Cattleya maxima award
 

Got this awarded a couple days ago. Unfortunately I was taking it to a show two weekends ago and my car broke down, so it got a little damaged. Evidently they would have scored it quite a bit higher. Oh well. Neat thing about this one is that the flowers open white with some pink veins in the lip, and darken to that hot pink color over a period of a week or so.

Actually had two spikes, the second had maybe 5 flowers on it. Each flower is a bit smaller than my hand. Although I have no particular documentation confirming it, this is evidently the 'lowland' form of C. maxima, but with a color more approaching what might be found in the 'highland form'. I have no idea, I just grow it.

Cattleya maxima 'Littlefrog Princess' HCC/AOS
http://littlefrogfarm.com/images/C_maxima_LFP.jpg

Supposedly this is synonymous with Guaranthe maxima now, although evidently it is all changing back to cattleya soon. I hope it does.

Congratulations Rob! :bowing

What a lovely plant...great job! :clap:

Awesome! Now if I could only get mine to bloom.....

Hi Rob,

Congrats on your HCC! Way to go. :bowing :cheer: :clap:

I love the coloration on this beauty. :love: I have a small maxima in my collection, and I can only hope that it will be this beautiful when it grows up. :D

I don't know if this is the trick or not, but the plant itself looks like hell. It gets way too much light in the summer and I leave it out in the cold until almost first frost (sometimes later). It seems to bloom well, and the blooming has been better over each of the last three years. I don't know if you can replicate that in Hawaii.

Ive been doing to my maximas what I do to my purpuratas to get them to bloom. Withhold water until they spike! I think thats the closest can get to winter abuse for my plants. Ill let you know if it works on maximas!

Congrats Rob! That's a great looking display. I would have loved to see it in person.

It may be a seedling from a cross of the upland and lowland forms.

Cattleya maxima has never been a Guarianthe, although Dressler's less than informative article this month did not help matters. Cattleya maxima is the problem child because its DNA doesn't do what it should be doing in molecular analysis. If you ignore its existence, the DNA of its relatives works out without much issue. One of many realities largely ignored by the discipline.

Hope that helps, Eric

Also, there are highland and lowland maximas. For Hawaii, I would try to find a supplier with a pure lowland variety.

What size are your bulbs on the maxima? the lowland ones have bulbs up to 28"