Sobralia time

[Roberta]

Running a little late but the Sobralias are starting to put on a show. Flowers only last a few days, but they keep popping out, so that once they get going, the plants will be in bloom for 6-8 weeks.

I especially love Sob. xantholeuca. Bright butter-yellow, with darker yellow almost orange in the throat. When crossed with the hot-pink Sob. macrantha, the result is a pale pink to almost white flower, but big.

sob macrantha is shown with my hand for scale, The much larger one is either a really good Sob. macrantha, or possibly Sob. rogersiana, a closely related species. Sob. Unknown was labeled Sob macrantha alba. Obviously not. It's likely some combination of macrantha and xantholeuca. Sob Veitchii is macrantha x xantholeuda, almoast white. On the other side of the patio are several plants of Sob powellii x macrantha alba - some pink, some white. And that big macrantha/rogersiana. For more color, you can see how Eulophia speciosa is progrssing, And in front, Max. tenuifolia.

There will be some interesting Sobralias coming along n a few weeks, too. A great show!

[Leafmite]

Those are beautiful...and large! Photos, in my experience, never do plants justice so it must be glorious to see all of them in bloom together.

[Roberta]

Thanks! The plants are robust. Fortunately, being pretty much terrestrial they don't need repotting very often (if at all) . Because some are too big to move. Big plants means more growths means more flowers... It's a great time of year.

[DeaC]

Oh my! I've never seen one in person but that yellow is superb. So big. Fragrance?

[Roberta]

There's some fragrance - not strong on the xantholeuca. That big Sob. micrantha/rogersiana has definite fragrance. But you have to stick your nose in it. It's the visual impression that jumps out... big flowers and lots of them, they just keep coming.

[Leafmite]

Just plant a few plumeria behind them and that solves the fragrance issue....

I grow other fragrant plants and a certain orchid was not fragrant but, every time it bloomed, either a citrus or jasmine flower would be in bloom so, when my kids were little, they always thought it was fragrant.

[smweaver]

All are very pretty. I have xantholeuca also. Its blooms are the same beautiful yellow color of yours, but they're a little on the stinky side. I wish I had room to grow some of the larger ones that you posted photos of. They look like something from Willy Wonka to me.

[Roberta]

Hmm...just gave my xantholeuca a whiff, have some nice fresh flowers this morning, no smell that I can detect. As with lots of other things, fragrance seems to be an ephemeral feature that some cultivars have and some don't, some times and not other times. apparently. I'm glad for "not stinky"!