Sold as lc. Puppy Love, but what is it?

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

Two years ago I purchased what was sold to me as Lc. Puppy Love 'True Beauty' from a nursery in N. Carolina. After waiting for two years, I finally got two blooms from this orchid but instead of blooming on spikes similar to what should be its L. anceps parent, it bloomed on a very short growth with the buds just outside of the sheath. The color is more of a bluish tone, not at all similar to any pictures I have seen of Lc. Puppy Love. Nice, but not what I had hoped and clearly not Lc. Puppy Love.

Does anyone have any ideas of what this might be?

[GardenTheater]

It's lovely. Too bad it's not what you expected. I haven't seen one that is similar.

[katrina]

Mis-labeled plants happens to even the best vendors sometimes. Disappointing, yes...but it happens.

It's beautiful....any chance the grower might be able to id it for you? Can't hurt to try.

[tucker85]

It's very pretty but I don't know what it is. Sorry you didn't get the plant you wanted.

[pheli]

It looks like Lc. Blue Angel or Lc. Blue Boy or other similar crosses.

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

Following up on Katrina's suggestion, I contacted the seller and she thinks that the only blue shade cattleya hybrid that she was selling when she carried "Puppy Love" was Blc. Sweet Sharon.

I tried to google the name and nothing came up. Anyone know of Blc. Sweet Sharon and what it should look like?

If this is indeed Sweet Sharon, then it is apparently a 'temperature tolerant' hybrid, perhaps with a fair amount of laelia anceps and various cool tolerant Brazilian catt species in the mix.

[Leafmite]

It is a gorgeous cattleya and I think you were rather lucky! Love the color! I am glad you have a possible name for it and hope someone has a picture for you!

[katrina]

No pictures but Orchid Wiz has it as...current name =
Rhyncattleanthe [Rth.] Sweet Sharon....which is (C Floralia's Azul x Rth Lois McNeil).

All species in the mix are as follows...

C labiata
C walkeriana
Gur bowringiana
C warneri
C pumila
Rl digbyana
C tenebrosa

I would say you have a complex hybrid that should be very happy in intermediate to warm temps and typical bright Catt light. A couple of the species can take some cool temp but personally...given the abundance of warm growers in the mix...I would grow it intermediate to warm. Of course, you've been growing it for 2 years and you've bloomed it...so...just keep doing whatever it is you've been doing.

The bowringiana can have some length to it's spikes but none of the species have L anceps length spikes. It's a nice mix of some beautiful species though.

[mjHuntingtonBeach]

Katrina,

So Orchidwiz recommends intermediate-warm growing? Strange, I've had it outdoors since I got it thinking it ws 50% L. anceps, which here in coastal Southern CA means winter evening temps in the mid 30's to mid 40's, daytimes 55-65 on average, and summers with evening temps in the low-mid 60's day temps in the 70's - 80's. It seems to have adapted to that, and once I moved it from a shadier location to an area getting more direct sun, it finally bloomed.

Of the species you noted, I think some are considered "temperature tolerant" of our lows here, at least based upon what information I could find, in particular from the Santa Barbara Orchid Estates website:

C labiata - TT
C walkeriana - TT
Gur bowringiana - Intermediate-Warm
C warneri - Intermediate
C pumila - TT
Rl digbyana - Intermediate-Warm
C tenebrosa - TT

Thank you so much for the information, it was very enlightening. One of these days I will have to let the moths free from my wallet and get Orchidwiz for myself

[PaphMadMan]

There is also Laeliocatanthe (Lcn.) Sweet Sharon (L. anceps x Ctt. Memoria Buddy Clark). That gives it a convincing cool tolerant background.

Ctt. Memoria Buddy Clark comes from:

C. purpurata
Gur. bowringiana
C. trianae
C. dowiana
C. perciviliana
C. tigrina
C. warscewizcii
C. pumila

This looks like it could be an offspring of Mem. Buddy Clark but I don't see much L. anceps in it, so I wouldn't be certain.