A Merry Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace 'Twinkle ' Christmas

Wishing all my friends and readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love the dainty, lilac-coloured Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace 'Twinkle '.

Caulocattleya Chantilly Lace is currently my favourite Laeliinae orchid hybrid. There is a mild, nondescript but pleasant scent and the flowers come in bunches of 3 to 6 blooms that last about a month.

Vegetatively they resemble a large and robust Caulathron bicornutum plant and behave somewhat like their Caulathron bicornutum mother with the tendency to sulk a while if the roots were disturbed during repotting. However, once growth resumes they are quite forgiving and easy to rebloom.

Brassocatanthe Little Mermaid

This charming little orchid has only three species from three different genera in its genetic make-up, and it has inherited mostly the best qualities of each and every one of its parents. This plant is Brassocatanthe Little Mermaid.

Brassocatanthe Little Mermaid - the size of the flowers relative to the plant is huge!

Registered by Dogashima in 1997, which by the way makes this a 20 year old hybrid, is a cross between Cattleya walkeriana and Brassanthe Maikai. Bsn. Maikai is a rather old but pretty hybrid made up of Brassavola nodosa and Guarianthe bowringiana. Thus Bct. Little Mermaid is 50% C. walkeriana and 25% each of B. nodosa and Gur. bowringiana. However, the vegetative form of the plant is more like Bsn. Maikai, except for the broader leaves, which is not surprising as most B. nodosa hybrids look a bit like B. nodosa, with sub-terete leaves and narrow pseudobulbs.

Two different Rth. Netrasiri Starbright

Rth. Netrasiri Starbright is one of those complex hybrids that have many forms. Here are a pic each of two different forms; firstly a yellow-red form that Thai sellers call Netrasiri Starbright 'Spectacular' and then the Netrasiri Starbright 'Malaysia' that I have posted previously.

Rth. Netrasiri Starbright 'Spectacular'

Rth. Netrasiri Starbright 'Malaysia'

As you can see, the colours are very different, but the lip are somewhat similar. Also the plant stature are almost the same, thus without being labeled or in bloom, you will have difficulty telling the two apart. Hence the importance to keep them properly labeled. Both of them love the sun in the tropics, and by slowly bringing them out to the full sun, they actually thrive and become more hardy and less prone to rot and fungal spots on the leaves. Plus they bloom more frequently. Only thing is, make sure there is good airflow to keep the leaves cool at the hottest time of the day.

Rhyncattleanthe Netrasiri Starbright 'Malaysia'

My Rth. Netrasiri Starbright 'Malaysia' has bloomed! This variety of Rth. Netrasiri Starbright actually looks more like its Rth. Orange Nuggett parent. However, the plant is as robust (tall and husky) as the typical Netrasiri Starbrights, and the flower actually start off yellowish green, like the typical petal colour of the yellow-red Netrasiri Starbright. Over 3 - 4 days, the blooms darken to orange, reminiscent of the Orange Nuggett parent. The sepals are broader than Orange Nuggett, and the petals are fuller whilst the lip is like the typical Netrasiri Starbright, but coloured orange. Definitely a keeper, except that the flower presentation definitely falls behind the typical Netrasiri Starbright, being clustered together like in Rth. Orange Nuggett.

Below are some info regarding the cross extracted from the International Orchid Register:

Genus	Rhyncattleanthe
Epithet	Netrasiri Starbright
Synonym Genus Name	Potinara
Registrant Name	V.Netrasiri
Originator Name	V.Netrasiri
Date of registration	01/12/1987

 

	Seed parent	Pollen parent
Genus	Cattlianthe	Rhyncattleanthe
Epithet	Kauai Starbright	Orange Nuggett

Zelenkoa onusta - tiny little flecks of gold

I can't help myself and just got these cute miniature (teeny tiny) member of the Oncidiinae subtribe - Zelenkoa onusta or formerly known as Oncidium onustum 4 days ago. I got two pots, and it came in little thumb pots like the one shown in the picture. I repotted them into larger containers, obviously hoping they will grow and fill the container and one day produce multiple flower stalks.

Love the bright canary yellow flowers of Zelenkoa onusta.

They came in little red plastic thumb pots and I re-potted
them into larger pots.

Both of them had flower stalks when they came, but one wilted rather quickly, probably due to the shock of being transported.I love how the yellow flowers looks like pure canary yellow, but on closer inspection, there are actually a few tiny specks of purple/red/brown on them. This flecking is also seen on the pseudobulbs.

The mini pseudobulbs with red/purple flecking are sooo cute.

Laeliocattleya Hsin Buu Lady 'Y.T.'

The cerise red colour of the flower is rather difficult to
capture with a digital camera

Lc. Hsin Buu Lady 'Y.T.' is a hybrid of the Laelia ancep with Cattleya Wendy's Valentine. This plant inherits the 'step-ladder' growth habit of the L. anceps mother, together with the rose colouration and rather long but thin flower stalk. Also the plant tend to form clumps, which in the tropical heat and humidity makes it prone to rot. Thus this hybrid is best potted in a very open mix or mounted on wood in hot and humid areas.

Cattlianthe Galaxy Belle x Loog Tone

You got to love this Cattlianthe. I got it in bloom as the plant was too good to give it a pass, despite being quite a small(ish) plant (only 3-4 pseudobulb). A hybrid of Ctt. Galaxy Belle with Ctt. Loog Tone, the flowers starts off with reddish petals and sepals with a yellow lip and matures to strong pink petals and sepals with some speckles. Hopefully the hybridizer will go about registering the name for this cross soon, for such a beauty orchid hybrid should have an equally beautiful name.

Ctt. Galaxy Belle x Loog Tone.

A golden bloom to start the blog - Rlc. Pleonpit Golden Delight

To kick of this blog about orchid growing on balcony in the city as well as my orchid collection (mostly Laeliinae), let me share with you one of the orchids that has been with me for some time, and is still a favourite despite being tough to rebloom - Rhyncolaeliocattleya Ploenpit Golden Delight. The large, floofy lip and almost concolor yellow bloom reminds me of a large yellow daffodil. The form that I have is almost pure yellow, whereas there is another form with red markings on the lip.

What is there not to a love about this floofy yellow cattleya -
Rlc. Ploenpit Golden Delight.

I got this plant from MAHA (Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture & Agrotourism Show) 2012, and it was on sale as the weather was bad and the stall had many plants left. Sadly other pots procured from the same stall rotted rather rapidly. I guess it was inevitable as the rain had flooded the stall area and most of the plant would have been sitting in some water for sometime during the exposition.