This week’s Orchid of the Week is… Cym. Catherine Bailey
Parentage: This is a cross between Cym. Joseph Schmidt × Cym. Chironia
Registered: 2023
The reason why it’s our Orchid of the Week:
I think everyone will agree that this week’s Orchid of the Week is a stunning piece of breeding! Brand new in 2023 from the breeding of Andy Easton and New Horizon Orchids.
A very stunning lip and eye catching shape, not to mention the colour make this Cymbidium one to look out for.
The above plant was grown and photographed by Andy Easton. And the images have been taken from from Andy Easton’s Facebook page with permission.
Cym. Joseph Schmidt itself is a lovely plant registered by Andy Easton in 2015, so no surprise it has been used as a parent here. I wasn’t able to find a photo of Cym. Chironia, but I think registered in 1961 by Stewart’s Orchids in the U.S. Cym. Chironia was been used numerous times by Stewart’s in breeding whilst they were operating.
6N or Hexaploid ploidy plants are not too common and I would expect this plant will be crossed back onto a 2N or Diploid plant to produce a more useable 4N or Tetraploid for future breeding. It may seem the long way around, but looking this far forward in breeding is something Andy Easton is known for!
I believe this cross was named for Andy’s sister, so I expect this cross will be held very close for some time, and although we may not have it in our collections for a while it shows what is currently being bred. I would suggest looking out for future progeny from Cym. Catherine Bailey and I am very curious to find out what Andy will cross with this plant. I’m expecting big things!
Looking back at the original species ancestors of this plant, using Orchid Roots, Cym. sinense, Cym. lowianum, Cym sanderae and Cym. insigne are the major contributors present in the distant background.