New candidate for this week is this beautiful Jackfowlieara Appleblossom (Caulaelia Snowflake x Rhyncattleanthe Orange Nuggett).

Jackfowlieara Appleblossom was registered by Rod McLellan Co. in 1992. This cross has many species in background, most important are L. albida, Cau. bicornutum, Rl. glauca, Gur. aurantiaca, C. dowiana, C. rex and many other.

Jackfowlieara Appleblossom is also called Iwanagaara Appleblossom.

Previous Awards:

There are 35 AOS awards for this cross (after all 3 genera, current and old names - Jackfowlieara, Iwanagaara and leonara) combined all together). Clone 'Barbara Latza' CCM/AOS (85 pts), April 20, 2019 is the latest award.

Description:

The candidate plant has 32 flowers and 8 buds on 6 staked inflorescences up to 25 cm tall (6, 7, 6, 8, 7, 6 flowers and buds on each inflorescence). Plant is 78 cm wide and 45 cm tall (including inflorescences). I found that color of the lip is different from other awarded clones.

Flower Measurements:

NS H - 8.3 cm; NS V - 8.5 cm;

Dorsal Sep. W - 1.5 cm; Dorsal Sep. L - 4.7 cm;

Petal W - 2.8 cm; Petals L - 4.3 cm;

Lat/Sepal W - 1.5 cm; Lat/Sepal L - 4.5 cm;

Lip/Pouch W - 2.5 cm; Lip/Pouch L - 3.7 cm.

Judges' Comments

Al Messina (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Forty average flowers and buds presented mostly on one side of the plant on six staked erect inflorescences; flower arrangement suggests late staking; plant condition suboptimal with many (?) sunburned foliage areas suggesting cultural challenges. At least 35 AOS awards to Jkf and Iwanagaara combined, about one third AM's, one third HCC's and the rest CCM's (all with far more flowers than the present candidate) and one JC. While this plant, with some judicial grooming and appropriate staking, will, in my opinion, continue to grow and be a potential future contender for a culture and possibly flower award, it is not presently awardable.

Kristen Mason (Accredited Judge, Cincinnati Judging Center)

Nice white flowers I really like the apical flush. Beautiful color to the lip. Nice consistency in lip shape and presentation. Slightly cupped. Slightly crowded. Long narrow segments give a more open flower. Slightly low on flower count per inflorescence when compared to the 35 awarded clones. There is some asymmetry to the dorsal and inconsistency in the stance from dorsal to dorsal. While this is a very nice flowering, it is just outside of award range.

Carrie Buchman (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Jackfowlieara Appleblossom.

A well flowered plant with flowers that differ in coloring from previous awards. It also has a more stellate form that previous awards with narrower, more lanceolate petals and sepals. The lip has nice color, markings and shape, and is also a bit smaller than other awarded clones. Overall, the natural spread is on par with other flower quality awards.

The flowers are bit crowded on some inflorescence, but none the less make for an eye-catching display.

Several leaves are notably marred, perhaps with sunburn and the flowers are only on one side of the plant. Several flowers have jagged superior petal margins. This appears to be limited to a couple of flowers, but its cause is unclear. So I would not nominate this candidate for a cultural award on this flowering.

I also would not nominate for a flower quality awards, but if asked to score it would score it as a low to perhaps mid HCC.

Deb Boersma (Student Judge, Great Lakes Judging Center)

Jackfowlieara Appleblossom.

A very nice flower on a healthy plant with pristine white colour on petals and sepals, the lip adding some nice contrast with the lavender margin and yellow throat and the callus ridge with red stripes. The form is good, the flowers appear flat, it looks symmetrical. The flowers are well arranged on the inflorescence and presented nicely above the foliage. I would have liked to see the sepals and petals a little wider to give the flower a fuller appearance, there is some incurving of the dorsal sepal margins. Looking at the previous awarded plants and averages for the HCC and the AM awarded plants, a total of five awards, our candidate has a smaller natural spread and the petal width is narrower 2.8 cm versus 4.0 cm for the average, likewise the dorsal is 1.5 cm compared to 2.0 cm and the lateral sepal is 1.5 cm compared to 3.2 cm. The awarded flowers have a fuller, rounder form.

Although it is a beautiful plant, it does not have a full, round form and the flowers are smaller than other awarded plants I would have to say that I would not nominate it for a quality award.

In terms of a cultural award, it is not nearly as floriferous as other three awarded plants that received CCMs, 137 flowers, 127 flowers and 95 flowers. It looks like this cross can be quite floriferous, I think it would be a candidate for a cultural award in the future.

