Cymbidium Stephanie Kristo (Cym. Pinata Magic x Cym. Kirby Lesh) was originated by P. R. Pujol and registered by Virginia Kristo in 2025.

Cymbidium Pinata Magic was originated and registered by Orchid Royale in 2008 and this is the cross between Cym. Polka Magic and Cym. Pinata Royale. 

Cymbidium Kirby Lesh was originated by A. Easton and registered by Torrance Cym. Soc. in 1996 and this is the cross between Cym. Pink Champagne and Cym. Red Beauty.

Cymbidium Stephanie Kristo has several Cymbidium species in the background, however main species are Cym. insigne - 35.4 %, Cym. lowianum - 15.7%, and Cym. hookerianum - 9.4%.

Previous Awards:

There is no AOS awards for this cross. 

There is no AOS awards for Cymbidium Pinata Magic as well. 

There are four AOS awards for Cym. Kirby Lesh: three awards for Cym. Kirby Lesh 'Cinnabar' and one for Cym. Kirby Lesh 'Andy's Star'.

Also, there are three AOC (Australian Orchid Council) awards for Cym. Kirby Lesh.

Description:

The candidate plant has 8 flowers on one 55-cm inflorescence. 

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 12.0 cm;                   NS V - 11.0 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 4.2 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 6.0 cm;

Petal W - 3.4 cm;               Petals L - 6.0 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 3.6 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 6.2 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 3.6 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 3.8 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

A casual perusal of Cym. Tethys, a great grandparent of the present candidate, fails to disclose much, if any improvement, low these many years, despite multiple permutations.

This ancestor garnered three JC's from the AOS, two AD's from the Cymbidium Society (R.I.P.).While hummingbirds might swoon over it and Santa Barbara Costco and Lowes might sell many as nice pot plants,  the low flower count alone should mitigate an AOS flower award on this bloom .A culture award in a few years is certainly possible.

Al Messina

Kris Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Beautiful color and markings. Love the lip, and column, they really add interest.  Size is a little low, flower count is a little low, petals are narrow and make the flowers look a little more open.  some flowers show irregularities in form and extra tissue. presentation is a little crowded.  Lovely plant that I would gladly take home and enjoy but would pass on awarding. 

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

A very beautiful Cymbidium and with what I see in judging’s recently, I wonder if we are returning to a renewed interest in hybridizing and improving Cymbidiums in North America?  Looking at the only parent that has documented data and photos, Cym. Kerby Lesh (I abbreviate to ‘KL’), there are pluses and minuses.  The flowers at first seem good size, very distinct in their petal stripping and sepal spotting pattern, the lip clearly shows more and broader color saturation that with KL.  Not as good, maybe the flowers present themselves well, but are a bit crowded on the inflorescence. The awarding of KL ‘Cinnabar’ and its photos or lack of photos present another conundrum that make’s me ask and speculate more things than see answers.  The flowers of KL were bigger (maybe not as smooth) and as I wrote down and compared the subject flower to KL, KL is around a centimeter bigger in every respect and maybe that is only 17-20% more (6 vs. 7.2 cm, 3.6 vs 5.3 cm), but very consistent. It seems that KL got larger over the years from the data seen in OrchidPro, and we see we cannot trust color as the photos vary.  Quantity for Cym. Stephanie Kristo is a few flowers less than KL (11 to and outlier of 19 flowers per inflorescence) with our only comparison point.  Looking at the plant, it seems small and/or young.  All of this points to one thing in my mind, the potential might be there, so maybe with good culture the DNA will show for this terrific flower.  I also want to point out that one (only one) of the photos shows a flower of Cym. Stepahanie Kristo that is inconsistent with some clips, notches on the top of the petals, as team captain or judging or show chair make sure that this doesn’t appear on any photos to detract from the other good flowers if it ‘were’ to get awarded.  My final is that I do not nominate but encourage the owner to help this beautiful flower reach its’ full potential in the future – it’s within its’ reach.

Mike Arwari (Student Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

 Description:

The candidate plant has eight flowers on one 55cm inflorescence.

The measurements are as follows:

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 12.0 cm;                   NS V - 11.0 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 4.2 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 6.0cm;

Petal W - 3.4 cm;               Petals L - 6.0 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 3.6 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 6.2 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 3.6 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 3.8 cm

The dorsal sepals are oblong with porrect tips. The lateral sepals are oblong with reflexed tips. The margins are smooth. The petals are oblong and reflexed at the tips. The margins are smooth.

The sepals and petals have a light red color, interspersed with magenta dots. The sepals and petals have dark medial veins. The background color is white.

The lip is a dark red with diffuse white centrally. The column has very dark magenta markings.

Flower Assessment:

While the plant is well grown, the flowers are crowded and not evenly spaced. The sepals and petals are directionally challenged. The flowers lack a roundness. The color is attractive.

