Laelia anceps - Dry sheath

[Roberta]

Bravo! Well done! (Now, which is more important, pretty leaves or FLOWERS...?)

[rbarata]

Well, we always try to get both but when not possible flowers are a lot better.

I always find some kind of wierd fascination for the looks of a plant growing outside at nature's mercy.

One question...wouldn't it be fragrant...this one is but one got to put the nose inside the flowers.

[estación seca]

Wonderful! That is what plants look like in habitat, so I would say it's grown to perfection.

[Roberta]

I have found L. anceps to be barely fragrant, or not... individual plants differ, but if it is there, it is pretty subtle and mostly in the heat of the sun - so also ephemeral. Nice when it's there, but not a dominant feature.

Next batch of leaves will probably get less sunburned, if the plant stays outside - it will acclimate. I think the transition from "too shady" to the desired sun may have caused some extra toasting. Mine are in nearly full sun, leaves are reddish and very hard but haven't had much sunburn problem. Leaves tend to grow nearly vertical, so don't present quite so much surface area to the sun. But clearly, the extra light is what it needed to bloom. Looks great! Not only does this species thrive on abuse, clearly it needs some to bloom.

[SouthPark]

Wow ... very nice blooms from rbarata.

Oh... yes.... if certain kinds of home grown orchid plants can make the gradual transition to outdoor conditions, then they can become tough as nails. Sun-hardened, weather hardened etc. Sometimes, the rules about watering and fertilisation can be thrown out the window - as even an automatic lawn sprinkler and no manual fertilising can keep a plant going forever - without any extra human intervention. The leaf burn under the most extreme condition can certainly occur, and is expected to be part of the package - but those plants can often shrug it off, as if it were nothing. Yes..... outdoor hardened plants can be a 'different beast'. Very tough. They sort of just do the nature thing and just handle whatever is dished out to them. Although ... naturally, all this depends on which part of the world the plant is to be grown.

[papayj]

Wonderfull! As a guy with an "Anceps-Mature-without-Any-Blooms", your post certainly gave me some idea, rbarata! Thank you! You gave me hope!

Now, as soon as the winter is over, I will put mine outside...

[rbarata]

Thank you, my friends

It took me a lot of courage to put it under the sun and seeing the leaves burning...it happened in April so I never thought it could handle summer sun...it grew under temps that reached 45ºC this year.

Caution when putting it outside is key...if the plant is not acclimatized to strong light it will burn.

[estación seca]

As we say in the US, no guts, no glory.

[rbarata]

After my week vacation a surprise:







It must be thinking it's autumn. Lately we have been under abnormal weather for the season, with cooler temps and rain. One more spike to go...

[SaraJean]

Well done!! That is stunning. With all the different varieties, this is one of those species that I could have a dozen of