so we can only choose one... seems real hard, but judging by the size of species catts, who has room for a second in real life? i've only had one real cattleya, a huge bowringiana. the first time it flowered i got rid of it because the flowers were pink. and it was a huge honker of a plant. cut it into 4 huge plants and gave it away. all i have now is a lc trick or treat, and it's small. beautiful orange flowers... and i have a lc canhamiana seedling. but if i had to get another cattleya species, i'd go with velutina... it's spotty, red & orange are my colors, and fragrant, plus i can keep it outside. or maybe a deep red leopoldii.