Blooming now (2009-11-13)

Happy Friday the 13th.  It's late autumn and many of my Laelias and Cattleyas are getting ready to flower.  In fact, several of my Laelia anceps are blooming now and the well known Christmas Cattleya, C. percivaliana, is already blooming a month early.

This is another plant of Laelia anceps 'Irwin's' that I have.  I don't know why, but the flowers on this particular division is larger and rounder than the flowers from my other plant, which I posted a picture last week.  You can compare the two photos to see the differences.  I'm not sure if they are in fact the same clones.  I will have to put a note on their labels to see how they bloom next year.

This is a photo of Laelia anceps alba 'Bull's'.  This orchid is pure white with just the touch of yellow in the throat of the lip.  With a varietal name like 'Bull's', I expected the flowers to be fuller and larger.  As you can see, the flowers are just beginning to open, so the blooms may get a littler larger as they open completely.

Here is another Laelia hybrid called Laelia Lookalike, which is a cross between L. anceps and L. gouldiana.  The color of this orchid is a rich magenta and it bloomed with five flowers on a wiry stem.  If you look at this orchid casually, you might think that it was a L. gouldiana.

This is the Christmas Cattleya or Cattleya percivaliana 'Summit' FCC/AOS, and I have seen it bloom much later in the season.  I was surprised to see it flowering now.  There is only this single flower on this growth and there is another bud getting ready to bloom on another growth on the other side of this plant.  Usually, there will be more than one flower per spike, but not this year.