Tokyo Dome, Two Crazy Catts, and Too Long Names

[KyushuCalanthe]

More award winners.

Masd. Highland Monarch 'Golden Gate'

Phal. (Brother Little Amaglad x Brother Pico Gato 'Kanata') - small flowers, big name!

Rhy. Chorchoalood 'Rainbow Shower'

Rlc. Tzeng-wen Queen 'Kiss of Fire' - crazy insane color!

Rlc. Triumphal Coronation 'Seto' - the perfect floofy Catt!

 

[Heather]

Crazy indeed - Kiss of Fire is a pretty great name for that!

 

[Hera]

And the majesty goes on.........:drool:

 

[SlipperFan]

Amazing how they make the flowers line up like that.

 

[paphioboy]

WOW again.. I was chuckling at the masdies lines up in a row.. That Kiss of Fire is so brilliant.. Looks like lilies..

 

[smartie2000]

wow...that is some intense staking. We can take some lessons here.
Keeping catt pseudobulbs upright would be a space saver!

 

[JeanLux]

Another wow!!!! I esp .like the masdies, Rhynchostylis and the catt!!! Jean

 

[NYEric]

That Rhy.!!! :drool:

 

[Lanmark]

The Japanese aesthetic for symmetry is rather amazing!

 

[etex]

They are masters at staking! Great display of blooms!!

 

[John M]

Awesome plants....all of them!

 

[Leo Schordje]

Awesome growing and training for presentation.

Question, How do they do that?

For the Tokyo Dome show when these magnificent, perfect pots of blooms are displayed, are all these plants on SINGLE roots systems, as required for AOS culture awards? or are they 'assembled' specimens, where they take meristem clones all at the same stage, and put them together to 'create' these magnificent specimens?

It looks like for the Rhynchostylis, that has to be a 15 or 20 year old plant, grown well the whole time. The Masd and Catts, I can envision a way to start with a batch of 2nd bloom or so mature meristem clones, and assemble them into a 'created' specimen. Then a couple years of meticulous care (this is not degrading the hort skill involved) and careful training of the flower stems to get the perfect specimen. The single root system might take a lifetime to acheive, the assembled specimen could be done in less than a year if you can start with nice uniform blooming size meristems. BOTH approaches require a high level of horticultural & artistic skill, so this is not a negative criticism of technique, I am just curious as to how they do that.

Is it more like bonsai? where the appeance is what counts, and there are no restrictions as to how you get there, as long as the display looks good and appears as if it naturally grew that way. (artificial is forbidden, but little else is)

In bonsai it is perfectly acceptable to glue flakes of bark to the trunk of a specimen if the trunk is too smooth, or to hide an ugly pruning scar, as long as it is done well enough, discrete enough, that the technique used can not be detected visually.

Does this approach hold in Tokyo Dome orchid judging?

 

[SlipperFan]

I wonder that too, Leo. Some of these look too perfect.