Spotted Cattleyas, 2019

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by neophyte

Fairorchids – if the first orange flower that bloomed doesn't improve, what will you do with it? I was wondering what you do with inferior siblings in a cross generally.

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

(Rlc. Sun Spots 'Solar Spots' x C. Katherine Clarkson 'SVO' HCC/AOS)
This is the latest spotted breeding from Fred Clarke (Sunset Valley Orchids). This flower does not have perfect shape, but it is much larger than anything I have seen previously, and the spots are well distributed.

Good question neophyte. I assume not 'perfect shape' for the orange flower could be referring to flower lower sepals not spreading out more, and petals not stretched out more width-wise, and the side-lobes really splayed out a lot.

What I'm going to write next isn't related to Fairorchids at all.

I notice on ebay (australia) - searching for 'cattleya' in ebay australia results in a bunch of orchids - and many catt items for sale will be from a breeder that sells both very high quality catts (on ebay, with award-winning flower features), and geometrically normal flowers, as well as ones where the flowers are below 'average-looking' --- (eg, maybe lop-sided petals, and things like that). All of the plants go online, for sale. What I do like about that ebay seller is the honesty, where the seller takes photos that accurately represents the orchid being sold.

[Fairorchids]

I buy a lot of plants in order to bloom them out. I keep two types:

• Plants with overall superior quality flowers.
• Plants with distinctive flower features (such as size or flower count), irrespective of flower qualities. Such plants can still be useful for breeding purposes.

Plants that I do not want to keep, I make available for sale (usually at the shows I participate in).

[Fairorchids]

The 2nd Rlc. Naomi's Delight has grown well in the past 12 months. It bloomed from a single lead in December 2019 (2 flowers), and from a second lead in January 2020 (again with 2 flowers).

It is currently in bloom with 6 spikes, 4 of which have 6 flowers each.

[Fairorchids]

Here is another seedling blooming for the first time. Flower is not fully open, but the lip looks promising. I will post another photo in 3-4 days, so we can see what the mature flower looks like.

Parentage is (Cattlianthe Memoria Evelyn Paquette x Cattleya Mark Jones). Not a large flower, but well proportioned and with spots evenly distributed.

Fully open photo added.

[Fairorchids]

And the latest entrant. This is the first bloom from a seedling population, which I have not seen blooming before.

(Rlc. Sunspot Gem x C. Katherine Clarkson)
Great flower shape, though less spots than i would have liked.