellent shape on each side, they will be very shapely.  Anyone want a Grand Champion?
Standard Seedling Flasks
(Bloom size greater than 100mm)
  Because we run a wholesale pot plant nursery, all of our seedling crosses are designed to produce great pot plants.  Great showbench Standard plants must meet higher standards.
We will indicate below (with SB), which crosses also have a showbench expectation.
 
D 39 Firetail Command ‘Marcia’ x Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’Firetail Speedway 'Danica'
D 40 Firetail Speedway 'Danica'Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’ x Firetail Contrast ‘Bianca’Firetail Contrast ‘Bianca’
Both May.  Yellow.  The orange/yellow Standard ‘Danica’ flowers early in May for Mother's Day.  It is one of our production mericlones, selected for its vigour, colour and floriferousness.  In these crosses it is matched with two other Standards that have cleaner colour, a bright red bar on their labellum and heavier substance.  ‘Marcia’ flowers in mid-May, and ‘Bianca’ flowers in late May.  Like many of our early crosses, here we are trying to ease mid-season qualities forward in the flowering season and are hoping for a few in late April.
D 41 Khan Flame 'Lucifer'Khan Flame ‘Lucifer’ x Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’Firetail Speedway 'Danica' (Very Limited)
May.  Orange.  See D 40 above for a description of ‘Danica’.  The well-known red Standard ‘Lucifer’ flowers in mid-May nearly as early as ‘April’, reputed to be the earliest Khan Flame, but has much stronger, taller, straighter stems and better colour and bloom count.  We think that these will have vigour, productivity and rich colour.  Again we are trying to ease mid-season qualities forward in the flowering season and have hopes for a few late in April.  A disappointing germination so you need to be quick!
D 74 May.  Honey.  Late addition, see D 74 below.
D 42 Firetail Gymnast 'Handstand'Firetail Gymnast ‘Handstand’ x Valley Van Hoogenband ‘Discus’Valley Van Hoogenband 'Discus'
D 43 Firetail Gymnast 'Handstand'Firetail Gymnast ‘Handstand’ x Valley Oracle ‘Kermit’Valley Oracle 'Kermit'
Both May/June.  Green.  Flowering late in April, ‘Handstand’ is very heat tolerant having never dropped a bud.  It is about as pretty as a green can get, with clean colour and no sun-staining despite our high light conditions under 50% shade this early in the season.  It flowers from both sides of a bulb.  This is a final opportunity to get seedlings from ‘Handstand’ because it has been broken up and will miss the next couple of seasons before flowering again.  Flowering early in July, ‘Discus’ and ‘Kermit’ are also an excellent shade of green and both originated from Valley Orchids where the latter was a production mericlone for several decades.  ‘Kermit’ excels in an underrated aspect, foliage of excellent colour and presentation.  ‘Discus’ is a step forward in shape and is quite productive, often flowering from both sides of a bulb for us and on one occasion, three stems from a bulb.
D 44 Firetail Publicity 'Limelight'Firetail Publicity ‘Limelight’ x Valley Van Hoogenband ‘Discus’Valley Van Hoogenband 'Discus'
D 45 Valley Oracle 'Kermit'Valley Oracle ‘Kermit’ x Firetail Publicity ‘Limelight’Firetail Publicity 'Limelight' SB
Both May/June.  Green.  ‘Discus’ and ‘Kermit’ are described immediately above.  The early May flowering ‘Limelight’ was seedling of the month at the May 2011 meeting of the Cymbidium Club in Sydney.  It has lustrous blooms with mid-season characteristics including very wide segments for this early in the season.  Rated as a Small Standard because it is a bit cupped, it will produce larger blooms in these crosses, particularly with ‘Kermit’, which is much "flatter".  This is a final opportunity to get seedlings from ‘Limelight’ because it has been broken up and will miss the next couple of seasons before flowering again.
D 46 Khan Flame 'Lucifer'Khan Flame ‘Lucifer’ x Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’Lancashire Khan 'Evie' SB
May/June.  Red.  Registered as Cadel Evans.  We are aware of various versions of this grex, all with ‘Evie’ but with different Khan Flames including 'April', 'Raquel' and 'Joyride'.  As far as we know this is the first with ‘Lucifer’, described above in D 41, which is a bit surprising because it offers such a good pathway to improved early dark red Standards.  ‘Evie’ has a reputation second to none as a parent, having produced an FCC.  This is another cross where we are trying to ease mid-season qualities forward in the flowering season.
