Epidendrum lacustre 'Wow Fireworks' AM/AOS

[Roberta]

This species occurs over a wide area of Central and South America. The typical form is white and green. This example is the purple form native to Panama. It's my pride and joy... generally I don't take plants in for judging, since the things that appeal to me mostly don't fit the criteria of the judging system. (I like weird things) This one, though, put on a great show - the olive-green flowers with purple tips and pristine white lip, in big sprays (9 of them as I recall) on top of green and purple leaves, do look like a burst of fireworks. When it was awarded, I needed a cultivar name and this one just fit.

It's a super-robust plant that has been divided (and shared) several times since then. The culture is "full sun, sopping wet". It lives on my patio, so it gets both heat and what passes for cold (occasionally close to freezing) I have sphagnum in the pot under the bark , which helps keep the moisture level up. (A 2 gallon pot holds a LOT of sphagnum!) I hang it with my L. anceps - high above the Cyms, where it gets maximum light. One year I put the plants on the bench with the Cyms (a bit less light) and the purple color was rather washed out. Currently, I have one division that I have on the ground near the Cyms, and note how much lighter the color is. Just the difference between ground level and overhead! The lighter one is a division of the same plant.

Photos - whole inflorescence, flower closeup of the sun-kissed plant, and flower with just a bit less light. Colors are pretty accurate to what I see.