Second candidate for this month is a Rhynchobrassoleya Raingreen's Hawaiian Serenade (Rhyncholaeliocattleya Hawaiian Prominence x Brassavola nodosa). 

Rhynchobrassoleya Raingreen's Hawaiian Serenade was originated and registered by J. Hill in 2023.

Rhyncholaeliocattleya Hawaiian Prominence is cross between Rlc. Hisako Akatsuka and C. Wendy's Redstone and registered by Kodama in 2000.

Previous Awards:

There are no AOS awards for this cross.

There are 2 AOS awards for Rhyncholaeliocattleya Hawaiian Prominence.

There are 66 AOS awards for Brassavola nodosa. 

Description:

The candidate has 3 flowers on two up to 17-cm inflorescences and growing in 11-cm clear plastic pot in bark mix.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 12.0 cm;                   NS V - 11.5 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.6 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 6.3 cm;

Petal W - 2.6 cm;               Petals L - 5.8 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 1.8 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 6.0 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 3.3 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 5.6 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This plant as presented seems to have a desire to grow big and strong but appears to be afflicted with a severe scale infection perhaps including a surreptitious viral infection.

Should be virus tested. I would not judge it.

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

What an exciting direction in breeding.  I like the contrast between the sepals, petals and lip.  The vibrant yellow in the throat is very eye catching.  I don't like the slight flush of fuchsia in the sepals.  It gives it a muddy appearance.  The petals have different shape from flower to flower.  The presentation of the sepals and petals is very nice.  Flower count is low favoring the Hawaiian Prominence.  Size is good.  Given the high quality of awards with both parents, it is difficult to award this plant, but I would be very happy to take this home and enjoy it's unique look.

Jay Balchan (Immediate Past AOS President; Student Judge, Alamo Judging Center)

The first thought that comes to mind for me seeing this hybrid is “cool”.  What a fun mix of colors and patterns from the petal to sepal color contrast, to the fun color combinations on both the inside and outside of the trumpet lip including the strong spotting and light ruffling. It also looks like a very hearty and free blooming hybrid.

The flowers have a combination of deficiencies such as color breaks on the petals and poor petal form which would, in my opinion, cause it to be screened for flower quality judging.  But this would be a great plant to have in a collection and display in the house because of the whimsical color contrasts and combinations. 

Paul Wetter (Senior Judge, West Palm Beach Judging Center)

Thanks for submitting this very interesting plant Rlc. Raingreen’s Hawaiian Serenade. 

This hybrid has a heritage with great potential. The color is very good with interesting variation between sepals and petals and the lip has a wonderful complimentary colors and pattern. I don’t think it is a candidate for judging at this time due to the significant color breaks especially on the distal petals. Would like to see it again if this resolves with future growth.

Best Regards

Paul Wetter

Joe Bryson (Accredited Judge, Florida North-Central Judging Center)

I think this is an interesting cross and I would like to see more cultivars of this. The form is pleasing and the color pattern unique. The brilliant colors are spread over the flower, spread out by the nodosa. Unfortunately for me, the somewhat rare spotting from the nodosa seems random and causes the red color to look inconsistent over the flower, like the red spray missed some areas. Based on the flat, stellate form and unique color pattern, I would give this cultivar an HCC to get things started for this grex. I'm a sucker for nodosa crosses, always unique with many color variations.

Regards, Joe

Emily Quinn (Accredited Judge, Dallas Judging Center)

I believe I will pass this cross. While it meets expectation on size and flower count, color is not pleasing to me. The yellow throat is nice, as is the rest of the lip, but the irregular spotting on the petals is a distraction and the loss of red coloration a disappointment.

Emily Quinn

Christian Carrillo (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

While the plant has respectable form and symmetry in the sepals, the irregular twisting of the petals is distracting and not necessarily of award quality.  I also like the color of the petals but I find the spotting on the petals very irregular and distracting.  The lip is the candidate's best feature: it is full and wonderfully colored with pleasing and harmonious spots; the magenta halo around the piece of the lip frames it very nicely as well.  I would like the candidate more if the sepals were not blushed magenta and instead were a pure yellow color, similar to the richness of the lip.  I appreciate seeing the candidate but I would not nominate it to be pointed. 

Steve González-Costa (Accredited Judge, Chicago Judging Center)

Very interesting irregular pattern and strong coloring of the lip. Looking at overall size of the overall flower and segments they seem to 10-20% bigger (geometric mean) than the parents. Unfortunately, in good nodosa tradition, they twisting is irregular although not as dominant (more slight), the only exception is the lip that seems to be smallish, but color is fantastic and it doesn’t seem to detract by being very disproportional to the rest of the flower segments. 3 flowers on two seems ok. This is definitely a trend with more to come, we might call them ‘Harlequin nodosa hybrids’. I gave it a shot, nominated it and scored it a 76 HCC and maybe the flower might still be irregular from flower to flower, but might be even bigger of the plant is bigger and stronger and blooms more profusely.

Exhibitor - Sergey and Elena Skoropad (Accredited Judges, Northeast Judging Center, NJ)

Grower's Advice

We received this plant from Kim Feddersen, Fair Orchids, NJ, two years ago. I'm not sure how many plants of this cross he had so I didn't see any blooms of this cross. This is very interesting combination of red Cattleya and white nodosa and we were very excited to see the first blooms. We will definitely bring it to the judging next time if plant will bloom with a more flowers! 

Like all our plants, we keep this Rhynchobrassoleya outside during the summer and inside the house during the winter. I start to use LED lights two years ago (from Home Depot) to provide good light for most of our orchids. The biggest challenge is to water plants in the winter. Because air is very dry in the house during winter months I have to water most of the plants twice a week. I fertilize all plants weekly during a summer and biweekly in the winter.