D 47 Vibrant Bliss 'Sunpure'Vibrant Bliss ‘Sunpure’ x Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’Firetail Speedway 'Danica'
May/June.  Yellow.  ‘Danica’ is described in D 40 above.  ‘Sunpure’ is a beautiful cymbidium with bright, clear and clean colour.  We have recently discovered that it must carry the alba factor.  It is one of the parents of the Perfect Bliss varieties used elsewhere in this and previous lists.  We are a bit unsure of the time of flowering because our plant has flowered a bit erratically so far.  It brings mid-season quality, including wide segments with rounded ends and heavy substance.  This cross has our frequent purpose – bringing quality further forward in the season.
D 48 Valley Legend 'Gee Whiz'Valley Legend ‘Gee Whiz’ x Firetail Fanfare ‘Jolene’Firetail Fanfare 'Jolene'
May/July.  Yellow.  ‘Gee Whiz’ is a full shaped May "grellow" (green/yellow), but gives back yellow when crossed with a yellow.  This will be particularly so with ‘Jolene’ because yellow does not get any stronger nor more intense than the colour of its blooms.  We expect vigorous, prolific plants with good stems carrying colourful blooms above the foliage.
D 49 Firetail Speedway 'Danica'Firetail Speedway ‘Danica’ x Gwen Thomas ‘Old Gold’Gwen Thomas 'Old Gold'
May/August.  Yellow.  ‘Danica’ is described in D 40 above.  We try not to have favourites, but ‘Old Gold’ would be one of our favourite cymbidiums if we did.  The blooms have wide segments with rounded ends and heavy substance.  They also have a very attractive rich dark yellow colour, lightly overlaid with red.  With such a wide difference in flowering time between these parents it is hard to accurately predict when plants from this cross will flower, but we expect most to flower in June and July, and it is the few that might flower in May that we will be waiting for with keen interest.
D 50 Firetail Festival ‘Kalleigh’ x Valley Oracle ‘Kermit’Valley Oracle 'Kermit'
June.  Green.  Sorry, no photo of ‘Kalleigh’, we keep thinking that we already have photos.  It is a well shaped mid-green Standard flowering in June.  Flowering early in July, ‘Kermit’ is an excellent shade of green and originated from Valley Orchids where it was a production mericlone for several decades.  ‘Kermit’ excels in an underrated aspect, foliage of excellent colour and presentation.  We expect vigour, good colour and plenty of blooms.
D 51 Firetail Angels 'Farrah'Firetail Angels ‘Farrah’ x Cadel Evans ‘Mur-de-Bretagne’Cadel Evans 'Mur-de-Bretagne' SB
June.  Pink.  We are always on the lookout for floriferous plants and June flowering Standard ‘Farrah’ attracted our attention with three tall stems with good bloom counts at its first flowering in a 175mm pot.  Although only reasonably shapely, it has parentage of even better shape including the FCC producer, Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’.  This background shape will be picked up by the shapely ‘Mur-de-Bretagne’ that also flowers prolifically.
D 52 Firetail Verdant ‘Morgan’Firetail Verdant ‘Morgan’ x Kimberley Valley ‘Tiffani’Kimberley Valley 'Tiffani' (Very Limited)
June/July.  Green.  Two of our latest additions to our green program.  Both have good shape characteristics.  It is often very hard to avoid inbreeding with greens because the options are typically restricted to plants that are closely related to one another, but here we have a cross where there are four different grandparents.
D 53 Lancashire Khan 'Evie'Lancashire Khan ‘Evie’ x Khan Flame ‘Allana’Khan Flame ‘Allana’ SB
June/July.  Pink, Red and Brown.  Registered as Cadel Evans.  ‘Evie’ is an outstanding parent and has a well-deserved reputation for producing flowers of better quality than itself, including the FCC, Serhan's Passion ‘Marion’. The new ‘Allana’ has very large flowers that naturally open as "flat" as you see in the photo, giving a fairly circular shape.  It is among our most prolific plants, year after year producing more tall stems with good bloom counts than we might have expected for a plant of its size at the time.  The labellum has a bar of a gorgeous shade of rich burgundy, contrasted by a stark white throat.
