Cymbidium Maureen Carter 'Fragrant Princess'

[mrhappyrotter]

Cymbidium Maureen Carter is Cymbidium sinense × Cymbidium Sleeping Beauty

This hybrid is right down my alley. I'm a big fan of yellow blooms, and this delivers. I'm also a huge fan of fragrant flowers and this is undeniably wonderful in that respect! I'm also a big fan of primary hybrids as well as novelty hybrids like this that take complex hybrids and pair them with a species.

The fragrance on this is very similar to Cymbidium sinense, but a bit more complex and with some fruity tones. It's also quite strong in warmer weather during the day time. I can smell this as soon as I open the greenhouse door! I always describe this general type of scent as "sweet floral", and it's one of my favorite scents.

I'm not even sure how many flowers and buds there are, but there are at least 3 spikes forming at this time! I love how these spikes grow upright like sinense.

I consider this to be a very easy growing plant. I've grown it indoors year round and it was fine with that. Last year I grew it outside in deep shade, then moved it into the minimally heated greenhouse for the fall and winter, and it's just fine with that as well. Basic Cymbidium care seems to work well, dryer in winter, warmer and wetter in summer with heavy feeding.

This particular cultivar is very compact growing, but the spikes are really tall, so you could get away with growing it under lights on a shelf (like I used to do), but once it is in bloom you probably would need to move it elsewhere.

It's quite similar to the famous Cymbidium Golden Elf, but honestly by my criteria, this is the superior hybrid overall.

Anybody else grow Cymbidiums?

 

[Ozpaph]

Is it 'albanistic/pure colour'?

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Is it 'albanistic/pure colour'?

It's not quite fully uniform yellow. It doesn't show up well with my camera and limited photography skills, but the lip has subtle deeper yellow spotting on top of the otherwise bright yellow base color. I'll see if I can get a photo later. I suppose that's albanistic but not sure to be honest.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Here's a flower close up that kind of vaguely shows the subtle spotting on the lip.

 

[My Green Pets]

I need to hurry up and retire so I can grow all the orchids I want to try, like these beautiful Cymbs. Thanks for the posts.
Maybe with luck I can retire in 2046...

 

[mrhappyrotter]

I need to hurry up and retire so I can grow all the orchids I want to try, like these beautiful Cymbs. Thanks for the posts.
Maybe with luck I can retire in 2046...

Yeah, tell me about it.

 

[TyroneGenade]

That is very beautiful but how big is it?

I grew a Cymbidium sinense many years ago which was a small plant -- and something I could likely grow indoors under lights if need be -- but wasn't much to look at. I would like to know more about the size of these hybrids.

Thanks

 

[mrhappyrotter]

That is very beautiful but how big is it?

I grew a Cymbidium sinense many years ago which was a small plant -- and something I could likely grow indoors under lights if need be -- but wasn't much to look at. I would like to know more about the size of these hybrids.

Thanks

This one's pretty large, at least an order of magnitude larger than a typical Cym. sinense and more or less the same size as many standard Cymbidiums.

I have grown it under lights in years past, but when it is in bloom, it's not going to fit on a shelf under lights in an average indoor growing space. With the spikes being so tall, my rough estimate is that it's at least 4 feet tall overall.

My strategy prior to having a mini-greenhouse was to grow this plant outdoors from spring through fall when temps were above freezing, then bring it indoors for the winter where it grew on wire shelves under led shop lights. Any time it spiked up while indoors, though, I had to move it off the shelf and set it on the floor next to the racks.

Similar story for the Valerie Absolonova I posted in another thread.

I do have several smaller growing novelty type hybrids (i.e. section Jensoa species crossed with standard Cymbs) that remain small enough to grow in similar space as Paphs and Phrags under lights. For instance I posted a goeringii x voodoo not too long ago and a serratum x Eastern Venus that grow to similar sizes as species like sinense. Any day now I'm also hoping that my Cym. Eastern Melody's buds open up, and I'll post that one, too. This will be the first time it has bloomed for me, so I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[cabnc]

Anybody else grow Cymbidiums?

I have a few dozen Cymbidiums I grow here in Wilmington. I often scoured the greenhouses at Orchid Trail so I need to double check and look for a Valerie Absolonova in my collection. Where did you find Maureen Carter?

There was a fine grower of Cymbidiums at the orchid society in Fayetteville.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Where did you find Maureen Carter?

It came from a seller named Nia22d on Ebay, looking at my records I bought it early 2021. It's been a reliable bloomer, but this year is going to be a bumper crop, I think there are 3 flower spikes.

I miss The Orchid Trail so much. I lived about 25 minutes away from that place for about 10 years and during that time it was a monthly or bi-monthly retreat from real life.