Monn. Millenium Magic 'Witchcraft' AM/AOS in bloom
 

I bought this plant in bloom two weeks ago.
The flowers are now all open and it is almost black.
Kind of cool, kind of creepy as I'm looking at it now.

Unlike my Cyc. Golden Shower, that smelled like banana, this one smells more like some kind of spice, perhaps cedar tree?? I can't quite tell what it is, but it smells like one of my shower gel which has cedar fragrance in it.

I think the fragrance goes well with the pitch dark bloom. :biggrin:

Unfortunately, my little search tells me that one of its parents is the most prone to rot among all catasetum family. lol

Oh, well...for now, just enjoying the flowers and the scent.

By the way, anyone of you who has this plant, is it normal for the lip to curl backward like all my flowers do?? I would like it better if they were all flat.

I have hard time capturing the beauty of the flowers on camera. These all came out dull, but in person they are quite glossy and plasticy.

Beatiful!

And unlike my yellow Golden Shower, which had all male flowers, this plant has all female flowers.
Someone told me the female flowers are the "pretty ones" but I like the male version better with that skinny long part curling up making the whole flower look like a swan.

Anyways, I was also told higher light induce the production of female flowers. Is this true??

WOW! that's beautiful :love:

Thanks, do you grow plants in catasetum group??

I am a newbie to these, so I need to learn about them from experienced growers.

I have read every instruction I could find on line already. :D

Very nice! I don't have one of these yet so I can't help you but enough people seem to have them right now that you'll surely get advice. :)

I hope so.

Magnificent blooms! I will be posting my flowers soon since it opened this week....

This is a complex hybrid, so you actually have "perfect" flowers, which means you have flowers with both male and female parts. In fact, you can see pollinia in the second picture.

Super cool.

Kim

Wow! Spectacular!

I didn't grow it, but I hope to bring it back to flowering next year. :)

Just to say a note, ebay has a small FDK after dark like mine for 17.00 for sale bidding ends tomorrow. It will most likely bloom next year.

Beautiful! Looks like mine is on its own time table. Lol! I have a short spike, but it's going to be a minute before I see flowers.

These are the photos I took of mine. I think the curl is normal.

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...aftOct2013.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...oseupflash.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h3...aftcloseup.jpg


PS - I think they smell like Pine!

I have a new one in bloom!
I went out shopping and the guy gave me one freebie as a gift.

He had tons of these in bloom, but everyone wants something red since Christmas is in this month.

I think I could have asked for more than one and he could have given me some away, but my hands were all tied already. lol

I think I picked the one with the largest flower size.
My old one is not getting all wrinkly and you know..sleepy. haha

I think I'll get rid of the old and keep this one. It's a bigger plant with bigger flowers.

It is sort of pine, I'm not sure, definitely some kind of wood smell. cedar? sandal??
but this particular one also has some sweet kick to it, which I like. ;)

and oh, by the way, I could be imagining, but this one is darker than my older one, which had some really dark maroon or mahogany (whatever you call it) tone under bright light, but this one is literally balack!

The flowers are already fading again.
I thought cattleyas were short lived. lol

I know. I think the short flower span is a HUGE drawback!