Although I have been trying to grow orchis for close to a year, I just got
my first Paph. Sunday. I find the label hard to read, but it looks like
Paph. delenatii x moquetianum. It is the 'moquetianum' part of the name
that is particularly hard to read. If it would help to know what the flower
looks like, it is a bit larger than the flowers on my Phal. amabilis, with
what I suppose is the normal paph shape. I find the anatomy a bit odd in
that I am not sure which are the petals and which are the sepals; and I am
not sure why I only see four rather than six petals and sepals (combined
total). But be that as it may, they are all about the same length and
width, and al but the slipper being wavey rather than flat. The base colour
is white, but there is enough pink to purple veining (well, the pattern I
see looks like the veins on other plants I have seen) to make the flower to
look pink from a distance, with the slipper being significantly lighter than
the rest, and whatever that structure is covering the column (well, here too
the description assumes there is a column in a position similar to the
location of the column in phals) is varying from burgundy at the tip to very
light pink at its base, with no apparent pattern. I noticed on the way home
from the SOOS meeting that the edges and back of the flower and the
inflorescence has a lot of very short fine hair, like peach fuzz.

The leaves are mottled light and dark green, with a dark burgundy on the
underside close to the centre of the plant, and the shape there is similar
to that in phals, except that it looks flatter while most of my phals there
look more rounded. And the leaves are similar in shape to those of the
phals apart from being more pointed.

When I showed this acquisition to one of the other vendors he immediately
recognised it, so I'd assume this cross is quite common, and he thought it
may have been a compot since there are two growing points, but he thought
they'e too far apart to be from the same plant. I think, though, that if it
was a compot, the smaller one is likely to be an inferios weakling because
it is much smaller than the one in bloom, although they both have five
leaves,with the one in bloom growing another leaf. Therefore, I think I'd
be happier if the smaler growth is just a new growth produced by the larger
one. If it was a compot, wouldn't they both be the same age and thus the
same size? But at that, he said the only way to know for certain is to
repot it, which I don't want to do until the last flower has faded.

Both he and the vendour I bought it from said I should treat it like I treat
my phals, and that it probably wouldn't like the conditions my catts like.
Both said it is easy to grow. But this is not enough guidance. With only a
couple exceptions, my catts couldn't be happier, putting up lots of new
pseudobulbs and growing like crazy. But my phals seem to be stagnating.
Only a seedling, that I bought as a first bloom seedling early this year, is
putting up a new leaf. And I have a total of three phal keikis on two
plants, the largest of which is as big as the first bloom seedling, but I am
beginning to be concerned since none of the keikis have put out roots, in
marked contrast to the dend keikis that I've been blessed with. So, I am
not sure that I have my phal culture quite right yet. I haven't lost any
lately, but I haven't seen new growth yet either, and apart from a couple
very recent acquisitions all have been repotted and had apparently healthy
roots.

I have some questions about this paph. I see two flowers, with a bud
developing for a third. should I assume, then, that it is a sequential
bloomer? If so, about how many is it likely to produce. When it is clearly
done blooming, should the inflorescence be removed or will it rebloom on the
old inflorescence when it is ready to bloom again? Will it want to be
wetter or dryer than the phals, and will it like the same potting material?
Is it a terrestrial, like the related cypripediums, or an epiphyte like most
phals? Or something else?

Cheers,

Ted