Guarianthe skinneri coerulea 'Robert' x Guarianthe skinneri alba 'Viva el Jardin'

You may be more familiar with this genus of orchid by the name 'Cattleya'.  With all of the switching between genera, this one ended up in 'Guarianthe'.  Guarianthe skinneri is the national flower of Costa Rica.  It is a beautiful orchid that can have as many as 1,000 blossoms on one plant.  Once the flowers open, unfortunately, they do not last very long.  Usually, mine has lasted two or three weeks.

This season the blooms on this plant have been the best yet.  I cannot find any registration for this cross.  However, it is a cross between the cerulean color form and the white form of the plant. (Please don't ask me about the spelling of "coerulea".  That is the way it is spelled on the name tag of the plant.  I have seen this word spelled several different ways.  Probably because most, like me, are not sure of the spelling.  But based upon a check on the spelling before I wrote this blog, it seems that the world should be spelled "cerulean".)  The flowers seem to be more delicate the most skinneri.  The current blooms opened very fast.  Last night the buds were just barely beginning to peek open, and this morning I took these pictures.  There are still some buds on the plant that will probably open today or tonight.  This plant seems to like the 60 degree temperatures that we have had at night during the month of February.

When I bought this plant, it was already mature and in full bloom.  Unfortunately, whoever had put the plant in its wooden basket had mounted in with spaghnum moss around the roots.   That is a recipe for disaster for someone who grows these plants outdoors without cover.  The moss simply holds too much moisture and gets too soggy in our summer rains.  For awhile the plant just languished, so I started teasing out all of the moss.  I replaced the moss with only a slight amount of long tree fern fiber.  The plant began to recover and each season the blooms have gotten better. 

During the summer, the plant must be protected from direct sun.  It does best with about 30% to 40% of direct South Florida sun.  However, in the winter months, the amount of light needs to be increased.  These orchids grow in nature on deciduous trees so in nature they get more light during the winter months.  More light will result in more blooms and stronger, more upright blossoms.  In one of the pictures below, you can see a picture of a single inflorescence that is quite strong and upright with multiple blooms.

Do you have a Guarianthe skinneri?  Questions on how to grow it?  Send me an email and I will help in any way that I can.

Lc. Hsin Buu Lady 'YT' Bloom on Valentine's Day 02 14 2011

What a beautiful orchid for Valentine's Day!  This plant is a cross between L. anceps and C. Wendy's Valentine.  The wonderful shape of this orchid is heavily influenced by the L. anceps species which makes up about 50% of its genetic background.  C. Wendy's Valentine is a wonderful hybrid in its own right.  The brilliant scarlet color is coming from C. coccinea that makes up part of the genetic background of C. Wendy's Valentine.

This orchid had been very easy to grow and has done very well in the heat of South Florida even though  C. coccinea is known for growing on the cooler side of Cattleya culture.

I have one plant in bloom now with two others that have several buds.  This plant is still fairly small; however, when it gets larger and more mature, the number of of blooms will increase.  Another great feature of this orchid is the strong, upright inforescences that the blooms grow on.

I grow this orchid in a wooden basket.  Inside the basket, the orchid is mounted on a tree fern fiber plaque with a few expanded clay pellets around its roots.  During the winter, I water every two or three days.  But in the very hottest part of our very hot and humid summers in Miami, I water every day EARLY in the day.  On DRY, hot days, I water a second time around 10 or 11 AM. 

Would you like to know MORE about growing Cattleyas in your own backyard in South Florida?  You may email any questions you have to remliw@bellsouth.net.  I am glad to help in any way that I can.  Have fun and good growing!