The orchids, especially the Catts, are budding up and blooming. Since leaving the greenhouse this spring, they’ve shed the doldrums of confinement and become lush and vigorous – well, at least most of them have. Even the ones that aren’t actually in bloom have developed numerous sheaths, harbingers of beauty for the fall and winter.
Several of the current bloomers are pictured on the Photos page:
C. maxima
Cattleya maxima is a particular favorite. I bought it several years ago on the final day of the OSGKC show when the vendors were breaking down their booths. A desiccated, bare-root C. maxima had been tossed in a heap with some other plants by the Ecuagenera salesman. The plant had a withered flower so I was hopeful that, despite my lack of experience with bare-root purchases, this plant was a viable bloomer – which it has been, every year since I bought it. I grow it in a shallow, clay pot with a medium bark, charcoal and inorganic pellets mix
The Catasetum ochraceum is also a reliable and fragrant bloomer. This year it produced a record number (for me) of inflorescences . In addition this is the first year that I’ve had a female flower on this multi-sex plant. (That’s the flower pictured on the Photos page.]
The Cattleya dayana is a beauty. The diminutive plant produces an exceptionally large, deep purple and white flower with distinctive stripes. This is a first bloom.
The Miltassia Olmec ‘Kano’ x Brs Rex ‘Pieper’ is a reliable bloomer – big, spotted flowers and usually several inflorescences. During the winter, it lives near the door on the cool side of the greenhouse, and during the summer it hangs in the orchids’ summer shade house. This is a big plant and not suitable for the limited-space collector.
Success with bare-root C. maxima gave me the confidence to buy a large bare-root plant from the Cattleya family: Laelia Pacavia ‘War Eagle’ (L. purpurata x L. tenebrosa). I bought this at Tom and Barbara Larkin’s annual Whippoorwill sale in Arkansas. This was a division from one of Larkin’s stud plants. Stately and graceful like all Laelias, this one has been a workhorse – blooming every year, starting within six months of when I potted it up as a bare root.
Mokara Salaya Gold is a lovely color – and I’m always a sucker when it comes to spotted orchids. I love them. Unfortunately, this may be the only Vandaceous plant that blooms for me this year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I tried something different this year when I put my seven Vandas under trees near the garden’s waterfall. Picturesque and very tropical-like – but entirely too much shade, I fear. The Salaya Gold is the only one showing signs of flowering – but what a cheerful flower it is!
