Phalaenopsis in a rainbow of colors

Dark Purple Standards - This is the next most difficult colour to achieve. The initial dark pinks/purples came from the German breeding lines of Zauberrot and Abendrot which were the best for sometime. Our clone Sussex Valentine 'SL' is the darkest from this line that I have seen. The most recent Taiwan dark purples which are also classed as reds have an outstanding depth of color and are usually smaller. These are mainly from the King Shiang Rose breeding line but the major defect has been color breaks in the flower and streaking in many cases. King Shiang Beauty 'FF' is currently the best but most of the mericlones were deformed. So you should ensure that you get a stem propagation or flowered mericlone. These flowers are usually velvety and have proved their breeding potential in purple blacks and reds in the following sections.

Reds - Reds cover the colour bands from purple to purple red, brick reds to the true reds. This is the most popular and sought after color by hobbyists. Initial attempts to achieve this colors involved the species of leuddemania and bellina but when amboinensis was crossed to bellina, Princess Kaiulani produced the truest reds. Currently Brother Purple 'Brother' has proven itself to be the most significant breakthrough in breeding larger and multi-floral reds like Brother Oconne. When Brother Purple was bred to Brother Fancy larger reds on spray flower emerged called Brother Precious Stones. When bred to dark purples softer larger fuller flowers on a better spray are the result and Brother Wedding Waltz is a fine example of this. At a similar time there are also some extremely fine Sogo Cock hybrids which are extremely vigorous growing and often produce double spikes. However I predict that the best red clones of Golden Sun like 'SL' will produce the finest reds. On a twelve inch leaf span plant it is capable of producing two spikes with twelve evenly spaced flowers on a first blooming plant with the roundest flowers. Chingruey Blackpearl `CR' AM, Sogo Red Bird `FF' and Sogo Beer `SY' AM' are also good red clones. Leopard Prince `SL' should be capable of producing the finest standard reds.