Cattleya walkerinter var coerulea

[Halloamey]

Hi, been a long time since I posted anything. I have been busy these last few days and the OT website is very slow at my work place and by the time I reach home I am EXHAUSTED. Anyways sorry to bother you people with my laments. Here are the pictures of a first time bloomer a cross of two coerulea species C. walkeriana x C. intermedia. I bought this plant in May 2009 as small plant in a 5 cm pot, it is already blooming this year for the first time, the plant is very small. I like the overall colour and form, I hope it gets better with future blooms.

The entire bloom


The lip in a different light setting


And the entire plant along with other babies in a tray

[kiwiorchids]

idk Amey, it looks really nice! We have a few purple/indigo coloured catts available here......i think im going to get some!

I love the striking indigo spot on the lip......very handsome.

[Horst]

From experience i know that this flower will not get much better. Maybe slightly. Maybe you will get more flowers when the plant is bigger.
You plant got a lot of the Cattleya intermedia shape. Obviously the hybridizer used a skinny C. intermedia or your plant got the genetics of an ancestor with skinny sepals and petals. Your plant is far from what it could be, considering a cross like this, when it's done with high quality parents.

Sorry, I can't support your hopes on this one.

[gardenguysorchids]

Lovely bloom! Love it.

[espranch]

I like it very much, Amey. Glad you sent a photo of this one...Betty :-)

[Cjcorner]

I would never be able to be a judge...I like all the coerulea plants.

[Halloamey]

From experience i know that this flower will not get much better. Maybe slightly. Maybe you will get more flowers when the plant is bigger.
You plant got a lot of the Cattleya intermedia shape. Obviously the hybridizer used a skinny C. intermedia or your plant got the genetics of an ancestor with skinny sepals and petals. Your plant is far from what it could be, considering a cross like this, when it's done with high quality parents.

Sorry, I can't support your hopes on this one.

Thank you everyone, I am also a big fan of coeruleas. Also thank you Horst for your honest and experienced comment about what I can expect from this plant. I do not have unrealistic expectations, its not that I want it will be a big blue floofy LOL. I think the flowers will get slightly bigger depending on what I have seen in my other first time blooming catts. I tried searching the intermet but I do not find pictures of a very superior flower form, do you have any to share? I have nice walkeriana coerulea and an intermedia enio 'Rio', may be I can make a cross of them a get better progeny.

[Raver]

we are all suckers for blue/purple flowers

[Horst]

Thank you everyone, I am also a big fan of coeruleas. Also thank you Horst for your honest and experienced comment about what I can expect from this plant. I do not have unrealistic expectations, its not that I want it will be a big blue floofy LOL. I think the flowers will get slightly bigger depending on what I have seen in my other first time blooming catts. I tried searching the intermet but I do not find pictures of a very superior flower form, do you have any to share? I have nice walkeriana coerulea and an intermedia enio 'Rio', may be I can make a cross of them a get better progeny.

I don't have a C. Walkerinter!
If the hybridizer of your plant would have used a C. intermedia var. coerulea/flamea, your plant would look more or less like the attached image.
This is a C. Cariad's Mini Quinee (C. intermedia x C. Mini Purple)
C. Mini Purple has as parents C. intermedia and C. walkeriana.

[Halloamey]

I don't have a C. Walkerinter!
If the hybridizer of your plant would have used a C. intermedia var. coerulea/flamea, your plant would look more or less like the attached image.
This is a C. Cariad's Mini Quinee (C. intermedia x C. Mini Purple)
C. Mini Purple has as parents C. intermedia and C. walkeriana.

Thank you Horst for taking out time and doing some research for me. But I am not quite sure of the parentage you have put up. Lc. mini purple is Laelia now Cattleya pumila x Cattleya walkeriana. Both of which have excellent forms for petals and lips. Secondly what is important is the direction of the cross. Flowers of C. intermedia X C. walkeriana will be different from C. walkeriana X C. intermedia. The pod parent (second parent) has a much greater impact on flower form and plant form than the pollen parent (first parent). So C. walkerinter is expected to be more like intermedia than like walkeriana, in case of a reciprocal cross, where walkeriana is the pod parent flowers with better form could be expected I think. Food formed coerulea intermedias are rare, so I think hybridizing a walkeriana coeruea with my orlata ennio will bea good cross. Thanks I really enjoyed the nice discussion we had.