Cattleya Bob Betts 'Lines' AM/AOS

[NEslipper]

Awarded in 1955. Not the largest flower at ~6 inches (15cm), but overall I think it has really nice fullness and balance. I can definitely see why it got the AM. It's been open ~3 days, so the fragrance just kicked in this morning. It's amazing how much the petals move around the first few days, so it still may not be quite settled.

 

[monocotman]

Lovely! Very similar to white lightning!

 

[monocotman]

Interesting to think that all these fantastic clones of Bob Betts were made in the 1950’s.

 

[Greenpaph]

Fantastic

 

[SouthPark]

Delightful and very elegant! Very nice white and yellow.

 

[abax]

White flowers make me soooo happy!

 

[NEslipper]

Interesting to think that all these fantastic clones of Bob Betts were made in the 1950’s.

I would love to be able to flower a few of these simultaneously to see the differences in the flowers when grown under the same conditions. I don’t have the ‘White Lightning’ variety, but your plant of it is spectacular!

It’ll be interesting to see if some of these early heirloom crosses get remade with the improved line-bred species a lot of people seem to be working on. I wonder if those remakes could finally surpass the originals.

 

[Ozpaph]

very pretty classic

 

[monocotman]

Plenty of people have tried to remake Bob Betts if you read chadwicks article on this.
Plus the original parents of the cross were of very high quality. The breeders had a choice of many thousands of wild collected specimens.

The Bow Bells Revolution

There are thoughts that McDade used a hybrid of mossiae with lueddemanniana called x gravesiana and not a pure mossiae to make his famous Bob Betts grex. Whether he knew it to be a hybrid at the time of the cross just adds to the mystery.
You will also see from this article that the famous Suzanne Hye that made Bow Bells met a watery grave from a German u boat as it was being taken to safety from the Uk.
So this line of alba breeding is no more!

 

[NEslipper]

The history of these plants is part of what makes growing them so much fun!

Plenty of people have tried to remake Bob Betts if you read chadwicks article on this.
Plus the original parents of the cross were of very high quality. The breeders had a choice of many thousands of wild collected specimens.

The Bow Bells Revolution

There are thoughts that McDade used a hybrid of mossiae with lueddemanniana called x gravesiana and not a pure mossiae to make his famous Bob Betts grex. Whether he knew it to be a hybrid at the time of the cross just adds to the mystery.
You will also see from this article that the famous Suzanne Hye that made Bow Bells met a watery grave from a German u boat as it was being taken to safety from the Uk.
So this line of alba breeding is no more!

 

[NEslipper]

Family portrait with its great-grandparent C. trianae alba ‘Broomhill’.

 

[monocotman]

Great photo seeing the progression in breeding,
David

 

[Karp60]

The white colour looks so pristine.

 

[terryros]

I would like to see a side-by-side photo of good cultivars of Bob Betts and its parent Bow Bells. I have seen individual pictures, but it is hard to compare that way. I think Bob was even more awarded but something tells me the best of each would be almost indistinguishable?

 

[NEslipper]

I would also like to see this, maybe one day! Goals to grow for!

I would like to see a side-by-side photo of good cultivars of Bob Betts and its parent Bow Bells. I have seen individual pictures, but it is hard to compare that way. I think Bob was even more awarded but something tells me the best of each would be almost indistinguishable?