Cattleya mossiae coerulea 'Blue Bird' x 'Herrerae

[piping plover]

I posted this under the blooms thread, but just in case someone in this cattleya thread was interested, ecuagenera offers this. I was on the waitlist for nearly a year.

My Cattleya mossiae coerulea 'Blue Bird' x 'Herrerae' bloomed! need to give most of the credit to Ecuagenera on this one since they grew it all year; at least I didn’t put it in a diagonal reverse in acclimating as I so often do. 😂

mine is less dramatic than the online catalog photos . Very delicate petals tho, in texture it reminds me of Siberian iris that I started from seed years ago. Slight lily or hyacinth fragrance.

[smweaver]

Cattleya mossiae is my favorite cattleya species, and yours is quite nice. I especially like the colors. How long have the blooms been open? When fully developed, they should have a very strong and wonderful scent, especially during the morning when the plant is in moderate sunshine. Was this a bare root plant (since it came from Ecuagenera)? If so, you definitely deserve to take the credit for getting it to flourish.

[piping plover]

Originally Posted by smweaver

Cattleya mossiae is my favorite cattleya species, and yours is quite nice. I especially like the colors. How long have the blooms been open? When fully developed, they should have a very strong and wonderful scent, especially during the morning when the plant is in moderate sunshine. Was this a bare root plant (since it came from Ecuagenera)? If so, you definitely deserve to take the credit for getting it to flourish.

Thank you! They’ve been open for approximately 3 days now. I’ll be sure to check fragrance in morning then. Yes, it arrived bare root with sheathes 2 months ago in the height of my best outdoor growing conditions. It was the largest orchid plant I ever received from ecuagenera. I noticed the silhouette of the buds a few weeks ago and progressed really fast. Do you think that this plant still “thinks “ it’s spring time coming from another hemisphere or equator? Being a mossiae I am assuming it will bloom in my springtime in the next years after it adjusts to the hemisphere vertigo. Does that sound about right?

Photos below on its arrival here in July. What was concerning to me was that the 5 pseudobulbs were once joined on the same rhizome but broke apart before arrival so there was 3 bulbs and another with 2 bulbs; I thought they needed at least three to be successful but apparently the 2 bulb piece was okay to bloom.

The 2 bloom photos below are from ecuagenera’s website. They are both more dramatic than mine. Since the 2 ecuagenera photos appear different from each other I was wondering if they are actually the parents in this cross and that the crosses for sale could be expected to look something between the 2 photos.

[smweaver]

Yes, it should "readjust" over the winter and flower next spring--if it has produced new sheaths over the summer (mossiae produces sheaths in the summer/fall period before the following spring flowering stage--and the sheaths will stay green over the winter). It is exciting when you see those tiny silhouettes appearing through the sheath indicating that buds are forming. I have a C. jenmani that's in that stage now. The other nice thing about mossiae is that, in my experience, the plants are easy growers and produce multiple new growths each year. So your plant should produce quite a good show in another couple of years.

[piping plover]

Originally Posted by smweaver

Yes, it should "readjust" over the winter and flower next spring--if it has produced new sheaths over the summer (mossiae produces sheaths in the summer/fall period before the following spring flowering stage--and the sheaths will stay green over the winter). It is exciting when you see those tiny silhouettes appearing through the sheath indicating that buds are forming. I have a C. jenmani that's in that stage now. The other nice thing about mossiae is that, in my experience, the plants are easy growers and produce multiple new growths each year. So your plant should produce quite a good show in another couple of years.

Thank you for the cultural info. Yes, i just noticed a new lead starting. Always wanted a C. Jenmani. Looking forward to seeing any of the bloom photos you post!