Cattleyas for cool climates

[rbarata]

Thank you for the sugestion, Salixx.
Unfortunately this specie also has the same problem as mexican laelias: dry winter.
My goal was to let them outside all year but I can't provide them a dry winter and I don't have conditions to protect them.

[epiphyte78]

Originally Posted by rbarata

Thank you for the sugestion, Salixx.
Unfortunately this specie also has the same problem as mexican laelias: dry winter.
My goal was to let them outside all year but I can't provide them a dry winter and I don't have conditions to protect them.

How much rain do you get? Here in Los Angeles we get around 12" per year. A few years back we got around 20" of rain. None of my orchids had a problem with the rain despite the fact that nearly all of them are from areas with dry winters.

Many years ago I did lose a few random Cattleyas during the winter. They were mounted... but with moss. Since then I haven't mounted my more succulent orchids with any moss.

Here's a photo I took three years ago of some Cattleyas blooming on my tree...


Cattleya Portia coerulea by Epiphyte, on Flickr

This last January I created a thread on the topic of winter rain. You can see a pic of my anceps blooming in the rain. I shared a short video and some more info in a blog entry.

Last year I shared this other blog entry with you... Creating The Perfect Orchid For Southern California. Laelia anceps isn't the perfect orchid for Mediterranean climates because it doesn't usually grow during our raining season. There are some cooler growing orchids in the Cattleya alliance that will grow during our raining season. But generally these aren't as drought tolerant as anceps. So the goal is to combine the best of both worlds.