I am starting to like Cattleya type orchids more and more. They seem to be perfect for my hot climate and are much more forgiving than any other orchids I have. For a long time I wasn't their huge fan, even though they are striking plants. All because I only saw those huge plants I don't have space for, with huge fluffy flowers I am not fan of.
But there is a lot of smaller species and hybrids. And those I likey :)
They also get attacked by bugs much less (I have one dendrobium that must be trips favorite food and I just can't get rid of them).
As for now I have 2 of this types. None of them is pure Cattleya, but a cross, but it doesn't matter. I usually buy plants because I like hem, not because of the name. This one here is a regular bloomer. The second one I got as a young plant and has never bloomed for me yet. But.... there is something popping so hopefully this year I will finally get to see the flowers.
Both orchids from the name are the parents of what I have. But please google Cattleytonia Why Not. It is so freaking adorable that I wouldn't mind if my one looked a bit more like this.
Because it is a cross grown from seed (no, not by me), the flowers may vary between the siblings and you actually never know how exactly they will look like until they bloom.
The flowers stay open for a few weeks. Here they slowly start to fade already. I think they are bit more yellow this time. I think some other time they were a bit darker and more pink. This can be caused by the temperature/season they bloom in. She is not picky and can bloom all year round as soon as the bulb matures.
No flagrance on this one.
I got it as young plant some years ago and since then it has grown so much even despite my slight neglect. But as I said, they are tough! And they do prefer to dry out completely between the watering (and that I can definitely provide :p). This one has relatively small and skinny pseudobulbs, but they do store enough water to help it survive the dry times. The bulb will shrivel a bit and this is a sign for me that I forgot again. But worry not - they plump back up after they are watered and look like nothing happened.
I would normally put water into the container I keep the pot it and let it sit even for 2 hours (I water like that all my orchids in summer. In winter I do not soak them for this long). Then I remove all the water out and she is good to go for another week or two. Once a month I add water with fertilizer. And that's about all the care she gets.
She grows fast with few news growths every year and each of those growth produces flowers after they mature. It is still a rather small plant, but with so many leaves and growing in multiple directions it starts to look like a nice bush.
I still cant get few of those pseudobulbs to bloom in the same time.
Below you can see sweet and sticky sap that forms on the flower stems. It's nothing bad. It's what they do (usually after watering), but it can attract insects.
This is another little one starting to grow from the base.
Here on the left you can see sticking out maturing bulb. This one will soon open the inner leaf and start growing another set of flowers.
Definitely one of my top 5 favourite orchids.
»«
Shot with Nikon D5500 + Sigma 105mm lens
All photos and text are my own.
