We're Now At 22% Tsui

This photo shows Riley walking past a tray of Paphiopedilums (most are Brachys) from The Orchid Inn.  A sizable percentage of my collection is from Oak Hills Gardens, but I'm buying more and more from the Orchid Inn Ltd.  Now, Sam Tsui is behind nearly 1/4 of my orchid collection.  I'm just bananas about those Brachypetalums! 

Sam Tsui's visit to our orchid society was super exciting.  Basically, he's one most successful and innovative Phaphipedilum breeders in the world.  I skipped the Beginner Group so I could hover around him and pick up wisdom through osmosis.  I had the opportunity to talk to him about new trends in Brachypetalum breeding and the pursuit of a Brachy with a pure red dorsal.  Sam opened his laptop and showed me slides of his award winners while I asked him absolutely stupid questions like "What's the difference between 'Double Trix' and 'Triple Trix'"?  It was awesome.

Sam's talk -- "What's New in Multifloral Paphiopediulms" -- was fantastic.  You can find a full summary & some video here.  He showed us the new frontiers in breeding Paph. rochildianum and Paph. sanderianum, but I don't see too many of them in my future.  I like looking at the pictures of slipper orchids with the long trailing petals but, with a house of four cats, I just don't see those petals lasting very long.  Those cute Brachypetalums, however, are another story altogether.