Home Index Web Stuff Copyright Links Me

Dendrobium Australian Rhubarb Pie



8th September 2018


An attractive grex from the remarkable breeding work going on in Australia at present. This is a few generations down the line from the species but has about 40% Dendrobium kingianum in its ancestry. The growth habit is very like D. kingianum, the flowers are probably going to be larger and more brightly marked.
I had hoped that it would be equally hardy but this year we had a vicious cold snap in March as things were starting to grow and the old canes have been badly damaged if not killed. It is producing shoots from the eyes at the top of the canes, and I am still hoping for a basal shoot but the plant has had a serious setback. I have removed one cluster of plantlets and planted them into the compost because I am not sure how much longer the old canes can support them - I am trying to spread the risk.
The plant was newly potted last autumn so it is difficult to know how much of the damage would have happened if it had been better established.