There are innumerable reasons why everyone should have in their collection at least one plant of Paphiopedilum delenatii, but space constraints allow us to list only a few. Like pink? Look at that balloon-like pouch---it fairly glows a rosy pink, and is nicely offset by the large, nearly circular white petals. The staminode too echoes the lovely shade of pink in the pouch, along with a bright splash of yellow to catch your eye. Flowers are generally large and approach nearly 4 inches in width from petal tip to tip, and are well carried high above the foliage on a strong stem. When well grown, many clones are bifloral, meaning the inflorescence produces two flowers which open in succession but last long enough that both flowers are usually open together for some time. A delicate fragrance is also the hallmark of this species; on warm sunny days the delicate, sweet smell is enchanting. Interestingly, some of the newer clones do not appear to be fragrant. Plants of Paph. delenatii are among the easiest of the Parvisepalum section to grow, and thrive under conditions that would frequently be considered unacceptable to other species. In fact, in our greenhouse, one plant of Paph. delenatii was accidentally knocked off the bench and out of its pot. When found the next day it was laid on the bench, bare root, on top of some plants of Paph charlesworthii. There it sits, remembered each time that bench is watered, and then promptly forgotten with all the other work waiting. With no extra care, it looks virtually the same as it did the day I picked it up off the floor, 6 weeks ago! When crossed to other species in the Parvi section Paph. delenatii produces very easy to grow and bloom beautiful hybrids. Since Paph. delenatii is a warm growing acidic (granite) substrate plant, and the rest of the Parvis are cooler growing basic substrate (dolomitic limestone) plants, the progeny of these crosses are very forgiving in culture. Probably the easiest to grow is Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz (x Paph. malipoense). This hybrid is exceptionally sturdy and will fill a pot with roots under quite a wide range of conditions. Interestingly, one of our crosses producing Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz produced a few plants that flower consistently peloric. Among the fastest to form specimen plants of the Parvi primaries with Paph. delenatii is Paph. Armeni-White (x Paph. armeniacum), which clumps very quickly and is very free blooming. The flowers of Paph. Armeni-White open a pale yellow, but after a few days Paph. delenatii's ability to suppress plastid color expression takes over and the flowers fade to white with some red spotting, except for the staminode which retains the yellow. Crossing Paph. delenatii with Paph. micranthum produces what we think is one of the all time best of the single (and often bifloral) Paph. hybrids, Paph. Magic Lantern. Also rather forgiving but a little slower growing is Paph. Joyce Hasegawa (x Paph. emersonii), again producing large primarily white flowers on somewhat shorter inflorescences than Paph. Armeni-White, but with the added bonus that also frequently comes with Paph. Lynleigh Koopowitz of being fragrant.
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