I never had one of my plants sketched, so many thanks for this artistic honour.
The fattest bulbs and leaves of Laelia gouldiana can grow 40 centimeters high. If you add another 40 cm for the spike, you get a maximum height of 80 cm. But one foot or 2 feet with arching spike is normal.
The plant's growth pattern is exactly like autumnalis, really compact, not so striding or space-consuming as Laelia anceps.
The plant is easy to grow under standard Cattleya conditions. It is quite hardy to high or low temps, drying out and cold draught. So I placed them in the edge of my greenhouse, beneath a window. A marked nocturnal fall of temperature does not harm.
Of course Mexican species need a winter rest. I remember that I slept in a tent at Christmas in the north of Baja California. We had 0°C/freezing point and a strong wind from the north. The unpleasant weather compelled me and my friends to flee into our sleeping bags with alpine underwear at 8 pm on Christmas eve.
Mexican Laelias grow a few thousand kilometers further south, but seasons are still marked under the tropic.
Here in Germany the most important thing is to give as much light as possible in winter.
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