Sophronitis coccinea aka Cattleya grandiflora
Success, at last... it only took 55 years.... No, seriously, I must have owned this species, i.e. a plant of this species, a dozen times in my orchid growing life, and have never flowered one before. Too cold, too warm, too wet, natural disasters, selling my entire collection to go and work in another country, etc etc. But here, at last, and with the benefit of my supplementary lighting, I have managed it.
Now to grow it better, two growths, three, four... all in flower of course. Why not ?
The details - of course you can't tell the size of the flower here ;IOSPE says anything from 1 ½ inch up to 3 inch. I have never seen one that big, and mine here is at the bottom end of the range, only 1 ½ inch ( a week after it first opened and was only 1 inch. But we have to start somewhere !
I am paying a visit to a trader in a few days, who specialises in raising from seed, and normally only sells deflasked seedlings . In the past he has a list of several hundred species ( almost only species, never hybrids). Unfortunately he doesn't replate, so his seedlings are only ½ inch high, and I reckon to lose 9 out of 10, or maybe even 99 out of a hundred I have bought from him. But he talks of retiring, gave up sowing, ( age and the big C ) and his last 50-100 flasks have been opened and the seedlings grown on by someone else, much, much better at that job than I am, and some - he says- are near FS. So I am going armed with a list of a dozen dendrobium seedlings, and also this particular species too - and hope to get some more plants of what I think may be a better form, too. Watch this space !
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