Paph. Lebaudyanum in bloom!

[lotis146]

Aside from knowing I'd bought a multifloral I didn't know what this flower would windup looking like. So I was really really excited to discover it spiking at the end of August.





About 5-6 weeks later I now have open blooms. Gosh, I was thrilled to finally see it. This is my only multifloral of this type and I must say I love the drama of the opening process. How shortly after the bud begins the opening process the two long petals fall out like a woman letting her hair down. Lebaudyanum's as you see are a dark pink color with a nice little sheen to them. Then when it finally opened I was so happy to see the leopard like spotting over a background of a lovely light lemon yellow. And as you can see in the photos the spots and yellow travel up into the dorsal but fade into stripes at which point the pink color comes back gently. And to think it looks I'll have 5 of these beauties!





This first bloom has been open for several days. In that time the petals have twisted a little more and the base of the dorsal folded back some at the base to form this more diamond-like shape.



This is the 2nd bloom to open more fully just yesterday. You can see the difference now between the older and younger flowers. I'm really in love with this (can't you tell) and so happy to share. It's got three fans and already, for at least several weeks now, has a new growth.