This week I would like to present Phalaenopsis Friend's Princess 'E24' (Phal. Leopard Prince x Phal. Friend's Lady) .

Phalaenopsis Friend's Princess was registered by T. Egawa in March 2009.

Previous Awards:

There is no awards for this cross.

There are 12 AOS and 5 other (TOGA and AOC) awards in OrchidPro for Phal. Leopard Prince: latest award - Phal. Leopard Prince 'Red Fox' in May 17, 2014 (Pacific Northwest Judging Center, exhibitor - David A. Edgley).

There is no awards for Phal. Friend's Lady. There are 16 flower awards for Phal. Happy Valentine (15 AOS and 1 AOC, latest award in April 24, 1995), one of the parents of Phal. Friend's Lady, but no other awards for the other parent of Phal. Friend's Lady or either parent of Phal. Leopard Prince.

Description:

Current candidate has 11 flowers and 1 bud on one branched inflorescence.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 8.5 cm; NS V - 8.0 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 2.4 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 4.5 cm;

Petal W - 4.8 cm; Petals L - 4.4 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 2.4 cm; Lat/Sepal L - 4.3 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 2.1 cm; Lip/Pouch L - 3.5 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Eleven flowers and one bud are well displayed on a nicely grown plant. Flower count and size not quite comparable with Phal. Leopard Prince parent (Hwa Yuan Red Leopard FCC 2013). The form and color saturation of the awarded plant are superior and evidence the high bar in Phalaenopsis criteria. I doubt the color in this grex will approach the FCC plant: The few photos of Phal. Friend’s Lady available indicates significantly suboptimal color depth and saturation which might mitigate intensity in the offspring, demonstrated in this candidate. While, in my opinion, the candidate does not presently meet award criteria, it is a very pleasant plant to grow and enjoy, particularly, as suggested, by any windowsill grower. The grower of this plant is doing a nice job: And who knows, next season with a few more flowers...............

Carri Raven (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

It is basically a lovely flower with a nice cascading presentation, but that’s where it ends in my opinion as relates to potential award quality.

It is certainly no improvement over the Leopard Prince parent in either its patterning or form. Its size is neither a full standard 10cm or more nor is it showing the round form we would hope for, creating a beautiful circle with all its segments.

The flower itself is not flat, the lateral sepals flying back, leaving a large gap between them behind the lip. And the lip itself adds nothing to enhance the flower. I also find the dorsal sepal too tall and too narrow in proportion to the rest of the flower with the lateral sepals too narrow, horizontal and pointy to be pleasing.

In addition, its presentation of the flowers on the inflorescence are too widely spaced, leaving too much air between each one, in addition to which the first two flowers not pleasingly positioned.

As a windowsill plant, it could certainly please many with its abundance of flowers & waterfall presentation for which the grower should be commended, but I don’t find it to have any of the qualities that would qualify it for a flower quality award according to AOS judging standards of this type of breeding compared to today’s more advanced hybrids.

Carri

David Edgley (Accredited Judge, Western Canada Judging Center)

This is a lovely and well-flowered pot plant. Leopard Prince is one of my favorite Phalaenopsis and I grow several different clones of it. While an attractive flower, Friend’s Princess lacks the stunning color, patterns, and form of a good Leopard Prince. I would not score this plant. Something to remember about Phalaenopsis, especially when grown in the home - the good ones are those that grow and bloom well year after year. This appears to be one of the good ones, just not award-quality.

David

Deb Bodei (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Phalaenopsis Friend's Princess 'E24' (Phal. Leopard Prince x Phal. Friend's Lady)

Observations

The flower is lovely on this plant with deep burgundy speckling on the lower sepals concentrated basally and then dispersing and becoming finer towards the apices with rose-pink venation at the outer third to the margins. The dorsal sepal and petals have more concentration of rose-pink speckling basally and like the lower sepals, disperse and become finer until the venation takes over and continues to the apices. The lip coloration resembles the lower sepals but also has the right amount of deep yellow-gold to compliment the bloom overall. The color and patterning are no doubt the strong points of this flower and make it quite attractive.

