Leo Schordje
wilted blossom
Jackpot :rollhappy: :rollhappy: :rollhappy:
I wandered into Home Depot on Dempster in Niles, IL today, looking to have a key made. I could not resist browsing the orchids. For those who don't know, Arnold Klehm Grower, is one of the orchid suppliers for the North Central Distribution area for Home Depot. This means his plants can appear in Home Depots from Minneapolis to Memphis and east as far as Detroit. There are at least 3 maybe more wholesalers servicing Home Depot in this region, so I am not saying everything there is from Klehm's. For a number of reasons Arnie no longer encourages walk in retail customers, he simply does not have time. I see him at AOS judging regularly, and we often talk. I know he occasionally will slip surplus divisions of seriously top quality plants into the stream of first bloom seedlings that make the bulk of Klehm's Home Depot product line. Arnie is an AOS judge and a serious breeder, all his crosses, even though they are being sold for the "Potted Plant Trade" are crosses he makes to bring Phal and Paph breeding forward. So his product is as good as any other serious breeders.
SO whenever you are in a Home Depot, it is worth looking for the orchids whose bar code price tags include the word Klehm, that means its his product.
Look what I found:
Paph Moon Shadow '10-92' (Snowram x Skip Barttlet) - I recognize the clone designation to mean a plant he selected for his stud collection in October of 1992. Back when he had retail trade, he would sell divisions of this plant for a couple hundred bucks. I got it for $25. Wowzers. The pod parent Snowram is 25% FC Puddle, and Snowram was a cutting edge exhibition white of the early 1970's. The pollen parent is Skip Bartlett, the current top stud plant for creating whites. So this is a white x white. The natural spread on a small 1 growth & new start division is 12 cm, or a little less than 5 inches across. I expect it to improve with time. Not as big as some of the whites that Dean has been showing us, but for $25, who can complain? This is a top shelf exhibition white at a Phal price. Wow.
But wait, that is not all, look what else I found:
Pescatoria coronaria "Andrea" AM/AOS
this is a division of the original plant found by Andrea Niessen of Orquideas de Valle, Cali, Colombia. This is probably the finest example of the species in cultivation. Arnie had a division of this plant from Andrea, and it was the one he used for many of his (Pescatoria x Cochleanthes) crosses. Back in the 1990's I tried to buy a division, and the price was $$$. Got it for $17.50. The flower is more reflexed this blooming than it usually is, this is only a one growth and new start division. It will need to be a multigrowth plant to put on it AM worthy show, but I don't mind waiting, having seen what it can do in the past.
So remember, Arnie sometimes slips surplus from his reserve benches into the Home Depot. Its like playing the lottery, if you are there and the first to notice the special plant, it is yours for a small fraction of its collector value.
I wandered into Home Depot on Dempster in Niles, IL today, looking to have a key made. I could not resist browsing the orchids. For those who don't know, Arnold Klehm Grower, is one of the orchid suppliers for the North Central Distribution area for Home Depot. This means his plants can appear in Home Depots from Minneapolis to Memphis and east as far as Detroit. There are at least 3 maybe more wholesalers servicing Home Depot in this region, so I am not saying everything there is from Klehm's. For a number of reasons Arnie no longer encourages walk in retail customers, he simply does not have time. I see him at AOS judging regularly, and we often talk. I know he occasionally will slip surplus divisions of seriously top quality plants into the stream of first bloom seedlings that make the bulk of Klehm's Home Depot product line. Arnie is an AOS judge and a serious breeder, all his crosses, even though they are being sold for the "Potted Plant Trade" are crosses he makes to bring Phal and Paph breeding forward. So his product is as good as any other serious breeders.
SO whenever you are in a Home Depot, it is worth looking for the orchids whose bar code price tags include the word Klehm, that means its his product.
Look what I found:
Paph Moon Shadow '10-92' (Snowram x Skip Barttlet) - I recognize the clone designation to mean a plant he selected for his stud collection in October of 1992. Back when he had retail trade, he would sell divisions of this plant for a couple hundred bucks. I got it for $25. Wowzers. The pod parent Snowram is 25% FC Puddle, and Snowram was a cutting edge exhibition white of the early 1970's. The pollen parent is Skip Bartlett, the current top stud plant for creating whites. So this is a white x white. The natural spread on a small 1 growth & new start division is 12 cm, or a little less than 5 inches across. I expect it to improve with time. Not as big as some of the whites that Dean has been showing us, but for $25, who can complain? This is a top shelf exhibition white at a Phal price. Wow.
But wait, that is not all, look what else I found:
Pescatoria coronaria "Andrea" AM/AOS
this is a division of the original plant found by Andrea Niessen of Orquideas de Valle, Cali, Colombia. This is probably the finest example of the species in cultivation. Arnie had a division of this plant from Andrea, and it was the one he used for many of his (Pescatoria x Cochleanthes) crosses. Back in the 1990's I tried to buy a division, and the price was $$$. Got it for $17.50. The flower is more reflexed this blooming than it usually is, this is only a one growth and new start division. It will need to be a multigrowth plant to put on it AM worthy show, but I don't mind waiting, having seen what it can do in the past.
So remember, Arnie sometimes slips surplus from his reserve benches into the Home Depot. Its like playing the lottery, if you are there and the first to notice the special plant, it is yours for a small fraction of its collector value.
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I know I won't be able to drive past a HD without at least thinking of checking to see if a 'good one' is there.
