C. warscewiczii: Getting Ready to Bloom

[mraja]

C. warscewiczii var semi-alba ‘Bedford’ x self

Another one of my orchids is getting ready to bloom. I bought this beautiful plant on Ebay and have been watching its progress. It has one sheath, and today a tiny corner of the bud has stated pushing its way out. According to Chadwick and Son, this is one of the most resilient and magnificent Cattleya species but is also very hard to bring to bloom. If this particular plant finally blooms in my greenhouse, I would be deeply honored and, of course, proud.

I will post more pictures as the flowers develop.

04/15/12 (The lip has not fully opened yet)




O4/11/12

[Zoi2]

That is so cool!
Joann

[got ants]

Raja, I have had a few open recently, 2 still in bloom. These are recent imports. Is yours as well?

[mraja]

I got mine from a seller in Ohio last fall. This is the first time it is going to bloom with me. Hope you like yours. Any pictures?

[Oscarman]

Nice, looking forward to seeing the pictures of the 'King' of the Cattleyas!

[got ants]

Raja, Since these are recent imports, some of which already had sheaths, and came bare root, I believe they were "force blooms" and therefore not a true representation of what they will look like once fully established.

Of the first two that bloomed, one plant had just one flower and stunted in size. The second plant had five flowers, but no "eyes" were present.

The pics below show the size of the second bloom, along with the bench full of gigas...







I don't have pics of the next two that bloomed, but maybe later today. This again had one stunted, and another full size, but this time the eyes were present, albeit the flower was lighter than the first. It may be just a standard that got mixed in with my order of Sanderianas.

[mraja]

Beautiful still. Mine is a semi alba and yes one bud looks kind of stunted. There is, however, a new eye developing.
They do really well in North Texas.

Do you have any of these babies fro sale?
Sincerely,

[mraja]

Originally Posted by Oscarman

Nice, looking forward to seeing the pictures of the 'King' of the Cattleyas!

Thanks! I will post pictures when/if it blooms.