D 54 Black Pepper ‘Nadeen’Black Pepper ‘Nadeen’ x Firetail Relish ‘Cherry Ripe’Firetail Relish 'Cherry Ripe' SB
June/July.  Brown.  Standards with brown blooms do not get any better than these two – except their progeny of course!  The photos say all that needs to be said about these two parents, so we will leave it there!
D 55 Perfect Gleam 'Bella'Perfect Gleam ‘Bella’ x Kimberley Splash ‘Olivia Clare’Kimberley Splash 'Olivia Clare'
July.  White and Blush Pink.  This cross complements each plant's weakness with the strength of the other.  ‘Olivia Clare’ has blooms with excessive blushing but they are large, "flat" and fairly circular.  ‘Bella’ on the other hand has blooms that are cleaner, but they are smaller, cupped and not as circular in outline.  Our other results from these parents have shown that their strengths tend to be dominant, so we expect that the better attributes will come to the fore in the great majority of the progeny.
D 56 Foxfire Fare 'Cassandra'Foxfire Fare ‘Cassandra’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Bee-Sting’Foxfire Crush 'Bee-Sting' (Very Limited) SB
July.  Orange.  In our opinion, ‘Cassandra’ just about has it all, including vigour, floriferousness and excellent "flat" and circular shaped blooms, but has a poor labellum.  No slouch itself in other attributes, ‘Bee-Sting’ has a particularly good labellum.  The best of these will be superb.
D 57 Firetail Guide ‘Penelope’Firetail Guide ‘Penelope’ x Kimberley Valley ‘Michaela Lee’Kimberley Valley 'Michaela Lee'
July/August.  Green.  Like D 52, this is a cross that has four different grandparent grexes that is something that is always difficult to achieve when breeding for green.  Unlike D 52 here we are more likely to get blooms with a commercially desirable red-barred labellum.  Productivity and bloom shape and substance will all be good.
D 58 Wyong Flame 'Verdelho'Wyong Flame ‘Verdelho’ x King Karri ‘Nikki Heat’King Karri 'Nikki Heat' SB
July/August.  Red and Pink.  It is a favourite breeding tactic of ours to cross showbench plants with plants that have a pot plant background.  The King Karri grex brings together three grexes that were important to mericlone pot plant production at Valley Orchids for decades – Valley Regent, Red Valley and Valley Vampire.  Despite this background, ‘Nikki Heat’ has blooms that are not far from today's full showbench shape.  The photo available next to the name above was taken before the bloom was fully open, ensuring that the colour was at its best.  It suggests that the bloom is cupped, but the bloom continues to flatten over time – here is a photo of a very old bloomKing Karri 'Nikki Heat'.  This ability to open "flat" is a good complement for ‘Verdelho’, which requires some manipulation to be "flat" and circular.  ‘Nikki Heat’ will also serve to moderate bulb and foliage size.
D 59 Perfect Bliss 'The Power'Perfect Bliss ‘The Power’ x Amber Wall ‘Sovereign’Amber Wall 'Sovereign' SB
July/August.  Yellow.  We use three varieties of Perfect Bliss and Small Standard ‘The Power’ is the most shapely.  Its blooms are a little darker than ‘The Glory’Perfect Bliss 'The Glory'and if it has any deficiencies they are stems a bit on the short side and blooms a bit bunched together on the stem.  On the other hand, it flowers profusely from small bulbs and foliage and the blooms open "flat" and circular without manipulation.  In these attributes it finds a good complement in ‘Sovereign’ that has very large blooms (requiring some manipulation) well spaced on massively tall stems from very large bulbs and foliage.  Most of these will find a happy medium between their parent's differing attributes.
D 60 Amber Wall 'Sovereign'Amber Wall ‘Sovereign’ x Firetail Weapon ‘Bazooka’Firetail Weapon ‘Bazooka’ SB
July/August.  Yellow.  ‘Sovereign’ is discussed immediately above.  It seems to us that if showbench judging rules describe the attributes of a superior bloom as being slightly concave and circular, then a superior plant is one that produces those blooms naturally, not as the result of manipulation.  The photo of ‘Bazooka’ is of a bloom that has not been manipulated at all.  Put another way, its shape is completely natural.  ‘Sovereign’ is already fairly "flat" and circular so we are expecting showbench specials from this cross.
