Question to vanda growers with BLUE vandas
 

My new Ascda Princess Mikasa Blue just opened it's first flower and while it is quite beautiful, it is not a true blue I was hoping for but rather sort of pinkish/purplish blue.
I still like it, but am again on the hunt for truly BLUE vanda.
Owners of blue vandas, I need your help. If you have one that is truly blue (more like deep royal blue with no pink in the hue), please tell me her name.
There are many hybrid names that include word blue, plus I know there are many names without word blue that are still blue (V. Pachara Delight, V. Manuvadee). Search of them through google images returns mixed results from really blue to really purple.
I know that you cannot predict the bloom color of seedling cross and my best bet would be to buy one in flower from show (too long wait until April :)). At this point I just want to find out from all the blue hybrids which ones more likely to have the color I want.

Also I really liked the shape and size of Robert's Delight blooms. Does it come in blue?
Thanks a lot.

Have you seen Vanda Blue Stick ?
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5...6/DSC_0033.JPG


Its not a perfect picture, but as you can see its "blue" :)

There's a problem with searching the internet looking for a blue vanda. Vandas in the blue/violet spectrum almost always look more blue in photographs than they do in real life. I live in south Florida near some of the largest commercial vanda growing nurseries in the U.S. and I have yet to see a true blue vanda. I think you're going to need to settle on something that is not quite blue. Here are three of my favorites in that spectrum. I know they look blue in the picture, but they're actually more purple. The Vascostylis is the closest to being true blue in real life.

Ascda. Princess Mikasa 'Indigo'

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...asa-indigo.jpg

V. Pachara Delight

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ra-delight.jpg

Vascostylis Vinita Blue

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...inita-blue.jpg

I agree with Tucker, I have yet to see a blue Vanda. When blue is in the name, or when someone describes an orchid as being "blue", unfortunately (from everything I have seen) that just means it's on the blue end of purple or lavender. I think it's very misleading.

True blue doesn't exist in orchids, and also in many other plant families so your chances of finding one are zero. The closest you can get is the rich dark purples posted above. I don't own Vandas but I too have noticed that photos online are much nearer to blue than the blooms actually are.
I really don't understand why in the orchid world dark purple is called blue....

Thank you for the info guys. And even more thank you for the pictures. :) Some gorgeous vandas you have!
Tucker, your Princess has much deeper blue color than mine, I like it better and probably eventually will add "Indigo Princess" to my collection too.
Ingse, I think I came across your photosteam on the net and saw White Princess Mikasa there. It seems her blooms have a bit of greenish color at the bottom. Is it true, or just a picture trick?
I see now that they all have some purple hint in them and Tuckers vasco is really the closest to blue I want.
I have V. Bangkok Blue seedling but it is years away from flowering.
I guess, I will have to wait for the show and hope there will be lots of blooming blue vandas to choose from :)
Thanks again!

Thank you Gage and Camille.
It is so misleading especially for the newbs like me who didn't see much vandas in the real life and mostly goes by the names and internet pictures :).

I think it would be misleading for pretty much anyone who isn't aware of this misuse of the word. I too was really confused the first time I read discussions about 'blue' orchid since I've seen true blue flowers before, and these are nowhere near it. (google Gentiana verna, THAT'S what I call a blue flower! The color in the photos is accurate. I saw these while hiking in the Alps) Now I finally understand that it's a term meant just to designated an orchid being 'special' in terms of color. But I personally call it near-blue or orchid-blue.

I was driving through central Texas once and saw some gorgous blue flowers on a fence. It was so stunning that I did a u-turn and went back and got out of my car to look. The plant was a sky blue morning glory. Absolutely beautiful and I've never seen another flower like it.

I couldn't help but think of morning glories when mentioning blue flowers. I had them once and people stopped me in my front yard thru that summer to ask if they were real or fake?? They were huge also. The same goes in the bedding plant industry-there are few really true blue flowers, but many of the purple/blue ones are called blue. Mother Nature just didn't use that colour too much in flowers. She saved it all for the sky :)