The Writhlington Orchid Project

Two students from Writhlington, Tom Forsyth and Jacob Coles have become the people ever to earn a place on the British Orchid Council judge training scheme.

Tom explained “We just started a process that will take about three years. During this time we will have to pass judging tests all around the UK and get involved in as much judging as possible.”

Once qualified the pair will be accredited to judge at orchid shows across the world but so far they have just been as far as Exmouth where they helped judge the plants at the Devon Orchid Society show. Jacob described the day as “A brilliant experience and really interesting. To judge well you have to be really observant and also have a good knowledge of what each plant is capable of.”

Tom and Jacob also helped to put on the display for the Somerset, Wiltshire and Dorset Orchid Society and were rewarded with a number of rosettes and cups for plants grown at Writhlington?

The 2012 display team

After a very successful London show including a gold medal from the RHS, best specimen plant for our Dendrobium mobile (the big pink one on the left at the back) and a total of three Certificates of Cultural Commendation (we have never had more than one a a single show before) we are asking the question: Is this the best Writhlington display ever? We would love your opinion.

It’s now time to start looking forward to our other shows in 2012. These are:

11th-12th May – Bristol Garden Life Show (central bristol)

2nd-9th July – Hampton Court Flower Show

26-28th October – British Orchid Congress (Writhlington School)

We hope to see you at these events and will being doing our best to keep up our display standards. Who knows? we may even do a better display than last week’s effort in London.

We’ve won a gold medal at the RHS London orchid show! Big congratulations to Tom and Ike for the absolutely wonderful display, and to all of the growers at home for raising such a high quality of plant! Our big Dendrobium nobile won best specimen plant too!

So after a long, long day starting at 4am at school, and ending in Westminster, London at 10pm, our team have certainly earned their rest!

The display it’self looks absolutely magnificent and we are all extremely proud of it! We wanted to wait for some proper light to really show it off to you, but here are some photos from set up:

Set-up Photos

I’ll be uploading photos throughout the day from my phone over the weekend. To catch them all as they happen – check back to this link regularly:

WSBEorchids Twitter

Well, it’s that time of year once again – The RHS London Orchid Show!

This really does have to be our favourite time of year. Not only do we get to go to London to show our plants at one of the UK’s largest orchid shows, but it’s at the perfect time of year. The greenhouse is blooming lovely, quite literally!

This year’s design team is Ike Shackleton and Tom Forsyth. Ike is in year 10 and is the second Shackleton to be with us. Tom is in year 9 and was heavily involved in our display at Timsbury’s in Bloom entry – so the step up to International Orchid show should be a breeze! Thanks to copious exams and revision, I’ve only managed to catch glimpses of the plans, but it’s already shaping up to be our best London yet!

So whether you’re in London and fancy popping down to the RHS Lawrence Hall in Westminster, or are planning a trip up to the capital specially to see the show, we look forward to seeing you – and oh do we have a treat for you! Some of our biggest and best orchid species have decided that this year is going to be the year they put on a show – and put on a show they will!

See you on Friday/Saturday!

The hybrid Angraecum Veitchii

This month we have a perfect demonstration of how the DNA of parent species influence the character of  their hybrid. We have  the two species Angraecum sesquipedale and Angraecum eburneum, and their hybrid Angraecum Veitchii all in flower at once.

Angraecum sesquipedale is a large growing species that produces a few large flowers each with a twelve inch ( thirty centimetres ) long spur. It is pollinated by a moth with a tonuge the same length as the spur. Angraecum eburneum is another large growing species but with many smaller flowers and short spurs.

The hybrid Angraecum Veitchii has an interesting combination of its parents’ characteristics. It is a large growing plant with leaves longer than A. sesquipedale. The flowers are smaller than A. sesquipedale but bigger than A. eburneum. There are many flowers on a spike but not as many as A.eburneum can produce. The flowers have a  lip with a similar shape to A. eburneum but the other tepals are wider as in A. sesquipedale. The length of the spur is intermediate between that of its parents.

Have a look at the photos for yourself and try to spot the similarities. These photos were all taken by me on Saturday.

Angraecum sesquipedale (Darwins orchid)