Hamelwellsara June ‘Indigo Sue’ AM/AOS

[Bud]

(Hamelwellsara Mem. Edmund Harcourt x Zygopetalum John Banks)

This plant is a first bloom from seedling that is in the Zygopetalum family. This plant produced beautiful deep purple/bluish flowers with a great substance to them even if it’s just three blooms.
This produces flowers on every new growth. When unopened, the buds are nearly solid black. Sepals have a bit more of the deep grape color than the petals, which appear a chocolate brown with just a tinge of purple. The lip is definitely bluish/purple.
Flower is 5" wide and has a peppery scent. The spike is rather pendant, difficult to get a face-on shot of this bloom since they opened in upside down and different directions.
Water and fertilizer regimen is once a week without wetting the leaves; its in a mixture of medium bark, coco chips, lava rock, charcoal, hydroton and sponge rock…positioned in a west facing kitchen window…I just followed the Zygopetalum culture on this since I can’t find a Hamelwellsara culture anywhere online.

[tucker85]

Very nice! I've never grown those.

[Gage]

Love that purple, Bud!

[Bud]

Thank You, Tucker ! I had a phase last year with Zygos ... I just love the flowers and they have fragrant scents.

Thanks You, Gage !

[WhiteRabbit]

Fabulous! I haven't had good luck with Zygos and Zygo hybrids *sigh* My original one (Zygo mackayi) has at least hung on for quite a long time, and keeps trying to rebound

[orchidsarefun]

you have illustrated my point about flowers facing different directions, and having nothing to do with which direction they were facing when buds formed. My zygo grex Kiwi Klassic x Mishima Goddess does exactly the same thing when flowering and I don't move it around at all. I have seen phals ( very few at box stores ) do the same thing and I wondered if this is a trait being inbred.

Gorgeous purple.

[silken]

Great growing Bud. I have a bloom sized Zygo hybrid but so far no blooms. It gets a lot of light and has a new growth just barely started and something else also started which is squeezed between two pseudo bulbs, but looking like another new growth-not a spike (sigh).

Yours is lovely.

[Bud]

Thank You, Sonya...why dont you repot it on a different media this time use a cymbidium mix...put it outside in the shade and water it moist but not dripping wet once a week...the humidity in your grow zone this time of year is just right for your plant...
*note: do not wet the leaves

[Bud]

@orchidsarefun...this is a phenomena that is just confusing me...my vandas face upright and face the light; opens wide almost flat flowers...its these other species that wants to go berzerk...blooms open in differentdirections that confuse me if I did something wrong in raising it to get a freakish array of flowers

Thank You, orchideya!

Thank You, silken !