Candidate for this month is a Cattleya Oprah Winfrey 'Chadwick' (Cattleya Kittiwake x Cattleya Prism Palette). 

Cattleya Oprah Winfrey was originated by M. Matthews and registered by Chadwick & Son in 2007. This cross has many Cattleya species in the background, including - C. mossiae - 28.9%, C. warscewiczii - 16.2%, C. trianae - 15.6%,  C. dowiana - 15%...

Previous Awards:

There are no AOS award for this cross.

There are no AOS award for Cattleya Kittiwake.

There are 9 AOS award for Cattleya Prism Palette, the latest in 2024.

Description:

The candidate plant has 2 flowers on one 24-cm staked inflorescence. Plant is 55-cm wide by 27-cm tall and growing in 14-cm clear plastic pot in bark mix. 

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 16.4 cm;                   NS V - 18.2 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 3.5 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 8.5 cm;

Petal W - 7.8 cm;               Petals L - 8.8 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 3.3 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 7.8 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 6.0 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 9.5 cm.

Judges' Comments

Judie Armstrong (Associate Judge, Florida North-Central Judging Center)

Cattleya Oprah Winfrey has beautiful color.  I like the contrast in color between the sepals and petals.  The distal tip of the dorsal sepal reflexes back.  The petals are full and heavily ruffled.  It looks like the ruffling causes the distal margins to reflex back.  The lip is large and ruffled.  The flower could certainly be called full and round.  It is flat except for the areas of ruffling.  It is larger in size than the 9 awards to the C. Prism Palette parent.  As stated there are no awards to the C. Kittiwake parent.  I found a picture on Orchid roots and it is a large semi-alba flower.  I would recommend this for scoring.  I would score it as a mid to low AM.

Thank you,

Judie

Josephine deBeaubien (Associate Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

I really like the color patterning in this Cattleya. The sepals have a pleasing form, and while the petals are attractive, they are somewhat recurved. The lip is especially beautiful, with sidelobes that nearly enclose the column.

I was only able to locate a few photographs of C. Kittiwake and based on those it appears to be a medium-sized flower. Our candidate plant seems slightly larger than the average awarded C. Prism Palette. One flower on the candidate plant also appears somewhat lighter in color than the other, which makes me wonder if it may be older.

At this point, I would probably pass and encourage the grower to bring the plant back on its next blooming. That said, I would not be opposed to scoring the plant, and I think it would likely fall within HCC range.

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This candidate has nice color which will sell well at the box stores.

The severe recurving (to 180 degrees) precludes any flower award.

Perhaps a future culture award, if continued good growth.

Mike Arwari (Student Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

Description:

The candidate plant has two flowers on one staked inflorescence, The plant is 55 cm wide and 27 cm tall. The measurements of the flower are as follows:

N S H 16.4 cm                        N S V 18.2 cm

Dorsal Sepal W 3.5 cm           L 8.5 cm

Petal W 7.8 cm                       L 8.8 cm

Lat. Sepal W 3.3 cm               L 7.8 cm

Lip  W     6.0 cm                     L 9. 5 cm

Sepals ovate; reflexed; indented; margins smooth; color pale blue. Petals orbicular; reflexed; yellow patch medially; light yellow proximally; white striations; lip dark red; bi lobed; frilly undulating margins; yellow proximally with white veins; mid lobe fuchsia; column white; bi lobed.

Flower Assessment:

Individually, this is a beautiful flower! The color combination is eye catching. The petals with their fuchsia color with a splash of yellow centrally is attractive. The dark fuchsia lip with its frilly margins and proximal yellow is its crowning feature.

My concern is the crowding of the flowers. Would the petals be straight if it was an individual flower?  Are the petals reflexed because of the crowding or because of the trait inherited from its parents?

This flower has caused some conflict! I will give it a HCC of 77

Ginna Plude (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

I always find it interesting to see hybrids come for judging that are relatively old crosses, in this case 19 years since it was registered, with no award history.  At first look the plant has a very attractive lip, and the yellow eyes on the petals make a nice contrast to the light fuchsia petals.  Unfortunately, what next catches my eye is the extreme 'veininess' of the petals, and the extent to which they are reflexed, giving the appearance of being floppy/poor substance.  

We have nothing to go on for the unawarded parent Kittiwake, but it is notable that neither grandparent has been awarded either.  C. Prism Palette appears to be a fairly robust-looking flower, as is the grandparent C. Horace.  The candidate does not seem to have inherited that robustness and has much more fenistration happening. 

While I suppose it could be pointed, I expect it would get a lower HCC.  I don't think I myself would nominate the plant for scoring.

