Every now and then we talk a walk through the Orchid Wise Shade House to see what has been flowering or what else of interest might be happening. The Orchid Wise shade house is overflowing with all sorts! From species and primary hybrids to modern show bench hybrids and everything in between. You just never know what you’ll find!
Today’s Cymbidium orchid focus is: Cym. Kalang ‘Cheryl’ x Cym. erythraeum ‘Paradise’.
An interesting new release cross I obtained in spike earlier in the year (2023). It flowers from May into June in Adelaide, Australia so a fairly early flowerer.
Cym. Kalang ‘Cheryl’ x Cym. erythraeum ‘Paradise’ is a new Cymbidium hybrid, with a fairly compact growing plant producing tall, straight, self supporting spikes. It is also a diploid, so it probably won’t be too popular with the modern breeders.
Cym. erythraeum being a species plant, speaks for itself really. It was described for the first time in 1858, and has been widely used in breeding since producing some great plants including Cym. Arachnid and Cym. Ken Siew as well as another Primary Hybrid favourite of mine, Cym. Toni Benton.
Cym. Kalang is a crossing of Cym. Lustrous x Cym. Henry Davis (two quite old parents).
Cym. Kalang has a lot of Cym. insigne in the background with a dash of Cym. lowianum and Cym. tracyanum too. Kalang was registered in 1967, so it’s been around a while and probably not the sort of plant most modern show bench breeders would use, however, it has produced a nice light colour for those who like the older spidery shape flowers.
As far as Cymbidium orchid types go, this is probably one to either like or not like! It won’t be to everyone’s taste thats for sure!
What do you think of this crossing? A keeper? Or not?
Let me know in the comments!
And if you do like it, what do you think I should cross it with? What would you like to see?!