First Pleione in Bulgaria

[Hristo]

Hi there, thought I would share, Pleione Britannia 'Doreen', first pleione of the year for me here in Bulgaria!

[larsb]

Nice clone. It looks like the flower is big.

[fred]

Ah, the beginnings of a very serious addiction
Indeed, looks a bit larger than your average Pleinone.

[Hristo]

Hi, to all those who believe size is important, she is 11.5 cm wide and 6cm deep, only pleione I have that flowers larger is Shantung Ridgeway!

[Hristo]

2010 has started with Pleione 'Eiger', new to me and very attractive.
I'm expecting Pleione 'Orinoco' to be the runner up!

[Hristo]

Pleione'Orinoco' has come in second, third place this year will go to'Britania Doreen'

[larsb]

Looking good Hristo. Mine is still in the garage. No signs of flowers anytime soon.

[Hristo]

Hi Lars,
Alot of very early Pleione here,forrestii will be 4th I think but it will have competition from 'Santorini', 'San Slavador', ,Mothers Day' and 'Tolima'. A warm spell in early January is responsible I think. Last nights outside night time temp was +15c!!

[Guest]

Pleione 'Tolima' coming in fourth!

[larsb]

You must have your Pleione at much higher temperatures than i have. Mine is still hibernating.

[Hristo]

Hi Lars, temperatures are fluctuating wildly this year, last 2 weeks we had day temps to +20c in the sun. Today is snowing, maybe 20cm on the ground and 2 days ago night temps were -10c! Keeping pleiones cool out of a fridge has been all but impossible so I have just let them do what they want. Not ideal, as I now have trays of pleiones on the dinning room floor because they can't go outside!!

The last -10c was unexpected and killed off a batch of unprotected Ophrys species in bulb frames, all in all this has been an 'annoying' winter. Last 2 years winter came, stayed for three months and went, this year it's been changing every 10 days!

Any of your Pleiones breaking dormancy?

[Hristo]

Flowering after it 'stalled' for a week, Pleione shantung 'Silver Anniversary'.
The high temps fell back to -10 and snow and that had a knock on effect indoors ( no central heating ). Both P.forrestii and P.'San Salvador' aborted their flowers on the cusp of opening as average night temps dropped below +10c indoors.

[fred]

What a stunner.

Hristo, better to lose a few flowers due to a drop in temperature, than to lose plants because the heating failed for a night. Always try to rely on as little technological help as possible for growing setups.

Pln. San Salvador = Pln. Shantung x Pln. forrestii

so it looks like forrestii reacts worse than others to temperature fluctuations, even in hybrid offspring.

[Hristo]

Hi Fred,
These kinds of traits do seem to carry through to the hybrid offspring. All my earliest flowerers had humilis in their background, and as you point out 'San Salvador' had forrestii in it's background. With the exception of Pleione 'Leda' and Pleione 'Santorini' all the pleiones that were advanced but did not abort have humlis in them. Santorini stalled like forrestii and 'San Salvador' but went on to flower.
I'm keeping a record of these early pleiones that abort and may fridge store them to try and retard their development so that they fower a month or so later!

[Hristo]

Flowering today;
Pleione Hekla 'Partridge' and Pleione Leda

[Hristo]

A first timer again;
Pleione Captain Hook

[Hristo]

The most recent three to flower;
Pleione Piton
Pleione El Pico
Pleione Jorullo

[Hristo]

Today Pleione Tongariro, I have a few cultivars of Alishan from 3 different sources, so far all have aborted their flowers within a day or two of opening, temps have been climbing above +15c so wondering if the limprichtii heritage via Versailles could be giving Alishan an adverse reaction to sudden temp increases!!?? Any competing theories welcomed.......

[Hristo]

Temperatures are fluctuating again, +25c yesterday, only +7c today.
Pleiones in flower are now outside in pure moss, those yet to flower are indoors in dry sawdust until they flower or show good root development.
Flowerig today;
Pleione formosana
Pleione Harlequin 'Norman'

[Hristo]

Latest three in flower;
Pleione Kublai Kahn
Pleione Deriba
Pleione Volcanello
Nights are warming up now so hopefully will be able to leave all Pleiones outside overnight, currently moving the trays indoors overnight incase of frosts. Most roots are now escaping out of their lattice pots!

[fred]

Stunning, will all off these be available at your nursery later this year?

[Hristo]

Hi Fred,
Thanks!
Yes I'm taking orders from Bulgarians for the Autumn and will be selling some on e-Bay for mail order to the rest of Europe. I've grown pleiones for over 10 years but I'm only just getting into developing a full range, currently 70 or so cultivars. As this thread may suggest I've just got my head around Pleione culture here and have had to 'unlearn' much of my UK Pleione lore!! The growing season here is several months longer than thatn in western / northern europe so vegetative increase is very good.

[Hristo]

Latest Pleiones;
Pleione Berapi
Pleione grandiflora 'White form'

[Hristo]

The Pleione season is drawng to a close here now, amongst the last to flower;
Peione grandiflora 'Pink Form'

[Hristo]

Pleione Myojin and Pleione Asam