Cattleya Laurie Lynn Westenberger

Cattleya Laurie Lynn Westenberger is the cross Cattleya Bob Betts x Cattleya Claesiana, registered in 1958. It is a large, beautiful flower and a very hardy plant. It would make a wonderful addition to any group of Cattleya hybrids.

I have just divided one of the collection plants. I am keeping a nice division for the collection. This month's free orchid is a 4-pseudobulb, rootless, leafless backbulb division.

The rules are the same as always: You pay actual postage and it comes Priority Mail. (I'll let you know, but it will be around $6.) It will come without the rocks or the pot.

If you have not had a free orchid before, add a comment claiming it and them go to this page to get my direct email address so we can work out the details. "First time" restriction ends at 4pm PDT on Saturday the 31st. After that, anybody who wants it can have it. Continental US only please.

I don't gurantee anything, but I will say that I have seen this cross sprout quite reliably. It will take a couple of years before it blooms, but it will be worth the wait.

Bifrenaria aureo-fulva

Now that the family and Google-related excitement has settled down I am starting to get back to more orchid related activities. I found that my Bifrenaria aureo-fulva has just started to open. I am glad to see the flowers since all the in-bloom plants are in Sonoma in the display. These flowers are too small for that so they will remain here.

Bifrenaria aureo-fulva grows in coastal moutain rain forest from central to southern Brazil. It is warm to hot growing and fragrant, blooming in the summer. It needs a dry winter rest. The genus Bifrenaria (Bif) is 30 small epiphytes or often terrestrials from South America. Partial shade and wet humid conditions especially while growing.

This is the lead division. It is in a 3-inch plastic pot in rocks and there are four pseudobulbs. I made the division last January, two months after it bloomed last year. I am going to move it now to a dry spot for a rest.

Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanani' AM/AOS

I dropped in on the Napa Orchid Society show and sale at the end of March. It is a very small show but they managed a nice display. While I was there, this mounted plant with its 20-inch trailing roots grabbed my attention.

Lava Burst is Howeara Mini-Primi x Rodriguezia lanceolata. It is blooming three months earlier than last year. There are four spikes with branches still growing. The flowers are quite long-lasting so I will be able to get it to a show-and-tell.

Rhyncholaelia digbyana

Once again I regret sloppy note taking. I got a nice Rhyncholaelia digbyana early this year (I think). I did not immediately catalog it. It bloomed in September. I noticed a new growth starting so I divided it yesterday.

Rhyncholaelia digbyana grows from southern Mexico to Costa Rica. It is cool to warm growing, fragrant, needs bright light and blooms in summer. It is used in many hybrids. It is often called Brassavola digbyana. The genus Rhyncholaelia (Rhynch) contains 2 species that were formerly included in Brassavola. They grow in Central America and are fragrant tropical epiphytes needing bright light.

The lead division is in sphagnum over peanuts in a 5-inch clay pot. There are three pseudobulbs with one, possibly two new growths and it stands nine inches above the pot. That part of the plant has pretty good roots. The single pseudobulb backbulb division is because it was angled differently from the other three.

Cattleya Final Touch 'Mendenhall' AM/AOS

At the begining of October one of our local collectors had a garage sale on her excess plants. I happened to be in the market for some Cymbidiums and she had quite a few available. I got several nice cascading and pendant Cymbidiums to hang in my new growing space.

I also got a few other varieties. One was this Cattleya Final Touch 'Mendenhall' AM/AOS. It wobbled in the pot and if I had not seen the flower open on another of her divisions I would never have considered spending any money on a plant obviously quite weak.

I propped it in rock and waited. It has now sprouted and has roots long enough to pot. This plant is in rock in a 2-inch pot. There are three pseudobulbs and it stands seven inches above the pot. It will go into sphagnum/clay within a few days, then go over to Sonoma for the winter.

Cattleya L011

We are having a very good year for the Catts in Sonoma. We just had another plant decide to bloom for the first time since I took over. Unfortunately, nothing is readable on the tag. Too bad, because it is very pretty.

This plant is in lava in a 6-inch plastic pot. There are eight pseudobulbs and it stands sixteen inches above the pot.

I am going to divide and re-pot at the next new growth. The roots look alright from the top but you never know until the plant is out of the pot. Just looking at the rhizomes my first guess is two divisions.

Cattleya walkeriana 'Gloiosa'

Yesterday I visited Steve Christoffersen. He always has an amazing display of flowers and I love seeing them. I took along the Cattleya walkeriana that just bloomed and a nice bottle of wine as a gift for all the help he has given me.

Cattleya walkeriana grows in Brazil on trees and moist rocks at elevations up to 6000'. It is fragrant, needs bright light and blooms in the fall. It doesn't like to be disturbed.

I wasn't looking to make it a trade but came away with the Laelia tenebrosa backbulb to play with. I also got a Cattleya walkeriana 'Gloiosa', a variety I have seen but don't have. This plant is sphagnum in a 3 1/2-inch clay pot. There are five pseudobulbs and stands six inches above the pot.

Laelia tenebrosa 'Rybaczyk' AM/AOS

This is why I practice growing from backbulbs. Sometimes there is a great addition that is just not available any other way. In this case, there are good divisions available, but only if I want to spend my orchid budget for the decade to get it. Or I could get this free backbulb division.

Laelia tenebrosa grows in Brazil. It is fragrant, cool to hot growing, and blooms in early summer.

This plant is in sphagnum in a 4 1/2-inch clay pot. This is an extreme backbulb division that looks ready for the compost pile.

This is what was left when Steve Christoffersen divided his plant, the farthest back of the backbulbs. This is the pod parent of a varietal cross that Steve made. He is selling some of the compots on eBay for $12.50 and it might be fun to get one of those.

Cattleya walkeriana

The second of the three divisions from the Cattleya walkeriana has bloomed. I got and almost killed it a year ago. Luckily, there were at least some roots left and the two leads seem to have recovered.

Cattleya walkeriana grows in Brazil on trees and moist rocks at elevations up to 6000'. It is fragrant, needs bright light and blooms in the fall. It doesn't like to be disturbed.

This plant is growing bare root in a plastic basket. There are three pseudobulbs and a new growth. This is the basket the original plant came in. Back them it was about three times as large and the basket had treefern fiber inside. In my greenhouse that retained far too much water.