Cattleya Double Sheath

[Cjcorner]

This is another of my recent rescues at a local nursery sale. The lady hadn't taken proper care of them this summer, which was way too hot, and since they weren't "pretty" enough for a table centerpiece, they were relegated to the sale table for ridiculous prices. The first three flowers had opened, and after I gave it my special "feeding" combination of fish emulsion, powdered food, etc, and bammo, in one day the other three buds opened. I noticed that one of the sheaths had browned and peeled it back to find a second sheath. Is this normal?? You can see the spent pbulbs....when spring comes around this one should be cleaned up. For now I'm leaving the backbulbs on for some added energy for this neglected NOID. It was just so big and impressive it begged to be rescued.






Thanx for looking....Connie

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Oh so pretty! I bet it did not have to beg much to be rescued! hehehehehe... Nice!

Cheers,
BD

[Cjcorner]

I should have stood next to it to show how big it is. I've never seen one this huge before. It kept calling my name.....I just HAD to go back for the huge thing with purple buds. They weren't even open when I bought it....I went on faith. The color of the buds was an indication that it would be in the pink/purple range.

[Joan]

How lucky that NOID is to have been rescued by someone who knew so well how to help it!!

[Molly Taco]

It is beautiful !!!! Love that PINK !!!
Cin

[pavel]

The sheath within a sheath isn' t necessarily uncommon, Connie. My Jewelbox 'Dark waters' does that.

[wetfeet101b]

Double sheaths (and in some cases triple+ sheaths) are becoming common nowadays with hybrids, specially with cattleya alliance hybrids. It is one of those benign side-effects of mixing so many different parents into the gene pool.
Another version of this is the "false alarm" sheath where you could get a sheath in January and it dries up, only to have the real (sheathless) spike emerge in September.

I would not be alarmed by it.

~John

[Gin]

Beautiful ! Bet it did not have to beg to follow you home Gin

[Cjcorner]

Woo Hoo! Guess what?! I went for a walk today to relax and take one more look around the local nurseries, my last "free" day for awhile. And I ran into the exact duplicate of my new purple Noid.... Lc Irene Finney 'Springs Best' is the correct name for this plant. I've noticed before that I can generally find the same plants at several different places in town in bloom at the same time. I'm guessing they all buy from the same places up north of here. lol Lucky Me!