Paph Lyro Brachysaurus

[Orchid-fever]

Hi All,

This is a picture of paph Lyro Brachysaurus (James Bacon x luechochilum).
I took it in for judging but was told it was "to small."

 

[paphioboy]

for a moment I thought to myself, 'Hmm...Dinosaur...?' very well shaped, even if it is small... hopefully it will bloom bigger next round...

 

[Ernie]

I think it's gorgeous! Too small is an all-too-often taken easy out. It's small, but the proportions are very pleasing. For judging, might not make the mark mostly because it looks cuppy (overall form). You took the photos straight on to the dorsal, look how the staminode disappears hidden by the pouch. Take a pic looking directly at the staminode and the dorsal will probably look hooded. In Brachys, one would hope for very flat form seeing all of the dorsal and most of the staminode dead on. The pouch should also be at a low angle in relation to the rest of the flower which would help expose the segments and staminode viewed from the front. The synsepal also looks to be a little off kilter. The form of each segment individually looks spectacular- the petals are nice and full. The color/markings are also very nice.
Bottom line- KEEP IT, it's nicer than most even if it never gets awarded. If you don't want it, send it to me.

-Ernie

 

[Greenpaph]

Definitely a keeper!

Super form!

:drool:

 

[NYEric]

Looks ok to me.

 

[JeanLux]

Great shape!!! Jean

 

[cwt]

I think it is a very nice flower.Stuff the judges.
Charles

 

[e-spice]

A beautiful flower!

e-spice

 

[toddybear]

That name is too much! Great flower though!

 

[SlipperKing]

SMALL! It looks a good 6 inches on my screen! Size is only 10pts out of 100 possible in judging that still a 90pt FCC!
I took a Paph Johnny Shaw (urbanianum X suk) into judging the second yr it bloomed. The judge's comment was; "It's a nice plant, good as a coffee table display only" I was a bit Peeved. The third yr back I went. The same judge gives it an AM! The bottom line is, Judging is 90% political and 10% judgmental.
This same judge said once about my parishii; "Beautiful plant worthly of an award but look at the book, there's 50(+/-) parishii's awarded already. We don't need another one." I said to myself, "WHAT AN IDIOT!! They'll be awarding parishiis a 100 yrs after you're dead!"
I

 

[Elena]

I think it's beautiful

 

[Potterychef]

I like the flower! Rick, I could not agree more with your comments. I have stopped taking
plants to judging for now - not to mention the 40 miles each way in gas it costs me. Weather is great right now in Ohio, up here beating the Texas heat.Doug

 

[Ernie]

As a young judge, it pains me to see that folks are disheartened by the system. Please accept my critique as friendly. I do think it is a lovely thing!!! Many times, judges focus on finding faults and lose sight of the good traits. Regarding size, if a flower is "small", no biggie, you can always give it low points (only 10 max anyway, as Rick said!). Next time you go to judging, ask the chair to sit in with a team just for fun, but you might not want to have your team look at your plant. Get a feel for the team and interact as invited. You might have a better time if you get to appreciate the entire process not just the final discussion. Shoot, next time any of you are in Chicago during AOS judging or a show, i'd be happy to have you join my team with the chair's okay.

-Ernie

 

[labskaus]

How big is to small?

I'm with Ernie regarding both the form of your flower and his encouragement, you should definitely try again!

In our system, where size counts for 20% of the score, the flower would have a good chance to get an award, since it has good shape (despite being cupped), great colour and certainly has "personality".

Very beautiful!

Cheers, Carsten

edit: I wonder if it would help to stake the flower much earlier next time?

 

[Candace]

It may not be award worthy(on this bloom anyway). But see what happens on the next blooming. Usually I am distracted by the imperfections that Ernie described. But on this one the coloration is a knock out.

 

[SlipperFan]

Nice flower. Don't give up -- maybe next blooming will be even better.

 

[Sangii]

very nice one !

 

[Scooby5757]

That's a shame. It is just a score card, and while judging standards (hopefully) increase with good breeding, if your plant(s) are comparable or better than recent awards it should be consider or at least scored.

 

[WolfDog1 (C. Williams)]

I agree with Ernie about sitting in on judging. I did it almost every month for over a year before I became a student. I submitted plants just about every month and some were never nominated....of course I thought they were great. Some were scored but not awarded. Now that I've been a student in the AOS judging system for some 6 months, plus all the times I sat in on judging before that, I've learned that judging is a process. Also, it's a team sport. It only takes 1 judge on the team to say they want to score the plant and it gets scored. It was very eye opening to me to really find out more about the process and to feel so involved with the team when I was observing. There were times when the judges asked me what I thought about the plant even before I was a student. Also, I've never been able to set in on any of my own plants being considered.

Having said all that.......I love your plant and would love to be the owner of it. I'd bloom it again and submit it for judging again as well. It appears to be a fine example of the grex.

Craig