However, the form is not up to standards with current awards for standard Phalaenopsis with petals that fall forward away from the sepals and are not nearly as wide as parent Leopard Prince. Expectations for petals are to be very flat (up against the sepals) on a standard Phalaenopsis with so much amabilis and aphrodite in the parentage, which this cross has.

The natural spread and width of the segments are less than the parents. The arrangement of the inflorescence is a bit ‘off’ at the top of the waterfall. It is likely the awkward position of the branching there. The shingling is quite nice through the rest of the inflorescence. Staking it a bit different early on may have improved this. Lastly, the photo of the entire plant is blurry but it looks like the leaves might be drooping and showing stress. I would have liked to have seen the entire plant clearly, however, condition of the leaves would not preclude a flower award.

Recommendations

Based on the above observations, pointing this flower would not be enough to gain a flower award based on color alone. I would not recommend it for an award but I would certainly like to have it adorning my home.

Thank you,

Deb

Tom Mirenda (Accredited Judge, Hawaii Judging Center)

One of many lovely novelty hybrids likely bred in Taiwan, that are mass cloned and distributed internationally.

There is no question that the advancements in Phalaenopsis breeding have had a huge impact on the orchid world

but have also raised the standards of Phalaenopsis breeding to extraordinary levels of perfection.

I don't want to discourage or discount the presentation of these plants for judging, but fear that these commercially oriented, commoditized plants could completely overrun us. And it seems like the breeders themselves are not interested in THIS kind of recognition for their breeding efforts.

So, what to do with things like this? If growers and importers feel strongly enough about particular clones such as this one, and are willing to submit them to us, we should at least give them consideration. These flowers have nice colors and patterns...with nice peppering of spots descended from Phal. stuartiana breeding.

But I am unconvinced it is groundbreaking for the type of breeding. The form is reasonable....but lateral sepals seem out of the plane....and petals could be proportionally bigger and rounder. For this reason, I don't find this clone to be particularly compelling for an award. The standard is simply too high, and without some really exceptional feature, I can't see awarding every clone that might be presented to the AOS

Kristen Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Standard for these types of phalaenopsis are very high. The color and evenness of the pattern are very nice. Beautiful presentation, branching is bonus. Other than 1 flower, consistency in form and markings is nice. Flower count is a little low. Size is a little small. Flower segments are a little narrow compared to awards of this type - especially in the sepals. The carriage of the lateral sepals is not ideal. It is close, but I would pass on this flowering.

Trevor Yee (Accredited Judge, AOC, Australia)

Colour is very attractive and uniform. I like the speckling radiating from the centre which gives it great appeal. Substance and texture appear to be good. Arrangement of the main inflorescence is uniform and presented well facing outward, however the secondary branch at the top has somewhat spoilt the overall arrangement.

The shape has a few faults - the bottom sepals are all reflexing backwards along with the bottom half of the petals. This has caused the flower to be convexed rather than the preferred flat or slightly concaved ideal. If the petals were larger - it might give the flower a better filled in shape.

Unfortunately, the shape is not of award quality - hence no award on this flowering.

Carrie Buchman (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Phalaenopsis Friend's Princess

This is a beautifully grown and presented plant. The exhibitor has staked the inflorescence well in order to realize the lovely cascade of well tiled flowers. The flower, although pretty, is not exceptional in form or color. I would prefer to see the petals almost touching over the dorsal as they do in the awarded Leonard Prince parent. The flower count on the candidate is in line with the awarded Leopard Prince parent, but are a smaller in overall size. Similarly, for its ancestor Phal. Happy Valentine. Given this I would not nominate it for a flower award.

This appears to still be a relatively young plant with only 4-5 leaves. The presentation is beautiful and certainly indicates good growing. The phots do not provide sufficient information about the health of the plant and with a single inflorescence, I would not nominate it for cultural award.

