May Bloomers in the Basement

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by Bayard

OMG - what a setup!
The Cattleya iricolor is a treat. Is it fragrant?
I also like your shot of the Hoya. What sort of camera do you use?

Thanks!

The Cattleya Iricolor is considered the most strongly fragrant cattleya and I agree, it is overpowering everything else in my growroom. Unfortunately it smells like a sweet bologna fragrance (to me). Like when you open a bag of lunchmeat and catch a whiff..

I just used my iPhone 11, portrait mode I believe.

[Bayard]

I edited my previous reply, as you’d already said it was fragrant. Yeah, I totally get the bologna reaction.
Somehow I knew you’d say it was an iPhone. The closeup of the Hoya is as good as my Canon 100mm macro lens.

[Shadeflower]

Very nice collection claw.
I've had dendrobium unicum on my maybe list for a while but I only want to add strong nice smelling ones to mine so maybe you can tell me if it is as strong as your tenuifolia or a bit less?
Thanks. Congrats on getting your Neofinetia to flower. I am getting a bit impatient with mine wondering if it is still too young to flower or if I am doing something wrong with it but I'll have to keep on being patient for now.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

Very nice collection claw.
I've had dendrobium unicum on my maybe list for a while but I only want to add strong nice smelling ones to mine so maybe you can tell me if it is as strong as your tenuifolia or a bit less?
Thanks. Congrats on getting your Neofinetia to flower. I am getting a bit impatient with mine wondering if it is still too young to flower or if I am doing something wrong with it but I'll have to keep on being patient for now.

Thank you for the kind words.

Yes, the unicum is strongly fragrant for me. Maybe a bit less than tenufolia, but it takes up less space and the flowers are so unique. I definitely recommend it. One thing I'll mention is that there seems to be two types of unicum out there, one that stay relatively small like mine (4-6" canes), and another version (maybe vietnam version) whose canes get 14". I got mine from Andy's about 2.5 years ago

[My Green Pets]

Wow!!! Amazing work!!!

I'm so impressed with the iricolor and the luteola! Where on earth did you find them? And I'm even more curious how you became interested in obtaining them. They are companions to C. rex in the Peruvian amazon and there are natural hybrids of the three of them out there.

Your Catasetums are going to be so huge when everything is all grown out! Can't wait to see.

Thank you for the update!

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by My Green Pets

Wow!!! Amazing work!!!

I'm so impressed with the iricolor and the luteola! Where on earth did you find them? And I'm even more curious how you became interested in obtaining them. They are companions to C. rex in the Peruvian amazon and there are natural hybrids of the three of them out there.

Your Catasetums are going to be so huge when everything is all grown out! Can't wait to see.

Thank you for the update!

Thank you so much! Cool info on luteola and iricolor

I have had the luteola for about 2 years, I believe I got it on Etsy. It is either really easy to grow or loves my conditions. It has a fairly strong, hard to describe, not entirely pleasant fragrance. It requires less light than other catts.

The iricolor actually came from Ecuagenera 5 months ago with 4 sheaths for like $30. It has settled in and began to send out new growth with sheaths and I had given up on blooms from the originals, then all of a sudden, boom!

I'm expecting quite a catasetum show this year as long as I can keep my thrip issue under control.

[Jeff214]

It's fantastic that you have such a healthy collection growing under lights. I really love the C. iricolor. Actually, I got mine in the mail today from Ecuagenera! I've been wanting one ever since you posted yours. Fortunately, I enjoy all hams, and I'm looking forward to its scent!

[Leafmite]

What a fantastic group of flowers! Your set up looks wonderful!

I really like all the Encyclias. I just have a young phonecia seedling currently but I might have to add another. I really love the impressive spikes some of them can produce. Is your Phal violacea fragrant? I have thought about getting one as I enjoy my Phal bellina so much. The flowers are so much nicer in real life than the photos can ever show.

[Clawhammer]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

What a fantastic group of flowers! Your set up looks wonderful!

I really like all the Encyclias. I just have a young phonecia seedling currently but I might have to add another. I really love the impressive spikes some of them can produce. Is your Phal violacea fragrant? I have thought about getting one as I enjoy my Phal bellina so much. The flowers are so much nicer in real life than the photos can ever show.

Encyclias are wonderful... I basically only collect fragrant orchids and they have such a wonderful diverse selection of aromas.

Yes, the violacea is very fragrant, although different from the candy sweet bellina.

[Leafmite]

Most of my orchids are chosen for fragrance, too. The non-orchids either have fragrant flowers, fragrant leaves or produce fruit...sometimes a combination of two.