Holy crap did I get a phal. wiganiae at No Frills?

[let_it_grow]

So, I was browsing at my local discount supermarket when I stumbled upon a phal that looked very unique. I'm so used to seeing all the flashy fuschia, dyed blue, pillowy white phals that they rarely catch my eye at all anymore. As a rule I generally don't buy or rescue them because their flowers have lost the uniqueness that drew me into orchids in the 1st place. But this pretty little lady was different. Banded leaves, smaller more "species like" flowers, white with a hint of blushing pink and subtle little freckles on the iridescent surface of the petals, not those slap you in the mouth fuschia, palm sized, bubble like phals you normally see at the grocery store. Sure there were plenty of those, and the massive white discs that the, once elegant, white phals have become and the DREADED dyed ones (sigh, is there not enough brilliant colour in the orchid world? We have to dye them blue now?) but among all the hybridizing that has essentially blended anything unique from a phal into a few varieties of lacklustre throwaways is this little gem. She was almost completely shrouded by the obnoxious "look at how big I am!!!" phals but I saw her. I pulled her out, 1/3 the size of the others and not another like her in the bunch. This is the 1st time in 10 years that a phal had caught my eye. I inspected her, checked her roots, the leaves, I was sorta puzzled by the banded leaves and was inspecting every leaf to make sure it wasn't a disease or anything. I even googled it to make sure that phal leaves actually come like that. But there was nothing wrong with her, she was perfect. 2 branching flower sprays with many flowers. I snatched her up and continued shopping. Hey, for $9.99 its worth it for just the one show. I took her home and I couldn't believe that I bought a phal and not only that, I actually really liked it. Over the summer she got some earwigs in her pot as she hung from the tree and they had their way with her roots, when I brought her in she was a mess, I cleaned her up, changed her pot and kinda put her off to the side and figured "meh, she might make it, she might not" I think I had forgotten how brilliant her flowers were. She was strong and she hung on, grew and grew, new roots and leaves and then I see a little spike and it all comes back. Her delicate pretty flowers, the branching sprays. Well, today as I'm window shopping on eBay for orchids I see one with leaves like my little lady, "hmmmmm, I wonder if that looks like mine?" I do a bit of searching and I find a hybrid called phal. wiganiae and its her!! I don't mean it could be her, I mean there is no way that there could be an orchid hybrid out there that looks more like her. I would call this a 99.9% certain ID, which is impossible with grocery store phals. So is it possible that I have actually IDed the unIDable? By accident? And not only that but I got something good at a discount grocery store? It was like the grower put her in the wrong bundle. One labeled "Walmart" another labeled "loblaws inc" and one labeled "home depot" where all the obnoxious ones go and the rest to flower store suppliers? Maybe she was supposed to go in the last bunch and there wasn't room? Maybe it was an accident? Who knows. All I can say is that I got a phal. wiganiae for $9.99 at No Frills. I'd say I did pretty good.


Will post pics as soon as the blooms open