COMMENT ON THE PLANT TABLE
Volkmar Schmidt’s Paphiopedilum insigne was a beautiful, well-grown specimen plant with 17 flowers. His Paphiopedilum insigne ‘Sanderae’ is the albino version of the species, where even the stem is green. Volkmar’s Zygopetalum mosenianum has a different growth habit to most Zygopetalums. It was mounted with its roots developing from within the dying leaves, a little like bamboo. The flowers have no fragrance and Volkmar reports this species to be very difficult to grow! It was the first time we had seen it at one of our meetings. Volkmar’s other Zygopetalum is one of the new hybrids from Australia. It was a young plant flowering for the first time and has potential for more and bigger flowers. We were all astounded at Volkmar’s Epidendrum ciliare, which measured about 1 metre in diameter and was a mass of flowers…Congratulations on the culture and transporting of such a magnificent specimen!

The Oncidium Aloha Iwanaga from Willie Kleinsmidt was a lovely example of the bright yellow expected with a good lip. One would maybe have expected more from the Encyclia cochleata cross that he brought, but the Wilsonara Isler’s Farbspiel lived up to the "playing with colour" meaning of its name with lovely, almost solid brick-red tepals and yellow/orange lip. His Odontonia Kalkerstern was growing healthily but could probably be moved on into a bigger pot. This should be done CAREFULLY as these plants are known to not take kindly to disturbance.

Frans & Bes Gous’ Laeliocattleya Love Knot ‘Heaven Scent’ was a beautiful vibrant iridescent, deep violet with the expected fragrance. Frans and Bes seem to be hitting the jackpot with intensely coloured blooms. Their Otaara Jane Fumiye ‘Hawaii’ AM/AOS was a stunning deep purple with an even deeper velvety lip and the Hawkinsara Toddlers ‘Little Gem’ AM/AOS, a miniature brick-red flower with a yellow-throated lip with a brick-red tip. Another "first timer" for the COS was their Laelia endsfeldzii , which had a long stem with a cluster of typically small yellow flowers at the end.

The Byrens brought the cool-growing Mediocalcar decoratum , which has orange erica-like flowers. They have it growing above their kitchen taps. The species comes from Papua-New Guinea where it grows at between 900 and 2000m elevation in shaded positions.