C. Pearl Harbor ‘Orchidglade’ AM/ AOS

[PeteM]

Bow Bells x Celia

I had to jump on the classic white cattleya bandwagon. Even though this is a recent addition to the collection.

A meristem picked up from Waldor. Received it at the beginning of August in sheath. I’m always amazed when the sheaths produce buds after shipping and a change in growing environments. It’s incredibly well grown and I’m looking forward to growing it up. I’ve added a few shots from when it first opened and then a few outside of the grow room from today, to get it under natural light. Very fragrant.

 

[tomp]

Beautiful !
Those classic big white Cattleyas remind me of a woman on her wedding day. Full of love and glowing. The semi-albas remind me of a man in a tuxedo. Both looking their best.
Guess I’m a bit of a romantic.

 

[NYEric]

No you didn't!
Floof appeal is high!

 

[Greenpaph]

Beautiful ! I am sure it is fragrant!

 

[monocotman]

Beautiful! Bow bells is responsible for so many lovely albas.
David

 

[My Green Pets]

Yep, never gonna be tired of these big floofy whites!

 

[abax]

I wonder if we oldsters should explain the word "floofy" to new comers. I rated this one
a 9 on the Floof scale.

 

[NEslipper]

Thanks for keeping the bandwagon going, it’s beautiful! I too could stare at these heirloom whites all day! And Waldor is top-notch!

 

[terryros]

The parent other than Bow Bells is listed as Celia, not Cella. Cattleya Celia is bringing in a strong dose of loddigesii, some warneri, and lueddemaniana, three different species that are in Bow Bells. Since Bow Bells was registered in 1945 and Pearl Harbor in 1951, it must be one of the first hybrids made with Bow Bells, maybe even before it was registered.

 

[Karp60]

They do make a statement.

 

[PeteM]

The parent other than Bow Bells is listed as Celia, not Cella. Cattleya Celia is bringing in a strong dose of loddigesii, some warneri, and lueddemaniana, three different species that are in Bow Bells. Since Bow Bells was registered in 1945 and Pearl Harbor in 1951, it must be one of the first hybrids made with Bow Bells, maybe even before it was registered.

Ha. Thanks for the correction. I’ll double check the tag to make sure it’s not a typo. Most likely a piece of dirt completing the ‘l’.

 

[Ozpaph]

lovely, classic

 

[PeteM]

Usually a fall bloomer, but everything is off in the collection I believe due to the long cooler spring this year, which was peppered with a few stretches of warmer temps.

This is one of my favorite cattleyas in the collection. It blooms on every lead. The nodes are close between leads and the roots miraculously stay inside the pot for the most part or are easily tamed.

I decided to try @southernbelle method of larger plastic pots with an upside down net pot in the middle. Bark based mix with perlite and charcoal, a few pieces of grodan. And I love the results so far, the pics below show this plant which was recently repotted in Feb of 2023. The select few that make the cut and consistently perform, I’ll move over to this method.

Happy 4th!

 

[NEslipper]

Always love to see this one in bloom, congrats!

 

[PeteM]

Blooming again six months later. Will be interesting to see if she has enough for energy to bloom again this coming summer.

 

[terryros]

Some very interesting things to me. Registered in 1951 by A. Joseph, the hybrid name certainly suggests US origin and I apologize for not being able to find out who Joseph was. He was likely important to our orchid past. The first cultivar to be awarded was 'Orchidglade' in 1954. Twenty-three other cultivars were awarded afterwards, with the last being in 1966 – then nothing. Amazing that 'Orchidglade' survived. I am guessing this was one of the "clean" mericlones that Waldors has been making from heritage Cattleyas?

As a pre-1966 awarded hybrid, Orchids Pro has no details about exhibitors, measurements, and only 4 exhibition photos made it.

I count 59 immediate offspring of Pearl Harbor, so it was highly regarded as a parent. However, it was competing with the tail-end of the Bow Bells surge and the middle of the Bob Betts rage. Tough competition. And once the 1960s came, hybrid Catteyas lost out as cut flowers to Cymbidiums and large numbers of great plants were just thrown away. Only a small number of elite, and at that time wealthy, collectors kept some of the plants because hobbyists like most of us were few. Then, virus came and knocked off a number of the remaining plants. There may be almost none of other cultivars of Pearl Harbor surviving.

