I'm a sucker for warm-coloured cattleya alliance plants so when I saw the Laeliocatanthe Meadow Bright in an online catalogue I decided to give it a try. I had no idea what to expect. In retrospect, seeing the size of this plant, I'm just relieved I'm not a windowsill grower.
Laeliocatanthe Meadow Bright is a hybrid of Cattlianthe Trick or Treat and Laelia aurea. When I look at pictures of the parentage I can recognize both of them in my plant.
It has turned out to be a very easy plant to grow for me. Apparently it likes the conditions I can provide.
This is big thing standing in the brightest corner of the greenhouse. It's in an unglazed clay pot in a combination of gravel (for weight), fir bark and a bit of coir on top.
It takes forever to grow the spikes, but they are tall reaching more than 70-80 cm. While maturing the inflorescence flowering now, it already began growing a new one.
The buds seem to be opening up one after the other, and are grown as a tight knot at the tip rather than a long spike with buds evenly spaced. I think there are about 20 buds in that 'knot'. It could be a beautiful display if they're all open at the same time. I like the colours and the dark lip.
No fragrance so far.
I really like this one. This is my kind of catt. I'll cross pollinate it with the
Namib Sunset to make some more pods for my home flasking trials. If I ever manage to actually make seedlings of them, I'm pretty sure I'd like the result.
Laeliocatanthe Meadow Bright
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