Deborah Bodei (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Jackfowlieara Appleblossom (Caulaelia Snowflake x Rhyncattleanthe Orange Nuggett).

Observations

Everyone should have this plant in their collection just because it’s a reliable bloomer, an elegant flower, smells heavenly and a plant that gives you a happy feeling when you see it.

This is certainly a floriferous blooming and it is presented nicely on one side. It looks like the plant may have some sunburn on the opposite side that does not have any blooms, so it is taking away from the overall appearance for cultural award consideration.

The flower form is typical of this cross and the blooms may even be showing some age at the apices of the segments with reflexing, even to a slight twist. The segments are generally smaller than some of the more recent flower awards. The color appears more towards blue in the photos than some award photos and is certainly attractive, but this is also coloring seen prior even in my own plant of this cross. I think the photos taken outdoors, also contribute to the hue appearance in the photo. It’s a pretty flower, but not unusual for this rewarding cross.

Nominations

I would not nominate this plant on this flowering but watching out for sunburn, turning the plant when it's in bloom for a more even flowering and with a little less obtrusive staking, this plant could certainly be a candidate for a cultural award on another bloom.

Thank you,

Deb

Bob Winkley (Accredited Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

Thank you for sending along this lovely candidate.

The overall coloration is quite pleasant - the segments being white suffused lavender-pink at apices and along many margins provide a lovely complement to the white lip's magenta-stippled yellow throat and broad, distal lavender-pink band. Similar, but significantly more intensely colored cultivars can be found in 'Luna' AM/AOS (2017) & 'Springtime' AM/AOS (2008). Additionally, the 'H & R' AM/AOS (1998) cultivar bears an even greater resemblance as far as coloration goes. The one thing that these all appear to have is greater consistency to the band of color on the lip than our clone. Looking at the photos provided, the center of the band on our plant is significantly lighter than the rest of the band and as such is not consistent from flower to flower.

Where I think this flower falls short with relation to the award record is its shape - a smaller flower than many, the segments are narrow with the petals significantly more narrow than the best awarded clones across this grex's award history. This contributes to flower's open star shape and reveal the dorsal sepal's penchant for recurving along its proximal half. This latter trait appears to be present in some of the awarded clones, but their broad petals help to mask it, giving the sense of greater fullness.

In summary, I would not nominate this plant for a flower award at this time. That said, it is a great show plant (with a little judicious grooming of sunburnt leaves.)

Wishing you all the best -

Bob W.

Elena Skoropad (Associate Judge, Northeast Judging Center)

This is beautifully grown plant with very unusual lip coloration. None out of 35 AOS awards has similar color of the lip.

Special thanks to Laura Newton for combining all AOS awards for all 3 genera.

Jackfowlieara is the third taxonomy update for this plant. Our candidate has 32 flowers and 8 buds which probably is not enough for the culture award. CCM plants have typically more than 100 flowers. As far as flower quality award goes - our candidate has slightly smaller flower but very distinct and attractive coloration on the lip and very pleasing pink flares on the petals/ sepals. However, the form of the flower is not perfect. The dorsal is leaning to the side and overall shape of the flower and proportions are not qualifying this particular flower for a flower quality award. What is catching my eye is pink lip. I am not sure if JC is possible in this case, but I would pass on flower quality award on this blooming. The grower did a very good job, please bring it next year. This plant could be spectacular on the next bloom. Kudos to the grower!

Thanks you,

Elena

Exhibitor - Inna Kvitnitsky, NJ

Grower's Advice

Thank you for posting my Appleblossom, I understand better now what it takes to create a judgement worthy display.

When I first set my eyes on a Cattleya, over a decade ago, it was love at first sight. I was thrilled with their huge showy blooms and fragrance that makes you think ‘why can’t they perfumes like that?’. Ever since I have been collecting cattleyas and other species, with preference for large Cattleya types that bloom during cold months. While I have mixed results with other species, the cattleyas reward me with plentiful blooms consistently. I grow them in the house (October through April), and outside during warm months. As soon as temperature rises to sixties during the day, I start introducing them to outside conditions, and bring them back in the house when temperature drops during night time, until the conditions allow for plant to remain outside permanently. My preference for potting medium is large bark, charcoals and perlite chunks, although I have been replanting most of my collection into LECA, charcoal and perlite mix lately, with very good results. The latter mix seems to simulate mounted effect, the roots are never soggy wet, and yet the mix provides adequate humidity level for the roots to compensate for dry conditions in the house. Jackfowlieara Appleblossom is one of my favorites, it has been in my possession for at least five years. In the past she produced inflorescences with as many as 13 buds on each, with flowers lasting up to two months.