Dumb beginner question/cattleya cross blooming: follow-up
 

It bloooooomed :)
I'm happy to report the indecisive Pot/Blc I inquired about at the
beginning of March, has opened one huge 5-inch gorgeous dark pink
flower with a little yellow striping in the throat. Some of you
veteran orchid growers may remember your delight with your first
plants' first flowers... I have been waiting 5 years for this one, and
this is funny -- it opened on the anniversary of the day I got it.
Do they usually make just one flower? Early on there was a bit of a
stub that looked like it might branch, but that dried up. Is this
again a case of it being a young plant? How long do the flowers last?
(My orchid books don't say.)
Of course I shot a bunch of pictures of it right away, & will probably
take more.
Thanks to those whose answers to my questions in March helped me be
patient...:)

Alison

Alison,

If you're lucky, that delight at seeing your plants bloom will never go
away. I've been at this over 30 years and I still get a thrill.

I would guess that your plant will likely display more blossoms as it
matures, but culture can play a significant role in that, as does genetics.
Blooming is an energy-consuming activity, so the stronger the plant, the
better the show it can put on.

Can you remind us of the cross?

Oh yeah... Please post pictures over at a.b.p.o

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Alison" wrote in message
om...
It bloooooomed :)
I'm happy to report the indecisive Pot/Blc I inquired about at the
beginning of March, has opened one huge 5-inch gorgeous dark pink
flower with a little yellow striping in the throat. Some of you
veteran orchid growers may remember your delight with your first
plants' first flowers... I have been waiting 5 years for this one, and
this is funny -- it opened on the anniversary of the day I got it.
Do they usually make just one flower? Early on there was a bit of a
stub that looked like it might branch, but that dried up. Is this
again a case of it being a young plant? How long do the flowers last?
(My orchid books don't say.)
Of course I shot a bunch of pictures of it right away, & will probably
take more.
Thanks to those whose answers to my questions in March helped me be
patient...:)

Alison

Congratulations, Alison! Ray is correct: the thrill is never gone. A.B.P.O
is our binaries group; it stands for alt.binaries.pictures.orchids, and we
want to see your darling!

Diana

Allison,

Congratulations on your first bloom. Five years seems a long, long time
to wait for a plant to bloom; however, when it finally does the feeling
is so rewarding.

In answer to your question --

Do they usually make just one flower?

First blooms are usually few; however, next year with the right culture you may be rewarded with three to seven or more flowers.

Incidentally, do you have a name for your Pot. x Blc. ?

.. . . Pam
Everything Orchid Management System http://home.earthlink.net/~profpam/page3.html

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Alison wrote:

It bloooooomed :)
I'm happy to report the indecisive Pot/Blc I inquired about at the
beginning of March, has opened one huge 5-inch gorgeous dark pink
flower with a little yellow striping in the throat. Some of you
veteran orchid growers may remember your delight with your first
plants' first flowers... I have been waiting 5 years for this one, and
this is funny -- it opened on the anniversary of the day I got it.
Do they usually make just one flower? Early on there was a bit of a
stub that looked like it might branch, but that dried up. Is this
again a case of it being a young plant? How long do the flowers last?
(My orchid books don't say.)
Of course I shot a bunch of pictures of it right away, & will probably
take more.
Thanks to those whose answers to my questions in March helped me be
patient...:)

Alison

I didn't know about A.B.P.O. -- I will check it out. I didn't think
we could post pix... I have quite a few pix of my other babies, &
since I have some close-up lenses that let me fill the frame with just
the heart of flowers, or selected bits with very little depth of
field, I shoot a lot of abstract/closeup flower photos.
It will be quite a while before I get pix back, since I am not
digital, live in the middle of nowhere, & save up my films in the
fridge for a (lonnngg) trip to town (mailing them at Canada Post's
rates is silly...) but I will try to scan & post one if they are good.
The cross is Pot. Hisako Akatsuka "Volcano Queen" x Blc. Jeremy Island
"Carmela". I was pretty pleased with the "big" flower, since the
whole plant, pot & all, is less than a foot high :)

Alison

On 14 Apr 2005 11:32:01 -0700, (Alison) wrote:

I didn't know about A.B.P.O. -- I will check it out. I didn't think
we could post pix... I have quite a few pix of my other babies, &
since I have some close-up lenses that let me fill the frame with just
the heart of flowers, or selected bits with very little depth of
field, I shoot a lot of abstract/closeup flower photos.
It will be quite a while before I get pix back, since I am not
digital, live in the middle of nowhere, & save up my films in the
fridge for a (lonnngg) trip to town (mailing them at Canada Post's
rates is silly...) but I will try to scan & post one if they are good.
The cross is Pot. Hisako Akatsuka "Volcano Queen" x Blc. Jeremy Island
"Carmela". I was pretty pleased with the "big" flower, since the
whole plant, pot & all, is less than a foot high :)

Alison

That cross has been named it is now Pot Memoria Yoshi Tsubaki
Akatsuaka Orchid Gardens registered it in 1997.
We would love to see the pix.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php