Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin' - It lives!

[wetfeet101b]

Hi Maura,

Yes, that was probably my post in another forum.
The cattleya was from my mother-in-law's collection. She had a lot of large cattleyas at the time and she could not keep up with the care as she was busy with work and caring for her young grandson at the time.
We live about 80 miles away so it was not possible for me to visit and tend to her orchids as often as needed.
She only let me have this one plant as she wanted to hold on to the rest. Most of her large catts died, which is very unfortunate.
The good news is that I was able to give her a couple of large divisions from this plant so she got two plants back which are in way better shape than the original

I really wish she trusted me more with her orchids at the time. She trusted me with her daughter... lol.

[Jef09071984]

Maura,

The plant I posted is a three year old division from a really old plant that I rescued and revived.

Here is a picture of the 'mother plant' when I originally acquired it (around 2006 or 2007?).
It is the one to the left of the cattleya in a white pot.
The original owner thinks that this plant is over 15 years old at the time.


Over a year later. All cattleyas in baskets on the top shelf are divisions from the original plant.
The sunburned leaves have since fallen and new growths have replaced them.
Oh man my greenhouse was so empty back then


And from then on, I just kept dividing the plants when needed.

I have even given several smaller divisions to RVO forum members over the years.

Nice Plant Maura, :-)

John.... i wish you would give me an plantlet of that. :-)

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Nice work on this orchid, Maura! Looks like a great reward.

cheers,
BD

[catttan]

A job well done, Maura.

[mauraec]

Hi Maura,

Yes, that was probably my post in another forum.
The cattleya was from my mother-in-law's collection. She had a lot of large cattleyas at the time and she could not keep up with the care as she was busy with work and caring for her young grandson at the time.
We live about 80 miles away so it was not possible for me to visit and tend to her orchids as often as needed.
She only let me have this one plant as she wanted to hold on to the rest. Most of her large catts died, which is very unfortunate.
The good news is that I was able to give her a couple of large divisions from this plant so she got two plants back which are in way better shape than the original

I really wish she trusted me more with her orchids at the time. She trusted me with her daughter... lol.

I thought so - I read that post with great interest, since the condition of mine was so much like it, and my rehabbing procedures seem very similar to yours. Have you ever thought about the irony in the name of the ONE orchid she DID trust you with? Think about it - it amuses me.

[mauraec]

Update on my Wedding Song: My resurrected Hawaiian Wedding Song 'Virgin', which had two sheaths ready to split when I left on vacation, has become another one of the casualties suffered when I left my plants with one of the local orchid society members with a greenhouse full of orchids. The plant hadn't been watered since I left and didn't yet have the reserves to withstand a 5 week drought. Very discouraging, but at least an excuse to find more catts!