Rth. Free Spirit 'Laina'

[SouthPark]

I'd like to dedicate this page to this particular plant, which I see an extremely nice photo belonging to an orchidboard forum member (Bolero), who owns this image:

Above : Bolero's Rth. Free Spirit 'Laina'


That flower certainly has the same features - colour and lip fringe shape as the AOC awarded plant's flower - seen here:


Above : AOC awarded Rth. Free Spirit 'Laina'


Interestingly, a member at 'orchidtalk' showed a photo of a flower from what he believes is Rth. Free Spirit 'Laina', which is noticed to have a different lip pattern - as in noticeably different amount of waveyness and flaring around the lip, and has pinkish-red rim around the lip and around the petals, plus a red throat - seen at this orchidtalk thread (click here) - which is the very first image within that thread.



Above : Linked image owned by "Roy" from orchidtalk.


At the moment, I don't think that the pink/red rimmed flower with red throat (with different lip shape) is actually a 'Laina'. No matter what it is - it is a very nice looking flower.

Any 'Laina' growers out there that would like to comment about whether that different looking flower is a 'Laina'?

I'm currently growing a 'Laina', and a sheath is developing, so hopefully I'll get a bloom this year, and be able to photograph it too.

[Paphluvr]

The one with the red throat and rimmed lip is beautiful.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Paphluvr

The one with the red throat and rimmed lip is beautiful.

It certainly is! ie. referring to : this link

It reminds me a little of another plant ... Rth. Dal's Emperor 'Allan'. Only reminds me of it.


Above: Rth. Dal's Emperor 'Allan' (seen at orchids.org site).

[Roy]

You don't let up do you. Who gave you permission to use the pics, I didn't. You have been thrown out of one group, Trying for two are you ??

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Roy

You don't let up do you. Who gave you permission to use the pics, I didn't. You have been thrown out of one group, Trying for two are you ??

A case of mistaken identity Roy? That is - could you please explain what you mean by thrown out of one group? I have never been thrown out of any group/forum. I'm still relatively new to orchid forums. Perhaps you should private message me (or a forum administrator) first - rather than add such undiplomatic and disrespectful comments like that.

I love orchids, and have been growing cattleya orchids and other ones for approximately thirty-five years. There are many people having far more experience and have grown orchids for much longer than me. We're all learning - no matter how long we've been growing orchids. I respect all good people - regardless of their experience.

I took this phone-pic about half an hour ago of my fairly-recently-acquired 'Laina', showing a developing sheath. A very kind orchid grower went out of their way and shipped it to me. Several other well-respected orchid growers have shipped orchids to me as well. My username is SouthPark on three orchid forums, and I have never had arguments with anyone, and have never had any of my posts deleted by orchid forum moderators/administrators.

I haven't posted many photos before, but I have posted one here - showing 'Laina' that I placed on the ledge for the shot - with a developing sheath. And my very friendly cat just so-happened to sit in on the picture too.

[Roy]

Keep going, not continuing discussions. New to orchids you say, tipping you won't last long.

[Bolero]

I bought the Free Spirit 'Laina' from the person who originally had it awarded. From memory I think it cost me $60 for a good size division.

I will note that there is a lot of variation in Cattleya's and they don't always flower the same each season. I have some that have looked completely different from one year to the next to the point I wondered if I had the same plant or mislabelled it somehow but I think it also depends on the time of year.

Roy's probably isn't 'Laina' but certainly a good chance of being a Free Spirit. Either way I hope we aren't trying to create arguments with other experienced members of these forums.

[SouthPark]

Thanks very much Bolero for your post and comments. It's ok to discuss the subject of flowers and variations of blooms of a particular individual plant. And certainly ok to have friendly discussions that involve topics such as the likelihood (or unlikelihood) of a particular plant being what the tag says it is.

It is ok to convey opinions based on differences in flower features (eg. colour, lip shape etc).

I see significant differences in lip fringe pattern, petal shape, sepal shape, and colour when comparing your plant's flower with Roy's flower - leading to thoughts about Roy's plant being not what he thinks it is.

[estación seca]

I don't post other people's photos; I post links to the original site, so people can go there and see it in context. This is especially easy to do on Orchid Board. Right-click on the thread in the thread view and Copy the URL link. You can paste this into another post.

[SouthPark]

This Rth. Free Spirit (which an orchid nursery - where the orchid was purchased from - had tagged as a 'Laina') started opening a flower this morning. The sheath from earlier this year didn't produce a spike, but a new pseudobulb developed and produced a sheath and spike fairly quickly.


Above: Rth. Free Spirit



Above: Rth. Dal's Success 'Michelle' and Rth. Free Spirit


After closely inspecting the flower features, I think my orchid may not be a 'Laina'. I may need to change the name on the tag.

The petals on my flower appear roundish, not the same shape as the petals of the 'Laina' from the award photo (and also Bolero's photo).

I will need to observe the shape of future flowers. I believe it is at least an Rth. Free Spirit for now. The roundish petals are nice. Would be nicer if overlapping.