I had four leads with respectively 5, 3, 3 and 2 buds on this plant. When the buds were about to open a sudden, intense cold wave hit my region dramatically dropping the temperature from about 28-30ºC at noon to 12ºC at night. As a result, 5 buds were lost! Too bad! But, the remaining 8 buds (one of them doesn't appear in the photos) became these beautiful, amazingly fragrant flowers that can be seen on the photos below.
Plant:
Cattleya schilleriana Rchb.f. - var. imperialis on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Flower close up:
Cattleya schilleriana Rchb.f. - var. Imperialis on Flickr - Photo Sharing!