Trader Joes is getting some dendrobriums from Yamamoto in Hawaii that
are patented. One is Den Sea Mary 'Snow King'. This is a beautiful,
pure white, easy-to-bloom orchid.

Although I don't like buying patented orchids, I think that respecting a
patent is respecting all the cost and effort that went into the research
and development of the item. If one produced a pure blue cattleya that
glowed in the dark; thus, he/she would want to obtain a patent, etc. for
it to limit the quantity and keep the price up. (This is what CITIES
does to a certain extent -- it prohibits certain paphs and phrags from
coming into the country, making them scarce so that they are very
pricey. And, if you are one of the fortunate ones who has a good
specimen; i.e. Paph sanderiana, then you have a corner on the market via
such documents that outlaw the flood of the imported species into the
marketplace).

Armstrong and Jackson & Perkins have had patents on roses since I can
remember. There are other types of plants that are sold with patent
notices as well. But, in as far as orchids go, I think that some orchid
growers are going to the trouble of mericloning and gene-splicing to the
extent of interjecting a third (3N) set of chromosomes that sometimes
make the plant sterile. Many 3N hybrids out there will produce pods,
but one allows the pod to go to maturity only to find the seeds sterile.

.. . . Pam
Everything Orchid Management System
http://www.pe.net/~profpam/page3.html

--------------------------------------------------

Al wrote:

Here is what Terry Glancy of Pine Ridge Orchids wrote about "Lave Glow" in
the International Phalaenopsis Alaince email digest in March. Terry is the
originator of the plant that Twyford Labs clones and markets as Lava Glow to
producers who sell them to Home Depot:

Terry wrote:
"Harmony Rose" is my plant of (Ken Peterson X Mama Cass) 'Pine Ridge 6'
(patent pending) and "Lava Glow" is Baldan
Orchids' (Buddha's Treasure X pulcherrima) 'Lava Glow'. I have been trying
to "persuade" them to at least put the
"commercial name" in double quotes so that buyers might realize the
"commercial name" has nothing to do with the
RHS/AOS registered grex names.

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
Pat,

Funny you should mention Twyford's Lava Glow.....I started this discussion
because at the Home Depot in Reston there is a cart of out of bloom Phal
Lava Glow for 1/2 price. They have a Twyford's tag with the "don't you
even
think about trying to make a copy of this plant" warning.

So they have patented a plant that Home Depot can't sell for 1/2 price
grin. Ok they are out of bloom but look amazingly well. I had to
look....it's like a car accident on the highway and you have to slow down
and check it out.

Now what I find really interesting is that they haven't even registered
Lava
Glow on the RHS database? Furthermore, they don't have any particular
clone
of Lava Glow indicated on the tag!

Good Growing,
Gene