This week’s Orchid of the Week is… Cym. Drouin Masterpiece
Parentage: This weeks Orchid of the Week is a cross between Cym. Sarah Jean × Cym. Penorc Reality
Registered: 2001
The reason why it’s our Orchid of the Week:
This week’s Orchid of the Week was an extremely popular Cymbidium orchid on release, and has been a favourite ever since. Cym. Drouin Masterpiece has a few different varietals out there including ‘Tango’ and the feathered version ‘Kaleidoscope’, which is very eye catching indeed. But in terms of the solid colour versions, ‘Renae’ is my favourite. A beautiful shade of orange with a spotted white lip makes for a very attractive flower, for sure!
It is a very rounded cuppy intermediate sized flower, which some don’t rate too much. However, it deserves a place on the show bench, although it is a pretty old hybrid now. The above plant was benched at the Cymbidium Orchid Club of South Australia September 2024 meeting with a really good flower count on multiple upright spikes. It did look the part!
Cym. Drouin Masterpiece ‘Kaleidoscope’ I believe was a mutation during the cloning of Cym. Drouin Masterpiece ‘Renae’.
Cym. Drouin Masterpiece ‘Tango’ won an Award of Cultural Commendation from the Australian Orchid Council in 2012 with a plant owned by Barrita Orchids. And Cym. Drouin Masterpiece ‘Kaleidoscope’ won an Award of Distinction from the Australian Orchid Council in 2014 with a plant owned by Wains Orchids. Wains Orchids also provided the photo of Cym. Drouin Masterpiece ‘Kaleidoscope’.
All versions of this plant are still available for purchase. However, if you are after ‘Kaleidoscope’, be prepared to fork out a small fortune……it is very sought after and very tightly held by those that have it!
Three generations back in the breeding we can see a couple of very influential plants in Cym. Sussex Dawn and Cym. Sensation. Two plants with a lot of history in Cymbidiums.
Looking back at the original species ancestors of this plant, using Orchid Roots, Cym. insigne, Cym. floribundum and Cym. lowianum are the major contributors in the distant background.