Blc Yen Corona 'Green Genie'

[Dorsetman]

A very complex hybrid this one - looking at the genealogy, almost anything would be possible. Looks , from stature and cluster habit, as though it is very much a bifoliate cross, and I would have guessed leopoldii was in there somewhere, but, no - it has big doses of granulosa, intermedia and even ( would you believe it ) dowiana. There is some bicolor, though.
But its a nice little thing, don't you think ? Flowers a bit over 3 inches in natural spread, latest bulb almost a foot high.
This is the third flowering since seedling ( actual a meristem plantlet) and I don't know where it will end if grown well well enough , my plant already has 3times as many flowers as the best shown on Orchidwiz.
There was once a guy ( sole trader) in UK who specialised in Cattleya species, and he showed me an amethystoglossa almost two feet high with goodness kows how many flowers - 24 ? a result of superb culture for a number of years.
I don't know if any of you catt' lovers also collect orchid books ? Have you see Jack Fowlie's The Bifoliate Cats of Brazil ? ( Orchid Digest still have copies, I think) He chased up every singe species and found them in the wild, and what he writes is a real eye opener - C.bicolor with canes or bulbs several feet tall - how I would love to see those.
Makes you realise that most of the orchids we see are just kids -babies. Not all orchids can grow into grandpapas, but when they do, they can leave the kids standing.
I do ramble on... actually its early in the morning here,I've just got to my study to read the greenhouse temperature etc via some wireless gear ,( 16 deg C in the greenhouse, minus 2 in ithe garden, and plus 2 in my heated cold-frame where I have some evergreen Calanthes) 1cm , a mere dusting, of snow in the night, and I'm filling in time until my wife wakes up and I can take her a cup of tea and not wake her when I have my shower....

[catttan]

Beautiful. I like the colour combo especially that blush of colour on the lateral petals. Another candidate for a future CCC, perhaps?

[Dorsetman]

Very difficult to get a CCC for a hybrid - 60% of "the Committee" are botanists, and they do turn their noses up at hybrids.
Even so , 5 years plus of good culture, always - every single day - getting it right, no failures anywhere, that's the starting point for a CCC ... I wish I could say that I have several candidates on that road, but....
There was the time I bought insulation which was not UV treated - the lying cheating salesman said it would last for years, and it turned to confetti after 10 months...
The thermostat which failed, and left the heating on, when I went away for a week-end to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and the weather turned warm - 45 degrees C in the greenhouse when I got back, etc etc...
It's a great life, if you don't weaken - they tell me....
I don't know about that , I weakened.

[Ron-NY]

I am not a big splash-petaled lover but that is a nice one!

[Brutal_Dreamer]

I think this one is really nice. I like how the coloring is perfectly placed on the perfect shape.

Cheers,
BD

[orchidsal]

Well said BD and I concur. I would love to see what a lets say a sixty or seventy year old Cattleya could do Geoff.