Well, this plant is living up to its name. I guess it has settled into its
new home, because now it is filling the entire top floor of my house with
its fragrance.

This is the plant that is a puzzle. I discussed it with the vendor on
Sunday, and he reports he bought it, among dozens of others, as a seedling
in a 7.5 cm pot (about 3 inches) about a year and a half ago. I can see no
scars that would be present on any division, and I can see no trace of a
previous inflorescence, so I must assume he is telling the truth, as far as
he knows it, when he says these are first bloom seedlings. I know this guy
and he seems as honest as they come. Except for the size of these plants,
the plants are consisten with his description of them, and he didn't seem to
know why they are as big as they are.

He has potted it on at least a couple times since now the plant is huge and
looks crowded in a 20 cm pot. He did have some from the same batch that
produced three inflorescences in their first bloom, but he'd sold them
almost the moment he unpacked them at the COOS show.

What makes this even more of a mystery is that the general pattern I heard
described at Sunday's SOOS meeting was that this year most growers had
trouble with most of their plants because of higher than normal temperatures
and lower than normal humidity. Is there anything in the ecology of the
parents of Sharry Baby that might account for this incredile growth rate and
enthusiasm for blooming? The inflorescences on mine each are about 1 metre
tall with over 75 flowers each!

I am interested in hearing abut the ecology of these things, and anything
that gives an indication of how fast these things can grow (both mean growth
rates and variation about these means).

While the flowers themselves don't appeal to me as much as those of phals,
dends and catts, the overall display is as impresive as the scent, and I am
curious about the nature (ecology) of this plant.

PS: I now have access to abpo, so if anyone has pictures of Cymbidiums, and
can comment briefly on the form, color and scent of the flowers in
comparison with phals, dends and catts (my favourites so far, because I like
large, colorful, fragrant flowers), and perhaps their ecology, a post or two
would be appreciated. I have done some searches on it, and I am curious
about them. My interest developed as a result of seeing unusually healthy
(for Home Depot - they actually seemed healthy rather than half dead)
cymbidiums at Home Depot, with flower buds the size of the flower buds
currently on my unusually vigorous dend. Except for my Zga, I seem to have
been extremey lucky in the plants I've found to buy.

Cheers,

Ted

--
R.E. (Ted) Byers, Ph.D., Ed.D.
R & D Decision Support Solutions
http://www.randddecisionsupportsolutions.com/
Healthy Living Through Informed Decision Making