Please treat this piece of the golden age of white Cattleya hybrids well. On pessimistic days I see the number of commercial breeders and growers dwindling and the number of hobbyist growers also fading. We become like art collectors with some of these plants.

 

[PeteM]

Some very interesting things to me. Registered in 1951 by A. Joseph, the name certainly suggests US origin and I apologize for not being able to find out who he was. He was likely important to our orchid past. The first cultivar to be awarded was 'Orchidglade' in 1954. Twenty-three other cultivars were awarded afterwards, with the last being in 1966 – then nothing. Amazing that 'Orchidglade' survived. I am guessing this was one of the "clean" mericlones that Waldors has been making from heritage Cattleyas?

As a pre-1966 awarded hybrid, Orchids Pro has no details about exhibitors, measurements, and only 4 exhibition photos made it.

I count 59 immediate offspring of Pearl Harbor, so it was highly regarded as a parent. However, it was competing with the tail-end of the Bow Bells surge and the middle of the Bob Betts rage. Tough competition. And once the 1960s came, hybrid Catteyas lost out as cut flowers to Cymbidiums and large numbers of great plants were just thrown away. Only a small number of elite, and at that time wealthy, collectors kept some of the plants because hobbyists like most of us were few. Then, virus came and knocked off a number of the remaining plants. There may be almost none of other cultivars of Pearl Harbor surviving.

Please treat this piece of the golden age of white Cattleya hybrids well. On pessimistic days I see the number of commercial breeders and growers dwindling and the number of hobbyist growers also fading. We become like art collectors with some of these plants.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to research and write these comments up, I find them very interesting and important provenance to pass along with the plant.

 

[NEslipper]

Some very interesting things to me. Registered in 1951 by A. Joseph, the hybrid name certainly suggests US origin and I apologize for not being able to find out who Joseph was. He was likely important to our orchid past. The first cultivar to be awarded was 'Orchidglade' in 1954. Twenty-three other cultivars were awarded afterwards, with the last being in 1966 – then nothing. Amazing that 'Orchidglade' survived. I am guessing this was one of the "clean" mericlones that Waldors has been making from heritage Cattleyas?

As a pre-1966 awarded hybrid, Orchids Pro has no details about exhibitors, measurements, and only 4 exhibition photos made it.

I count 59 immediate offspring of Pearl Harbor, so it was highly regarded as a parent. However, it was competing with the tail-end of the Bow Bells surge and the middle of the Bob Betts rage. Tough competition. And once the 1960s came, hybrid Catteyas lost out as cut flowers to Cymbidiums and large numbers of great plants were just thrown away. Only a small number of elite, and at that time wealthy, collectors kept some of the plants because hobbyists like most of us were few. Then, virus came and knocked off a number of the remaining plants. There may be almost none of other cultivars of Pearl Harbor surviving.

Please treat this piece of the golden age of white Cattleya hybrids well. On pessimistic days I see the number of commercial breeders and growers dwindling and the number of hobbyist growers also fading. We become like art collectors with some of these plants.

Jones & Scully got the 80 point AM for ‘Orchidglade’ at the Greater New York Orchid Show in Brooklyn, NY on October 1, 1954. The award descriptions reads, “A white Cattleya of good substance.” Natural spread was listed as 5 1/2 inches, or roughly 14cm, I agree it was likely difficult to compete with Bob Betts that were being awarded around the same time in the 17-19cm NS range.

 

[terryros]

Jones & Scully got the 80 point AM for ‘Orchidglade’ at the Greater New York Orchid Show in Brooklyn, NY on October 1, 1954. The award descriptions reads, “A white Cattleya of good substance.” Natural spread was listed as 5 1/2 inches, or roughly 14cm, I agree it was likely difficult to compete with Bob Betts that were being awarded around the same time in the 17-19cm NS range.

Your collection of the old records is extremely valuable for those of us who really like orchid history and the evolution of plants and awards. How did you collect them?

Currently, we focus strongly on individual flowers and forget that in the 1920s through the 1950s these Cattleyas were for the cut flower market and things like compactness, robust growth, hardiness, number of flowers produced, and blooming season helped determine the value of a plant.

 

[Karp60]

Beautiful !
Those classic big white Cattleyas remind me of a woman on her wedding day. Full of love and glowing. The semi-albas remind me of a man in a tuxedo. Both looking their best.
Guess I’m a bit of a romantic.

Gaskeliana used to be a very popular wedding flower.