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Cesar Zapata

Fri, 11/07/2008 - 23:18 — disaguy

One of the first growers that I wanted to talk to at the Taranaki Summer Display was Cesar Zapata. Cesar has always been a bit of a mysterious presence in the New Zealand Disa community.  I have never talked to anyone who has seen his growing setup but yet the plants that he displays are always a delightful surprise. He is the only person I know of that has had any success with racemosa in New Zealand; and besides flowering atricapilla, he has also flowered a xanthic yellow uniflora with 7 blooms on one stem. Cesar is a very interesting fellow and definitely has some secrets to share. I was happy to take home a couple of flasks that Cesar gave me and as a result, finally have a small population of Disa atricapilla that seem to be happily growing in my outdoor, full sun setup.

Below are some pictures of Cesar's plants.  Most of them are his photos except the Veitchii which I took at the Summer Show.




Disa uniflora 'Fouralba'. The xanthic form of uniflora




The four pictures surrounding this caption are all of Disa racemosa 'Willow Grove' and show the different colors that result in being photographed under different lighting conditions.



This is uniflora 'Sevenalba'.  The flower is a bit old and having 5? pods set on it don't help the flower condition.


This is a Veitchii made with racemosa 'Willow grove' and displayed at the Summer Show


Another couple of xanthic unifloras.


The two blooms below are both Veitchii's made from the 
Willow Grove strain of Disa racemosa. They weren't fully open yet at the Summer Show and as a result, appear a bit "cuppy".