D 61 Perfect Bliss 'The Power'Perfect Bliss ‘The Power’ x Foxfire Patrician ‘Jocelyn’Foxfire Patrician 'Jocelyn'
July/August.  Yellow.  Registered as Firetail Fanfare (‘Jolene’, used in D 48, comes from ‘The Flirt’ and ‘Jocelyn’).  ‘The Power’ is described in D 59.  As in that cross, we have matched it with a plant having taller stems and better spacing of the blooms.  However, in this case ‘Jocelyn’ has more compact bulbs and foliage.  We are expecting shapely blooms of mid-yellow and good substance on stems tall enough to be above the foliage.
D 62 Foxfire Crush 'Poor Yorick'Foxfire Crush ‘Poor Yorick’ x Foxfire Amber ‘Dural’Foxfire Amber 'Dural'
D 63 Foxfire Amber 'Dural'Foxfire Amber ‘Dural’ x Foxfire Fare ‘Cassandra’Foxfire Fare 'Cassandra'
D 64 Foxfire Amber 'Dural'Foxfire Amber ‘Dural’ x Foxfire Crush ‘Bee-Sting’Foxfire Crush 'Bee-Sting' SB
All July/August.  Orange.  ‘Dural’ is a vigorous, floriferous plant with blooms of an excellent shade of orange (actually yellow overlaid with a red/brown) and featuring a well presented labellum with deep red markings, highlighted by a golden yellow throat.  ‘Dural’ is regarded by many growers as the best orange cymbidium yet produced by Gordon Giles and here it is matched with three of our best plants with orange blooms offering the prospect of differing outcomes.  ‘Poor Yorick’ is the darkest of the three, has tall stems with good height to the bottom bloom and an excellent labellum.  ‘Cassandra’ has very tall and strong stems, has the largest, "flattest" blooms, but has a narrow labellum.  ‘Bee-Sting’ is probably the prettiest and most shapely and has the most eye-catching labellum.  All of these will be attractive and the best will do very well on the showbench.
D 65 Valley Splash 'Awesome'Valley Splash ‘Awesome’ x Star Tiara ‘Janine’ SB
July/August.  White.  The Standard ‘Janine’ has been used as a cut flower producer and came from a Bryants Orchids cross.  It has wide bloom segments and good substance, but blooms are somewhat triangular in shape.  Over recent decades ‘Awesome’ has been Grand Champion too many times to mention.  In breeding it passes on an upright dorsal sepal, opening up blooms on its progeny to a classic circular shape.  We have also found that in a cross with a clean white like ‘Janine’ the splashing does not come through, giving a high proportion of clean white progeny.
D 66 Valley Van Hoogenband 'Discus'Valley Van Hoogenband ‘Discus’ x Kimberley Valley ‘Stephani’Kimberley Valley 'Stephani' SB
July/September.  Green.  Like D 52 and D 57, this is a cross that has four different grandparent grexes that is something that is always difficult to achieve when breeding for green.  Both parents have been described above and have blooms with wide segments and good substance held on strong upright stems.  We are very pleased with the progress that we are making with green and proud of the crosses that we have made available in this list.
D 67 Wyong Flame 'Verdelho'Wyong Flame ‘Verdelho’ x Lauren Jackson ‘Capital’Lauren Jackson 'Capital' (Limited) SB
August.  Pink.  ‘Verdelho’ has everything that is good with modern plants for the showbench – big blooms with wide segments of heavy substance and over 20 blooms to the stem held above the foliage - but it also several attributes that mar them – if it is grown to its maximum potential it grows a bit too big, with stems like tree trunks nearly 1.5 metres tall (just about needing a furniture removalist's van to take it to a show) and blooms that require manipulation to be presented at their best.  We are very pleased to say that ‘Capital’ is ideally suited to alleviate these poor attributes.  It has smaller bulbs and more compact foliage, blooms with fairly wide segments and reasonable substance and most importantly, a naturally upright dorsal sepal giving the bloom a circular shape without the need for manipulation.  Past experience tells us that most progeny have characteristics that fall about halfway between those of the parents.  The halfway point between these parents is very good indeed!
