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As some of you may know, I have started a (free) email subscription-only newsletter called “The Orchid Zone Report,” in which I describe what is (or soon will be) available at the Orchid Zone.  For those of you who do not know The Orchid Zone (or have only heard myths, legends, and rumors), I can tell you that OZ is a vast orchid factory/jungle where the world’s finest slipper orchids are produced.  OZ is not open to the public, but the owner, Terry Root, master orchid grower and breeder (and his wife, Sam) have been very gracious in allowing me access to his greenhouses and, just as important, his deep orchid knowledge.

Slipper orchids grow slowly, but OZ is of such a scale that things are always changing.  New crops coming into bloom, forgotten stuff re-discovered, new standards being set — very, very exciting.  There are many other professional growers who have esoteric stuff, or have large facilities, but what strikes me about OZ is how high the standards are in three areas: 1) quality of plant growth; 2) the best genetics; and 3) outstanding growing facilities.

It is well known that pot plants (i.e., lower quality, non-select plants) have been bought in bloom at OZ and brought to judging shortly afterwards and received awards!  I’m not sure whether that underscores the quality of OZ plants, or the lack of quality in judging, especially when clearly superior specimens are brought in along with the pot plants for judging.

In any case, it is always a pleasure to find the latest stuff at OZ, and I’m pleased to make OZ plants available to Paphiness customers.  If you’d like to receive the OZ Report, simply send an email to orchids@paphinessorchids.com with “subscribe OZ Report” in the subject line.

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I just checked the date of my last posting, and I see now that it has been two and a half months since I last posted here!  On the other hand, those of you who have been emailing me know that I’ve been quite busy getting lots of interesting plants and flasks. So I’ve definitely been thinking about and doing a lot with orchids, but all of those efforts, unfortunately, have not made it to this blog.  Very sorry to keep you from your orchid info fix!  (I know, I know — there are only so many newbie posts one can handle on the various orchid forums.)

To be fair to myself as well as to you, my faithful reader(s), I will add that I’ve got a number of half-written posts or outlines for posts coming.

Here’s a sneak peek on topics I’m working on (i.e., half-baked posts in the blog queue):

- Mysterious mycorrhizzae

- Recovering plants (Part 1 of a many-part series, since I have so much experience doing this)

- The Root Zone (no, this has nothing to do with the Orchid Zone or Terry R., although he certainly has thought deeply about this topic)

-  Apical dominance and nodal submissives

- Re-booting plants

- The importance of stress

Just to get the ball rolling, the next “real” post will follow shortly after this one…

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We’re all passionate about orchids.  If you’re reading this, you really, really like orchids.  Some people like them so much, though, that they will steal them when they can.

No, I’m not talking about stealing from the jungle.

I’m talking about people who actually will steal orchids outright.  Here are a couple of stories:

One grower I know had to step out for a few minutes while with a customer in the greenhouse.  When the grower came back, what did he see, but the customer with toothpick in hand swiping pollen from a prized plant!  The customer/thief was sent packing quite quickly.

Another story from a very reliable source: an orchid judge/official was left alone in a greenhouse full of expensive stud plants.  The judge decided to help himself/herself to a division of an excellent specimen.  And by division, I don’t mean something already potted up.  This person was caught pulling the stud plant out of pot, and trying to break off a piece of it!  Somehow, the “Oh,-I-forgot-that-I’m-not-supposed-to-do-that” excuse that works so well with tax deadbeat politicians doesn’t work so well in the real world or orchids.  Well, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, since orchid judging is so political.

I once visited the greenhouse of a commercial grower, and we got to talking about kovachii.  In my orchid envy, I asked if he/she had any.

The owner answered, tersely, “Yes.”

“Oh, I’d love to see them.  Can you show them to me?” I asked, politely.

“No.”

I was puzzled.  Growers are usually excited to show off the new stuff.  “Why not?” I asked.  “Are they illegally obtained?”

“No, they are all legal.  But I can’t show them to you because of what happened previously when I did show them to someone.  As the customer was leaving, I had to ask him to please remove and return the kovachii plants that were sticking out of his pocket.  So I’m not showing the kovachii’s to anyone anymore.”

Me: “Wow.  OK.  I understand.”

If you know of any egregious stories of orchid theft, please forward them and I’ll post them.

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Paphiness Orchids is sponsoring an auction to support SlipperTalk.com, a wonderful place to read about slipper orchids and interact with other orchid addicts. We’re auctioning off a copy of Paphiopedilum in Taiwan IV, the latest and best in this series, packed with pictures of beautiful slipper orchids.

Here are a couple scans from the book:

Other copies (non-auction) are available; please email orchids@paphinessorchids.com if you’re interested.

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Click on “HOT OFFERS” right up at the top of the page (it’s in small type) to see some new plants available: roths (big), tigrinums (SOLD), and niveums (awesome new breeding).

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A few weeks ago, I found myself in Hollywood, and not as a tourist. My take on Tinseltown: the concept of Hollywood is impressive; the reality is kind of a let down.

The Writer’s Guild is on strike in Hollywood, as most of us may already know. Lately, I’ve been learning a bit about how tv shows and movies are created, and it is amazing the amount of detail that writers and directors may put into a scene or story, sometimes just to create a moment’s impression. So it’s always a kick to see slipper orchids on the big or little screen!