Ginna

Gail Kronick (Student Judge, Pacific South Judging Center)

Wow, what a beautiful bloom! The lip on this plant is just stunning with the yellow in the throat contrasting beautifully with the deeply saturated pink at the distal end and a light pink picotee making the whole lip look like it’s glowing! I also love the splashed and veined petals. The size of the flower is also remarkable. The awarded parent, C. Prism Palette, has an average horizontal NS of 13.6 cm and average vertical NS of 15.9 cm, compared to the candidate plant’s NS H of 16.4 cm x NS V of 18.2 cm. There is, however, severe reflexing of the petals, and the sepals are curled at the edges with browning/damage at the apices. This could suggest that the blooms may be past their prime. I would score this plant as a low to middle HCC and suggest that the grower bring it back earlier in its next blooming cycle so that we can see the flowers in better condition with, hopefully, less reflexing of the petals.

Wayne Wiegand (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This is a pleasant flower with a beautiful lip.

With no awards for Kittiwake, I checked images online and saw some big flowers with broad over lapping white petals and brightly colored broad lips with color patterns very similar to the candidate but most with a white picotee our candidate seems to barely have. Some broad white petals are slightly recurved at the tips but less so than our candidate. There is a strong midrib not visible on our candidate, maybe because of the candidate's midline color pattern.

The other parent has been around since the mid 70s with mostly HCCs and low AMs. Must be a reason for that. The most recent CCM did not produce any flower awards even with that wildly frilly lip with the white picotee and slightly less recurved petals.

With these in mind as I look at the candidate, I note that the petal color is weak, and they are strongly recurved and unlike many of the parents, not overlapping, which can be a blessing or a curse. I also find the white veining in the petals to be visually distracting, plus it further weakens an already weak color. I like pastels but this isn't that. The lip is the best part of this flower but compared to some of the awarded parents, it is smaller and therefore less impressive.

All in all, I would pass on this candidate.

Wayne

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

Thank you for bringing this lovely cross to us. This plant has many of the good characteristics of its parents and has wonderful color and flairs. The form could be improved and I would love to see other samples of this grex come to judging.  I would think at judging it could receive a Low AM award. It is most similar to Prism Palette parent and perhaps others in this grex might bring fuller, flatter form of the Kittiwake parent.

Best Regards

Paul

Deb Jenson (Student Judge, Chicago Judging Center)

Cattleya Oprah Winfrey is a wonderful splashed Cattleya that has bloomed beautifully. The colors are spectacular, with the darker pink petals and the yellow splash offset by the lighter pink sepals. The lip is a real highlight, with the fuchsia on the distal and dowiana veining in the center. It certainly is stunning. The dorsal sepal is fairly upright, not recurved as you see in many of the C. Prism Palette awards. The lateral sepals look to have some slight mechanical damage, and the tips are recurved but not excessive. The petals are recurved and not as full as I'd like. Both the C. Prism Palette and the C. Kittywake have very wide petals, often overlapping at the base. The lip is mostly closed over the column with a slight gap on the left side. The overall size is quite large compared to the awarded C. Prism Palette awards. 

I would likely pass on awarding this due to the form. However, if the team nominated, I would likely score this in the HCC range.

Muthiah Vijayendran (Student Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

The candidate plant, a complex Cattleya hybrid between seed parent Cattleya Kittiwake and pollen parent Cattleya Prism Palette, arrives with only two flowers. Considering the damages on the leaves and the lack of floriferousness, the question is whether the candidate’s flowers are awardable for flower quality. OrchidPro shows the seed parent had never received an AOS award, the pollen parent had gained nine, eight of which were for flower quality. The candidate has a striking aesthetic flower quality on its own. Satin lavender sepals with fine, faint striations frame the petals and the lip, and these striations nicely balance the thicker, uniformly spreading veins on the petals with eye-like lemon center and yellow basal end at the throat. The distal end of the petal has recurved with overlaid crimson. A middle folding line appearing in the back of the petal does not harm the overall frontal appearance. The lip rolled into a tube, slightly overlapping at the base and flares out with ruffled, lacerated margin. A central cleft appears in the distal third of the lip on one of the two flowers, which is velvety crimson while the flared middle is enriched yellow with overlaid crimson striations in the proximal end leading to the column. Hooded anther cap is yellow with cream distally. Although the candidate is visually appealing, it appears more like its awarded pollen parent, but not an improvement over it, e.g., C. Prism Palette ‘Tricolor Magic’. Considering the extremely recurved petals and blemishes on the distal margins of the lateral sepals, it is, in my opinion, not an awardable candidate.

Virginia Kristo (Student Judge, Pacific Central Judging Center)

Cattleya Oprah Winfrey is a striking orchid with excellent coloring throughout.  The lip in particular is notable in its color markings.  When looking at the parents, both C. Kittiwake and C. Prism Palette have notable lip colorations so it is to be expected that attribute would carry over.  

