Rlc. George King 'Serendipity' AM/AOS

[NEslipper]

Thank you, I am here to learn, I intend to learn till it's all over, but as I said , your post piqued my interest in acquiring a George King. My interest is to grow plants to the best of my ability so that they can be entered in Orchid Shows. I am not interested in the ribbons, but in contributing quality plants for display to the public and enhance the displays themselves. The color tones and form of the George King, grown and flowered well could contribute greatly to any display. And for you and others, here is another plant Cattleya Goldernell 'Southern Cross" AM/AOS from Carter and Holmes. It is of the same tones as GK. The plant is an excellent grower and the flowers last 5/6 weeks, but hint, it took me 3 years to learn that it needs to be summered outside or it will not flower well

Beautiful colors on Goldernell! It glows like it’s lit from within. Unfortunately, I do not have the option to summer my plants outside, so a south-facing window will have to do. At least the George King doesn’t seem to mind, it’s been very floriferous!

 

[Happypaphy7]

Such unusual and beautiful color and great fragrance on a rather compact growth habit. love this classic hybrid!!
I used to have one, a mericloned one which grew on my sunny windowsill, still not ideal conditions when it comes to humidity and proper temperature ranges and all that. Yet, I had a lot of success with these large poofy Cattleyas with AM like this one, Goldenzelle 'Lemon Chiffon', Bryce Canyon, Susan Fender 'Cinnamon Stick', Cornerstone 'Fine Circle'...All these plants always bloomed with three flowers for me also and I think Goerge King 'Seprendipity' bloomed twice in succession near the end of the year every time.
By the way, Waldor was offering a fresh mericlone if I remember correctly. In their eBay listing, they explained how they saw declining qualities in the overmericloned stocks and so they made a new mericlone from the original division.
I was very curious to get one and find out as the plant being offered had two sheaths with buds inside. I forgot about the auction and went out to dinner that night. lol
I'm sure I'll see it again in the future. They also have an openhouse sale next spring which I most likely will attend.

 

[southernbelle]

Fingers crossed, this has bloomed before with 2 flowers on 5 bulbs, and now 3, so maybe the plant just needs to build up some more reserves. I’ve also been trying to push my light levels as much as possible, lots of yellow tones in my leaves, and I have burned a couple leaves on more sensitive catts here and there, but generally I’ve observed much better blooming overall this year. Would love to see yours that’s currently in bloom!

Don't know how, but happened upon this thread from last Nov. and saw you asked for a photo of mine. This is from the bloom at the time you posted this. It is just opening again now, with 2 flowers (first time for 2) so plant is getting stronger. I'll post that when it’s completely opened. Interesting the difference in lip coloration from yours. I grow under LEDs

 

[terryros]

Deborah, I looked carefully at the AOS photos for the different awards and I think yours is very close to most of the awards. The subtle lip differences are easily minor cultural things and up to personal preference.

 

[southernbelle]

Deborah, I looked carefully at the AOS photos for the different awards and I think yours is very close to most of the awards. The subtle lip differences are easily minor cultural things and up to personal preference.

Interesting. So I have a real AM plant, which is great. I can sure appreciate it even if I didn’t earn it. Interestingly, the flowers that are maturing now look excellent. I’ll post soon. Although I will say, at the NCOS show this spring a club display had a huge, really HUGE ‘Serendipity’. I noticed it immediately. The owner was so disappointed it wasn’t awarded. A judge nearby said “It’s already an AM. You don’t want an award, you’ll have to pay for it.” That was disappointing to me. I’m happy to pay for any award I receive and clearly he would have been too. By her remark, it didn’t seem they even considered it, but I don’t know if they did and if it didn’t qualify for an upgrade. I may have a photo, I’ll ck. Oh, and I think his was a meristem!!

 

[NEslipper]

Interesting. So I have a real AM plant, which is great. I can sure appreciate it even if I didn’t earn it. Interestingly, the flowers that are maturing now look excellent. I’ll post soon. Although I will say, at the NCOS show this spring a club display had a huge, really HUGE ‘Serendipity’. I noticed it immediately. The owner was so disappointed it wasn’t awarded. A judge nearby said “It’s already an AM. You don’t want an award, you’ll have to pay for it.” That was disappointing to me. I’m happy to pay for any award I receive and clearly he would have been too. By her remark, it didn’t seem they even considered it, but I don’t know if they did and if it didn’t qualify for an upgrade. I may have a photo, I’ll ck. Oh, and I think his was a meristem!!

Yours is stunning, please update with the new blooms when they settle! Mine just matured a new growth, unfortunately no blooms, which is unusual since it reliably flowers on every growth with 2-3 flowers. I suspect this aberration is due to grower negligence as the previous growth was already fully out of the pot....I am severely behind on my repotting this year. I think the lip patterns are perfectly within the variability due to differences in culture as terryros mentioned. Here are the last two bloomings of my division, quite a difference in overall form and lip patterning even grown in the same spot on my windowsill. I am also disappointed by that judge's comment, I think on a great blooming this plant would certainly be worthy of an upgrade to FCC.

 

[southernbelle]

Yours is stunning, please update with the new blooms when they settle! Mine just matured a new growth, unfortunately no blooms, which is unusual since it reliably flowers on every growth with 2-3 flowers. I suspect this aberration is due to grower negligence as the previous growth was already fully out of the pot....I am severely behind on my repotting this year. I think the lip patterns are perfectly within the variability due to differences in culture as terryros mentioned. Here are the last two bloomings of my division, quite a difference in overall form and lip patterning even grown in the same spot on my windowsill. I am also disappointed by that judge's comment, I think on a great blooming this plant would certainly be worthy of an upgrade to FCC.
View attachment 41001

Really lovely!! Here is the huge one from the show. I did not zoom so the other flowers in the photo give size perspective. It was stunning.

 

[southernbelle]

Ok here is my current bloom. I am encouraged I might get more flowers as this plant still only has 5 pseudobulbs. Maybe 3 next time. This one has a 14.5 cm NS.

 

[southernbelle]

Angela would have loved this dorsal. Standing right up there!