At this time I would not consider this to be a candidate for an award.

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

Thank you for submitting this very interesting new hybrid Cym. Stephanie Kristo.  

This is a well grown plant with flowers resembling and influenced by it parents, Cym. Kirby Lesh, one parent has been awarded, as you pointed outing has a nice form and deep color. The flowers of this  Stephanie Kristo shows  less color saturation and fullness of form. The lip does have an interesting pattern and coloration. It seems like there is strong influence from Cym. insigne for color, with form improvements is past breeding.  This looks like an area of Cymbidium breeding with very good potential and I would like to see this plant with subsequent blooms. I don't have a lot of Cymbidium experience, so am interested is what others think about this. If judged for quality would expect a mid HCC, but may improve with subsequent blooming. 

Best Regards

Paul Wetter

Jay Balchan (Student Judge, Alamo Judging Center)

We do not see a lot (basically none!) of standard Cymbidiums in central Texas, so I have no personal experience in either growing or judging these, so my comments are going to be based off of just this observation and comparisons to what I find in OrPro. 

 My initial impression is that this is a very lovely flower, extremely colorful and well flowered as compared to the size of the plant. If this plant can produce the volume of flowers on this spike, imagine what it can do when it is mature with a dozen growths! 

 As for awardability, again, I don't grow these and we don't see them in the Alamo JC, so my reference is OPro and prior awards.  There are no awards to this grex yet. Nor are there any awards to the Pinata Magic parent nor either of its parents (polka magic, pinata royale)!  That makes this plant an especially challenging one to judge without knowing the current standards of red Cymbidium breeding. 

The other parent, Kirby Lesh, has three flower quality awards, the newest being a 77 pt HCC from 12 years ago.  That plant had 11 flowers on one spike which was 1.5cm larger vertically and horizontally.  The color of the awarded flower was much less spotted and a very pleasing lavender/purple.  The shape of the awarded flower is a bit better than the subject flower (larger lateral sepals, less reflexing on the segments, smoother edges).

 So if I scored this plant as compared to one of the parents 77 HCC from 12 years ago, I would give it a point or two less for color (prefer the solid color as opposed to spotting, a few points less for shape, a point less for size, a couple of points less for flower count) and it would end up not reaching a 75.

 As mentioned previously, this is an impressive spike as compared to the plant itself and I would like to see this back after it blooms on a more robust plant. 

Josephine deBeaubien (Associate Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

I really do like to color and pattern of the sepals and petals, and the lip is quite stunning.  Looking at the parents, I could not find a photo of Cym. Pinata Magic so it is difficult to see how that parent influenced this cross. However, there are several international awards for Cym. Kirby Lesh. See the details from OrchidWiz below. Our candidate plant appears to be young with one inflorescence with eight flowers. I would ask the grower to bring it back on the next bloom.

Barbara Putko (Student Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Cym. Pinata Magic x Cym. Kirby Lesh

Description:

The candidate plant has 8 flowers on one 55-cm inflorescence. 

 The candidate shows very nicely in shape and form, dorsal sepal is broad full and flat, recurved to the back petals along with the lateral petals are also broad and flat.  The appearance is very open but the tips of the petals are all curving to the back.  The coloration of the flower is attractive and eye-catching.  The deep cherry red of the lip draws your eye into the base of the flower to the burgundy speckling.

 I like the rose coloring of the petals highlight with the white background and along the margins. The deep rose longitutional speckled lined along the segments with the deep center rib line all come together meeting at the lip.  All-in-all a very nice flower.

 With that being said, there is only one inflorescence with 8 flowers.  The awarded parent, Cym. Kirby Lesh in OP shows from 11, 16, 22 and 85 flowers – with much larger flowers than ours.

 I searched for progeny of Cym. Pinanta Magic and found Cym. Sylvia Darr which gave me flowers of a similar size but more inflorescences and more flowers.

 Looking at the candiate, although the flowers are eye-catching in color, there is some mechanical damage to some.  I would like to see more inflorescenses on the candidate.

 Barbara Putko

Dave Off (Waldor Orchids, NJ www.waldor.com)

I hate to be "that guy", but first impression is that this plant is too immature to score at this time. I would expect that it could not only grow up "a bit", but actually get significantly larger. 

 Color is really the carrying factor here. Saturation is fantastic across the board. For me. the petals could be wider and the lip shape is just OK. 

 If we are, like the AOS states, judging what is in front of us, I'd pass. If this plant was grown to a large size and displayed with a large stem of flowers, I could get to a mid HCC, but probably not an AM.

 That being said, if it was my plant, I would keep it and enjoy it, it is a lovely bloom. Perhaps if it bloomed out great one year, I would show it. There are many plants in the collection that hit this category, where they have some particular attribute that catches the eye, but some of the other parts need to catch up.

Dave Off