Wils(Jaffa X Oda Harry Baldwin)

[MrCym]

Great color, great vigor and greatly out of favor with orchid hobbyists currently!

[Thomas]

That is an absolutely gorgeous plant - hard to understand why it’s out of favor with hobbyists. I guess they’ve gotten used to buying an inter generic from the grocery store and don’t want to pay more that $20.00. I don’t grow very many odonts but would snap that one up in a flash.

[Diane56Victor]

I must agree with Thomas's view. I can't see why it would be out of favour, it's a stunning colour and grows well. I can't imagine what else any grower would want.

[richardb]

As they say here ..."There's none stranger than folk". Let us hope that orchids follow the same cycle as clothes where if you keep them long enough they come back into fashion. The biggest problem here, though, is that with orchids you need a few stalwarts to keep the plants growing until future generations realise what they have been missing.

[wolfman]

So true, Richard - that is exactly the big problem we have here in Oz; the true Odontoglossum afficionados are literally dying out, not too many youngsters are taking up the hobby (and of those only a very small fraction can be bothered with Odont.s), and commercially “the classics” are difficult to market due to their cool climate requirements. But I am very hopeful that in a “post-Hawaiian hybrid era” the WT creations of Bob, Andy and others will ring in a renaissance of classic-looking Odontoglossums that are easy to cultivate - they truly deserve it.

In addition, even in the orchid world fashion is cyclical - just look at the classic complex “bulldog” Paph.a: hot property in the 70ies and 80ies, then completely going out of fashion in favour of species, primary and rothschildianum hybrids, vinicolours, Maudiae-types, etc etc and finally today the complex Paph. hybrid is reappearing in nurseries, greenhouses and on window sills of the eager hobbyist. And on average the quality you can get today is far superior to that of the past due to the availability of superior selections. So I am hopeful and convinced that the same will happen with Odontoglossums.

Fingers crossed ….