otaara hidden gold

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

This is a very special compact cattleya hybrid (IMHO), I had bought a compot of these from HR and shared with friends as they grew. The really striking color originates from G aurantiaca (oranges and some yellow), broughtonia sanguinea (reddish purple)and laelia Mueller (fiery red) and yes I know the name was changed to Claudehamiltonaara but I will continue to call it otaara hidden gold.

this plant can be acclimated to full sun and one of my friends has one in a basket attached to a wooden fence that is in blooms just about year round in south Fla and it has no shade at all for full day exposure, the plant stature stays compact.

The blooms comes out fiery red, slowly morph to orange and then ripen to a rich golden yellow. Its just great to see the blooms ripen and slowly change as they mature.

blooms several times per year and is pretty much indestructible when mounted or in a net pot (mine is a net pot 4 inch) and allowed to dry in between waterings.

BTW, anyone know why JPG pics are showing up 90 degrees CCW?
thanks

[Roberta]

The orientation problem is a "feature" of the creaky software that underlies the Board. I have found that if I download the photo to my PC, manipulate it (rotation, crop, etc,) in my photo editor of choice, Save As (even the same name) then go back in and save again, the metadata controlling the orientation seems to fix itself. We're all used to looking at things sideways and upside down.

I love the color transition as the flower matures.

[Diane56Victor]

Love the way it changes colour. Sounds like a great plant.

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

Thank you Roberta, I manipulated the pics a bit and now looks like they are standing upright ok, last one is to show the net pot. Plants are in open back yard on a bench under 50 percent shade cloth and exposed to frequent rain and fed every weekend (most of the time) but also have at least one little netpot capsule with controlled release fertilizer that provides some feeding continuity and all minors. Plants have responded very positively to this new change in care.