Here are some movies or TV shows where slipper orchids can be seen:

1) Pride and Prejudice (2005) — this is a superb big-screen rendition of Jane Austen’s classic. The father in the story is a man of some inherited wealth who spends his time on his own hobbies, one of which (in the film version) appears to be orchid growing. In one scene, the father is holding an in-bloom unifloral Paph hybrid (definitely not a species) in his study. Some writer or director took care to create this impression of an upper crust guy who grows exotic (well, exotic-looking) orchids.

2) Alias — In one episode during Season 4, the story centered around the Rambaldi Orchid, also known as Paphiopedilum khan, the rarest orchid in the world. Well, no such thing of course, but at least the writer of the show was smart enough to pick a Paph to feature in the story! P. khan was owned by the usual spy-story megalomaniac bent on ruling the world. The flower had some unusual substance in its pollen (or something) that enabled mind control of humans and bees. As I vaguely recall, the mocked up flower in the show was reminiscent of sanderianum or supardii, although it appeared to be a fake. One thing is true: slipper orchids do have mind control abilities.

3) Nip/Tuck — In one of many salacious and ridiculous episodes (but that’s why I watch the show), the principal characters visit an eccentric surgeon who has long-retired to focus on breeding orchids. Amongst the usual Phalaenopsis (probably bought at the local Home Depot in Burbank or Studio City), there was a slipper orchid someplace in the background.  Interestingly, someone on the writing crew knew how hybridization was done, as the surgeon’s butler followed the doctor around from flower to flower with a tray holding what appeared to be toothpicks.

British upper crust, world-domination megalomaniacs, eccentric surgeons, and Hollywood writers — obviously slipper orchids do get around. Now, if only someone will write a whole movie featuring a slipper orchid! Those orchid hunter adventures from the 1800s could easily have as much greed, lust, drama, and blood to satisfy any big-picture audience longing for something action packed and intelligent.

Hmm, that’ll be for my next trip to Hollywood.

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I recently came across an article about a study, published in the journal Neuroscience, that describes an interesting experiment researchers performed on lab mice. The scientists treated the mice with a common soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, and observed that their brains acted similarly to receiving anti-depressant drugs. Apparently, something about the bacterium causes the body to release serotonin, a compound that performs a variety of jobs in the body, including affecting mood.

OK, so maybe this will motivate some of us to repot some orchids. But all the mood gains I might get from repotting plants can easily be crushed by finding that one of my large sanderianums or other plants has lost all of its roots. I’m not sure any bacteria can help with that.

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Pouch People (i.e., slipper orchid aficionados) are unusually addicted to their orchids. Within the varied world of slipper orchids, there are “specialists” who focus on particular types.

Parvi lovers are obsessed with plants in the Parvisepalum group (micranthum, armeniacum, malipoense, emersonii, delenatii, vietnamense, hangianum) and their hybrids

Brachy collectors grow those in the Brachypetalum group (bellatulum, concolor, niveum, wenshanense, godefroyae) and their hybrids.

Multifloral devotees — self-explanatory… P. sanderianum, P. rothschildianum, P. lowii, P. stonei, etc. dominate this group.

Complex lovers — go for the standard/”bulldog” plants. While there are ~90 known naturally occurring species, thousands of complex hybrids exist, and they draw only from a subset of the known species, yet incredible and amazing forms have been produced by dedicated breeders and their genetic palettes.

P. rothschildianum nuts — It is really hard to understand the compulsions of this group of collectors. The prices people will pay may seem exorbitant to more “normal” collectors, but they make a kind of perverse sense to denizens of this niche. Seeing a spectacular rothschildianum in full bloom is like experiencing a masterpiece of art. Almost sublime. (Yes, I am a roth nut.)

Album collectors — the most rarefied sphere of the slipper universe, perhaps of the whole orchid universe. A single plant of a rare albinistic form  of a species can easily be worth more than many nice collections. Some of these albinistic (i.e., almost or completely lacking in color pigmentation) plants are exceedingly rare, and in some instances only one or two plants are known to exist.

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The slipper orchid world is endlessly fascinating: slipper orchid flowers are simply among the most impressive in nature — and their collectors among the most obsessive.

P. Pacific Shamrock ‘Luminous’

At an orchid conference last year, someone referred to me and fellow slipper enthusiasts as “Pouch People”. I didn’t realize that lovers of other orchid genera thought of slipper folk as a practically separate (sub-?) species of human, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Maybe we Pouch People are more passionate about our plants since they typically cost so much more than, say, garden-variety Phals or Dendrobiums.

On my ongoing journey into the slipper orchid world, I have:

• experienced exquisite beauty
• agonized over struggling plants
• cried at the compost heap
• met some really interesting people
• met some really irritating people
• made some great friends
• felt great joy at watching living things thrive under my care

…and learned a few things which I hope will be useful to readers of this blog.

This is my first blog (and to my knowledge the only blog dedicated to slippers). Since this is new, I’ll leave comments off for now. But please do email any questions or thoughts to orchids - at - paphinessorchids - dot - com (the weird email formulation is to foil the spam bots’ email collection efforts).

By way of background: I am an owner of Paphiness Orchids (www.paphinessorchids.com), where we specialize in Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums. We offer both species and hybrids in all sizes, from flasks to multigrowth blooming size.

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