C. violacea var. semi-alba 'Icabaru'

[tuvoc]

Fantastic.

Kim

[smweaver]

Stunning flowers on this one. Congratulations on the blooms. For what it's worth, none of my C. violaceas are all that robust either. Root production is especially problematic, with the plants maybe producing a few new roots at a time. But you have a beautifully flowered plant, so I'd say it's well worth any extra effort it might require.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Hawaiian Sunshine

The plant is not very robust. I need to keep an eye on it.

Originally Posted by smweaver

For what it's worth, none of my C. violaceas are all that robust either. Root production is especially problematic, with the plants maybe producing a few new roots at a time.

We actually had a recent talk at my local orchid society by Michael Sinn of Canaima Orchids. He is from Venezuela and talked about violacea plants usually looking like hell. For some reason, this plant rarely has more than one or two growths with leaves and the back bulbs are often very shrivelled and look terrible. The p-bulbs often shrivel extensively when puting out a new growth, even with a good root system. Ofcoarse, Harry's plants (catwalker) might be the only exception to the 'violaceas look like hell' rule.

[smweaver]

Thanks, Steve. I don't feel nearly as bad now as I did before reading your post--and I just won't look at any posts that Harry might create for his C. violaceas for fear of bringing on a major depressive episode.

[RosieC]

Wow, gorgeous flowers!

[Hawaiian Sunshine]

Originally Posted by isurus79

We actually had a recent talk at my local orchid society by Michael Sinn of Canaima Orchids. He is from Venezuela and talked about violacea plants usually looking like hell. For some reason, this plant rarely has more than one or two growths with leaves and the back bulbs are often very shrivelled and look terrible. The p-bulbs often shrivel extensively when puting out a new growth, even with a good root system. Ofcoarse, Harry's plants (catwalker) might be the only exception to the 'violaceas look like hell' rule.

Thank you for the feedback. I thought my culture and climate were the problem. My plant does look like hell compared to other cattleyas in my collection.