Kind Regards,

Carrie Buchman

Diana Kleiman (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Surely a lovely thing to have blooming in your window.

It has been some time since we have seen these ‘regular’ phals come to a judging table and so many are now clones.

This one has lovely color, nice fine spots, and appears to be well grown.

However, our judging standards for this type of phal has become so very high. In looking some years back at older awards of this type, the shape of Phalaenopsis Friend's Princess is not quite there. Its size is also a little on the small side. It would not be awardable with current judging criteria.

I do still love to keep a few like this that are reliable bloomers to bright up the house!

Diana Kleiman

Phyllis Prestia (Accredited Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

This is an appealing flower in a good presentation. I wish the branched inflorescent had been staked better in line the main inflorescence. Color and patterning appear to be fairly consistent flower to flower. The flowers are basically flat.

An examination of parents and grandparents reveals that the shape of the flower is not an improvement. The petals are smaller and not as full, creating much of the sepals to be viewed. Overall, the flower size to smaller than I would expect given the breeding. That said, I wouldn’t award it but I wouldn’t kick it off my bench either.

Carol Beule (Accredited Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

I love the color and positioning of the display of these flowers. The patterning is pleasant as well. I do not grow many of these and therefore don't know immediately about the size from simply the stated size of the flowers.

I am in the middle of doing taxes and can't take the time away to look into the size of this flower further. Based on shape, positioning and color, I would ask that this flower be judged. Then research further.... and depending on the size of its respective parents, would either give a flower quality award or at the very least, a JC for attractiveness of color and patterning. Its parents might be far more floriferous, and that would sway my thinking, but if we are simply dealing with what looks to be a complex background 1st bloom seedling, then I think it is award quality (depending on size stats and parental research-which I have not done).

Will Bottoms (Student Judge, Carolinas Judging Center)

Phalaenopsis Friend’s Princess

Impressions:

Quite lovely flowers; I am especially fond of the spotting represented on all segments of the flower. The bright pink suffusions on the petals are particularly nice. The side view angles in the video betray a fault that can also be seen on some of the still images; these flowers are not particularly flat. The lateral sepals in particular seem reflexed to a sharp degree on some of the flowers. The petals also seem to be reaching forward a bit and are not as large as I would expect them to be in relation to the parents/grandparents.

Award(s):

Unfortunately I would not nominate this plant for an award on this blooming.

Thanks,

Will

Exhibitor - Ginna Plude, CT (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Grower's Advice

This particular Phal is still in moss. However the vast majority of my Phals are in semi-hydroponics. I started growing in semi-hydro years ago for two reasons, the medium never breaks down, but also because it greatly decreases the amount of time I have to spend watering! I have over 200 plants in total, so it can take time.

This past summer I put my Phals outside for the entire season. Normally I'd only put them out for a month or so toward fall so they would get their 'chill'. They were protected from direct sun until very late in the day. I found the root growth was phenomenal. Everything gets sprayed with horticultural oil in water before coming indoors. I have LED lights in my basement, with several shelf units, where the majority of my plants stay when not in flower. The basement is unheated so it does get down during the very coldest days to the upper 50's. I water weekly but not all plants get watered each time. With semi-hydro I don't water again until the bottom of the inner pot is dry. I feed every other week with MSU for tap water.

When plants begin to spike in the fall/winter, if they are small or miniature, they will stay under lights until they flower. For my larger Phals, this season especially, I've had to move the spiking plants upstairs to natural light (West or East facing windows) because the height of the spikes won't fit under my lights.

For transplanting into semi-hydro I wait until flowering is over and there is active root tip growth. I trim out any dead or unhealthy roots and pot them up in lecca pebbles. I'll usually keep the plant without the outer pot for a few weeks, watering and letting it drain rather than filling to the fill line. As long as the plant shows no stress I'll then put it in the outer pot and begin watering as usual.