Lc. Aloha Case

[smweaver]

This hybrid's got a lot of C. walkeriana in its genetic makeup. As a result, the plant habit, although compact, is rather sprawling (definitely not a tidy grower), flowers are pretty large and nicely fragrant, and it has the distinct walkeriana habit of flowering on a separate growth that's produced from the base of the newest vegetative growth after a cool and dry winter dormancy (maybe it doesn't require the dormancy period, but at least that's what it receives in my set-up).

Steve

[Intruder]

Very nice walkeriana hybrids. Congratulations for its culture.

[pheli]

Very nice!

[terryros]

I have a nice Aloha Case coerulea that has not yet bloomed for me. I know about the walkeriana bloom spike being different but have never seen it. Do you think you would be kind enough to post a picture of your plant showing the flower spike coming off the vegetative growth, please? It would be nice to know what I am looking for!

[smweaver]

Terry, here are a couple pictures I just took, showing the back and side views of the plant. The flower stem is produced (as is the case in Cattleya walkeriana) from its own growth. No leaf is produced on this growth; however, there are some roots that are starting to form at its base, so perhaps the next "normal" growth will start from the base of the flowering growth--which makes for a rather untidy plant if you're like me and don't trust yourself to mount the plant.

Steve

[terryros]

Thanks. That is perfect! Now I know that I just have two new growths that aren't going to flower! Maybe now I will have enough growths to be able to flower it.

[smweaver]

Terry, I also used to think that mine was a reluctant bloomer. Every spring for the past two years the new growths were just that, new growths. This year I was surprised to see that what I thought was just another growth happened to have a bud on the end of it. So maybe they just need to reach a certain size--or have a certain number of growths--before they're able to flower. Because this plant has the (to me) annoying habit of growths going in a straight line on a rather long rhizome, I was very much tempted to split it in two last year. Now I'm glad that I didn't. So don't get discouraged. I think that when your plants flower, you'll find that it was worth the wait and effort. Good luck!

Steve

[terryros]

Thanks, Steve. My plant has two different growing leads but these new growths are bigger than anything before so perhaps next season. Mine seems to be more compact and upright than yours, perhaps because it is the coerulea variant. I will be patient.