Cattleya (syn. Laelia) praestans

[papayj]

First time blooming.
I bought this two years ago as a small three-bulb division. It reacted quite badly when I unpotted and mounted it on a piece of cork; it barely grew and even lost couple of leaves. I thought I might have killed this little guy.

But this year, all in sudden, it began to grow vigorously and the newest pseudobulb begin to swell up like a balloon and voila, a flower bud emerged! And it grew bigger and bigger and finally opened up yesterday. Now I am a happy man!

PS: Picture 1 and 2 are from yesterday when the bud began to open; 3 and 4 are taken today.

[katrina]

Love, love, love this little species but I've killed 2 of them. They definitely don't respond well to root disturbance - you've done an excellent job with it. Jealous here...it is gorgeous.

I'm going to get another one in the spring and give it one more try.

[Dollythehun]

Very nice!

[No-Pro-mwa]

So pretty. Love the color.

[estación seca]

Yes, that's great!

[Salixx]

What a gorgeous little plant! I'm in love with mine so I bought another .

Originally Posted by katrina

Love, love, love this little species but I've killed 2 of them. They definitely don't respond well to root disturbance - you've done an excellent job with it. Jealous here...it is gorgeous.

I'm going to get another one in the spring and give it one more try.

Mine loves Semi-Hydro and I got it as a NBS plant but not quite mature plant. Maybe younger plants are better since they are always throwing roots?