Thank you all for your positive comments. I don't think I can have it judged as I don't belong to any orchid society.
When this plant started to spike, I moved it to a slightly shadier spot and made sure that it had enough head room for the spikes to lengthen. I was quite impressed by the colour for a Bel Royal, and also that it did not need any staking to tweek the flower presentation. The plant has 6 growths (2 mature currently blooming, 2 that should mature over the next season and 2 new starts). This is a first time flowering on this plant, originally purchased from Frank Smith.
Its funny you got this from Frank. His comment at a workshop I attended went something like, "Bel Royal is the ugliest cross ever and should of never been made"
I have heard similar as well. However, it does pass on some desirable traits to its progeny. Flower count is the obvious one, but one trait not often recognised is that it tends to lengthen the flower interval. That produces a much improved display, especially seeing that kolo tends to display its first bloom well above the foliage. (Roths on the other hand tends to display its first bloom nestled low among the foliage). That low first bloom on roths is inherited very often by SS, but is very seldom the case in Bel Royals. The flower spike in kolo progeny tend to be very strong as well and seldom need to be staked. The positives are traded against the negatives of a weak dorsal, smaller bloom, poor colour saturation and a weak petal stance. Some of these negatives are personal taste and fashion issues, while others can be improved with better parent selection.
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