Kovachii, The Next Generation

Phrag. Peruflora's Cirila Alca x Phrag. schlimii

In 2007, orchid expert Glenn Decker said that the "full potential of the Phrag. kovachii hybrids has yet to be seen," and that "once we get into second-generation hybrids we will truly see its potential." I don't see my plant revealing the greatness of these hybrids, but it's mine and it bloomed for me, so I'm happy with it. It's an unregistered hybrid: Phrag. Peruflora's Cirila Alca x Phrag. schlimii. Peruflora's Cirila Alca is kovachii x dalessandroi. So, there's two rounds of breeding involving three species. Was it all worth it?

Riley and the kovachii hybrids

My plant flowered in mid-December and the first bloom (featured here) had obvious "flaws" but I still loved it. The Phrag. dalessandroi should give it the potential to have multiple blooms, but likely at the expense of proper shape. You can see purple and pink having a little bit of an identity crisis, but I'm optimistic that next year's blooms will arrive at a more uniform color scheme. Maybe I'll buy another one from Bird's Botanicals just to make sure.


If that doesn't work out, I'll blame Riley. I've put him in charge of my small, but growing, collection of kovachii hybrids. It's a lot of responsibility, but the promise of cool purple flowers are totally worth it.