In researching C. Kittiwake, the information was limited.  Since it has not been awarded before there are no measurements.  I don’t have access to Orchid Wiz, so it is possible there is more information available there.

C. Prism Palette has been awarded nine times, the most recent a CCM.  For research purposes, I chose Carnival and Crystal Star. Both plants each had two flowers. In both cases, Oprah Winfrey’s flower is larger flower.  Natural spread of Carnival was the largest at 14.5cm Horizontal and 17.0 Vertical.  Comparing to Oprah Winfrey’s natural spread of 16.4 cm Horizontal and 18.2cm Vertical.  

The presentation of C. Oprah Winfrey is very good with minimal crowding.  Each flower is reasonably flat, although the petals do extend back.  

I would recommend that Cattleya Oprah Winfrey qualify for judging.  I would give it a quality award. Possibly a high HCC to low AM.

Thank you,

Virginia

Barbara Putko (Student Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 16.4 cm;                   NS V - 18.2 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 3.5 cm;    Dorsal Sep. L - 8.5 cm;

Petal W - 7.8 cm;               Petals L - 8.8 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 3.3 cm;       Lat/Sepal L - 7.8 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 6.0 cm;     Lip/Pouch L - 9.5 cm.

Description:

The candidate plant has 2 flowers on one 24-cm staked inflorescence. Plant is 55-cm wide by 27-cm tall and growing in 14-cm clear plastic pot in bark mix.

This grex was registered on May 7, 2007, has yet to be awarded. Looking at the candidate, we have a very nice-looking plant, nicely grown, one inflorescence with 2 very open flowers. Focusing on the upper flower, I see a very large fuchsia-colored petals, with heavily delicate veining, with a dollop of butter yellow in the center petals framing a trumpet lip.  The apex of the lip appears velvety in texture, rich fuchsia leading into egg yolk yellow to pale fuchsia with striations, all with pale lavender veining throughout. The petals are framed with sepals in a triangular setting in delicate lavender.  A very eye-catching colorful plant.

Taking a closer look – there is a wart-like spot on the lower right facing lateral sepal, the tips of the sepals are acuminate and recurve to the back.  They appear to be sensing.  The dorsal sepal also has a bump on the left side, large indentation on the top portion and recurves to the back apically.

The petals are heavily recurved.  You do not see the half of the petal where the rest of the dark fuchsia color is; you just get a glimmer of it.  Looking what was awarded for Cattleya Prism Palette, our candidate is a larger flower compared to the “Crystal Star” HCC/AOS of April 2018.  Compared to “Carnival” AM/AOS of November 2019, it is comparable; both of the awarded flowers had 1 inflorescence and 2 flowers.

Looking in Orchid Roots, at the lineage of the candidate, there are 7 flowers displayed, all similar in shades of color but different in shape.  Our candidate is the parents, and I believe it came in a bit late in its bloom time.  Looking at the back of the flower, you can see the tips of the sepals turning brown; from the front it is hidden under the petal.  If it were to be nominated, the curvature of the petals could be pointable but with the tips of the sepals are sensing; I would have a difficult time scoring the candidate.

Barbara Putko

Student Judge

NEJC

Alejandro Capriles (Accredited Judge, Società Felsinea di Orchidofilia (Felsinean Orchid Society), Bologna, Italy / AOS Judge (retired))

Cattleya Oprah Winfrey.

 C. Kittiwake is a historic semi-alba from Armacost, while C. Prism Palette was a revolutionary grex in its heyday. I would've expected Kittiwake to improve the overall shape while "cleaning" up the petals by intensifying the white surrounding the flares of Prism Palette. The colors in these flowers are quite surprising, but perhaps the fact that C. Kittiwake is 25% C. dowiana may account fir the remarkably intense purple petals.

Be that as it may, the shape is considerably less full than what could be expected from these parents. I would like to see this plant again in a more vigorous flowering, but at this time I would not nominate it for an award.

Arthur Chadwick (Chadwick & Son Orchids, Inc., VA)

Well…as the registrant of this fine hybrid twenty years ago…I highly recommend it!

It was bred by the late, great Plato Mathews who was very much into splash petals at the time.

 What makes this hybrid unique is the darkness of the flower in comparison to its parent, Prism Palette. See attached pic.

 Splash petals are essentially deformities and this hybrid can vary a bit from year to year.

 It’s also interesting how the 1940’s semi-alba stud, Kittiwake,  darkened the flower.

 We cloned the best variety, ‘Chadwick’, and probably sold 1000 of them.

 AC

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

Virtual Award Description

Grower's Advice