I have usually had at least one plant of Angcm. sesquipedale in my collection for most of the twenty years that I have been growing orchids. I have grown plants that flowered both in late winter and around Easter, and eventually, they end up flowering together in my collection, sometime in late winter. I am located very near Santa Cruz, CA, roughly between Santa Barbara and San Francisco.
My first Angcm. sesquipedale was the clone 'Orchidglade II' FCC/AOS that was mericloned by Jones and Scully. This plant was awarded 5/11/72, near Easter. I bought that plant in the mid 1980's, and the first time it flowered for me, it flowered near Easter. After that, it tended to flower in late winter as most of them do for me.
I currently have several plants from the population of 'Mount Zion' FCC/AOS X 'Star of Malagasy' FCC/AOS. 'Mount Zion' was awarded an FCC/AOS on 2/9/85 (late winter), and 'Star of Malagasy' was awarded an FCC/AOS on 1/12/76, (also late winter). All of the seedlings came into flower together, and are just going out of bloom. (The best of these seedlings took two blue ribbons and three trophies in commercial class at our local show in early February, largely because the flower had exceptional conformation, and the plant was well-grown.)
In "An Introduction to the Cultivated Angraecoid Orchids of Madagascar", Fred Hillerman says that:
"In its natural habitat, it [Angcm. sesquipedale] flowers between June and November." [p. 92, note that this represents six months, roughly corresponding to December through May in the northern hemisphere.]
"Angraecum sesquipedale flowers around Christmastime in the northern hemisphere, although there is another, later variety that comes into bloom around Easter." [p. 94]
While I have never grown hundreds of seedlings, in my experience, Angcm. sesquipedale always ends up flowering in late winter for me, regardless of whether that particluar cultivar flowers for others in winter or spring. I primarily grow Phalaenopsis, although I grow them cooler and brighter than most people do. I let the temp go down to 60 at night during most of the year, and my light levels are very high. I flower Vanilla at the warm and bright end of the greenhouse.
A quick count of awards to Angcm. sesquipedale (both flower quality and cultural) as appear in Wildcatt, shows:
2 in December
6 in January
2 in February
1 in March
3 in April
2 in May
There does not seem to be a correlation between geographical location and flowering time, these awards are all in the northern hemisphere, and are clustered in FL, CA and HI with a couple others in the US, (WI, IL, OK and NJ.)
It appears to me that Angcm. sesquipedale has a long (six month) window that it can flower within, and that while there might be varieties that seem to "prefer" to flower earlier or later in that window, individual plants can flower at any time during that period, and flowering time may end up being variable, and based on cultural factors.
rob't Robert Bedard Robert Bedard Horticulture http://www.robert-bedard.com/orchids/
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