Lc. Canhamiana 'Azure Skies' AM/AOS in bloom

[silken]

This orchid blooms reliably every 'spring' for me. It's one of my oldest and favorite. But this year its a bit early and also has only two buds. The first bloom on one spike opened today and the 2nd bud on another spike will open in a few days. Usually this produces at least two blooms per spike. It is now a specimen plant with lots of new growths and I was hoping for a good show!

I guess I am going to divide it when new growths begin and sell a piece at our society's orchid auction fund raiser. I don't need this large of a plant for that little display!!

The bloom is about 4 inches wide although it may open a bit wider yet. It had a nice scent before it was even fully open but not strong. This one starts out as a bluish purple but turns a bit pinker as the bloom ages.

[WhiteRabbit]

Beautiful!

[bballr4567]

Beautiful. Why not try to keep it another year and see what happens?

[tuvoc]

One of my all time favorites. Well done.

Kim

[silken]

Originally Posted by bballr4567

Beautiful. Why not try to keep it another year and see what happens?

Thanks! I only re-potted it 1 1/2 years ago but it seems to have almost outgrown the pot it's in. The roots go everywhere, over other pseudobulbs etc. I'm afraid if I don't either divide or give it a bigger pot that it will be an even worse challenge later! I might just take off a small portion and often something can break in the re-pot process so that might just be the divided piece if that happens. It just seemed to bloom better when it was smaller! I thought it should be the other way around!

[tucker85]

Beautiful color!

[ewcia1028]

I love those beautiful blue cattleya's and have a few myself and this one too

[Cavs n' Orchids]

Beautiful!! I wish I was in your orchid society!! lol

[camille1585]

Beautiful!!
If it grows that fast then dividing certainly won't put it back very much, and that way it can pay its keep! Did you get a lot more blooms in past years?

[silken]

Originally Posted by Cavs n' Orchids

Beautiful!! I wish I was in your orchid society!! lol

Clouds did carry this one. And if it is healthy looking at the roots when I split it, I could always do a trade!

---------- Post added at 11:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------

Originally Posted by camille1585

Beautiful!!
If it grows that fast then dividing certainly won't put it back very much, and that way it can pay its keep! Did you get a lot more blooms in past years?

The most I got was 5 blooms on 2 spikes. But it was a seedling back in 2007 and took a few years to first bloom. It just seemed to get this size overnight