Phalaenopsis in a rainbow of colors

Standards - The most common colors for phalaenopsis are whites and pinks which are referred to as standards. More recently candy stripes like Minho Princess 'Star 2' can finally be regarded a true standard with flower size, shape, arrangement and the most intense candy stripes. Alfonso Moreno 'SL' has impeccable regal cascading arrangement while Taisuco Princess being quite rare with a pure white background and even more intense striping at the edges giving the most contrasting effect. Virtually all others have a blush to lighter pink background.

Yellows - This is unquestionably the most difficult breeding line besides very dark smooth well shaped and good sized purples. The major contributor to yellows comes from ambonensis. There is much contention about the correct specie parent in Golden Sands which I will not go into. Venosa was used up to recently very intensively and resulted in some non-fading yellows like Taipei Gold 'Gold Star' which is the basis of modern yellow breeding today. However, most other venosa hybrids produced a white halo or centre and tended to fade and are small. Amboinensis used several times by back-crossing to keep the color has produced Brother Passat from Taiwan. However, the best was produced by the late Ralph Borders who used Golden Amboin x Hausermanns Gold Cup to produce the darkest yellow with red spottings to date. Golden Ambonensis is Golden Sands x Ambonensis and produced the First Class Certificate. However the clear golden yellow which produced 4 inch flowers on a nice spray called Golden Emperor 'Sweet' has proved unbeatable even to this day. Current attempts have improved shape but are much paler. There are a few mutations from the mericloning process which has produced half inch smaller flowers but produces branching spikes. (See Photo Gallery 2 for photos of Brother Golden Wish and Sogo Marball). Sogo Marball with its striking red blotches gives an extreme impact at a glance.