D 68 Firetail Lightning 'Bolt'Firetail Lightning ‘Bolt’ x Foxfire Amber ‘Dural’Foxfire Amber 'Dural' SB
August.  Orange.  Similar to D 62, D 63 and D 64 above, but later.  The stand out feature of ‘Bolt’ is its labellum – it is not very often that you can say that a labellum might be too wide!  Again, these will be attractive and the best will do well on the showbench.
D 69 Foxfire Crush ‘Hamlet’ x Valley Splash ‘Awesome’Valley Splash 'Awesome' SB
August.  Orange.  You will probably think that this cross will not produce orange coloured blooms.  However, ‘Awesome’ has Vivacious ‘Banana Split’ as one parent (apparently banana yellow and ice cream white) and the other Valley Splash mericlones sold by Valley Orchids all had yellow blooms.  We did a cross some years ago to test whether ‘Awesome’ would produce yellow offspring, matching it with Valley Regent ‘Rich Eternity’Valley Legend 'Rich Eternity', producing the grex Firetail Holiday, of which the variety ‘Pam’Firetail Holiday 'Pam'was orange and nearly all of the others were yellow or orange. Thus we are confident that this cross with ‘Hamlet’ (almost identical to ‘Poor Yorick’Foxfire Crush 'Poor Yorick') will produce shapely, richly coloured orange blooms on vigorous, prolific plants.
D 70 Red Valley 'Abundant'Red Valley ‘Abundant’ x Firetail Firebrand ‘Russell’Firetail Firebrand 'Russell'
August/September.  Red.  A Small Standard, ‘Abundant’ is grown by many as a production pot plant mericlone where its desirable features include its rich colour, prolific flowering and late flowering time.  ‘Russell’ is another plant where we need to give an assurance that the bloom form is entirely natural and has not been manipulated in any way.  It features a naturally upright dorsal sepal giving blooms a circular shape.  This cross represents a step towards our aim of showbench pot plants.
D 71 Memoria Jim Gillis 'Nipple Pink'Memoria Jim Gillis ‘Nipple Pink’ x Lauren Jackson ‘Capital’Lauren Jackson 'Capital' (Limited)
August/September.  Pink.  ‘Capital’' is described in D 67 above and here is being used to improve the bloom form and shape of ‘Nipple Pink’ (see A 17 in archived list A for an explanation of its name).  The latter is very attractive and prolific and these will be eye-catching for late in the season.
D 72 Valley Champion 'Dr. Jeff'Valley Champion ‘Dr. Jeff’ x Kimberley Lady ‘Phaedra’Kimberley Lady 'Phaedra'
D 73 Kimberley Lady 'Phaedra'Kimberley Lady ‘Phaedra’ x Blazing Fury ‘Hades’ (Limited)
Both August/September.  Spotted Red.  ‘Phaedra’ was the best seedling (all genera) at the South and West Region Conference and Show held in Albury, NSW in the mid-2000's.  The labellum is certainly not its strongest feature, but it is better than the photo suggests.  Standard ‘Dr. Jeff’ produces at least 15 blooms per stem, and has good stem habit, good substance and good shape.  ‘Hades’ is a famous plant from Bryants Orchids and from it here we are looking for a proportion of even dark colour, but most should be spotty.  We are expecting vigour, unusual colours and plenty of blooms.
D 74 Khan Flame 'Lucifer'Khan Flame ‘Lucifer’ x Firetail Publicity ‘Limelight’Firetail Publicity 'Limelight' SB
May.  Honey.  Sorry, this late addition was overlooked and is out of order – it should appear after D 41.  'Lucifer' is described in D 41 and 'Limelight' in D 45.  Following the success of our grex Firetail Intuition, which yielded among other fine cymbidiums the very shapely 'Honey'Firetail Intuition 'Honey', we have embarked on a small program of similar breeding of green with red/brown.  Obviously when using parents new to such a program there must be considerable doubt as to the exact outcome.  So, without any firm promises, we expect a wide range of bloom colour including honey shades, khaki, and colours that we might call green khaki.  With two shapely parents we expect excellent shape for this early in the season.  Stems will be strong and upright and bloom count will be good.