Dendrobium Australian Rhubarb Pie
8th September 2018
An attractive grex from the remarkable breeding work going on in Australia at present. This is a few generations down the line from the species
but has about 40% Dendrobium kingianum in its ancestry. The growth habit is very like D. kingianum, the flowers are
probably going to be larger and more brightly marked.
I had hoped that it would be equally hardy but this year we had a vicious cold snap in March as things were starting to grow
and the old canes have been badly damaged if not killed. It is producing shoots from the eyes at the top of the canes, and I am still
hoping for a basal shoot but the plant has had a serious setback. I have removed one cluster of plantlets and planted them into the compost
because I am not sure how much longer the old canes can support them - I am trying to spread the risk.
The plant was newly potted last autumn so it is difficult to know how much of the damage would have happened if it had been better established.