Down to 36 degrees this early morning. Frost on the windshield My tender stuff is inside under a light like Bill's. But this is not why I came to SoCal 30 some years ago. How are you fairing Carol?

41 in the shack and 40 on the porch this morning, but at least it wasn't raining. Those mountains sure look pretty from this distance though. Saddleback even had a little snow on the NE facing slopes. So far, most of the orchids look ok, but only time will tell.

Here are the ones blooming now.
Noid Phal


Cattlianthe , 'Synda Nelson' blooming again


Rlc. Fritz Nichlaus 'Spring Dance'


Bc. 'Yellow Bird' first bloom bag baby


Den. Haleahi Blush 'Lake view' still going strong

Good show Carol,

Pretty, Carol.

Nice, Carol, very nice. Going to the shop in the early morning, it is a beautiful view of the San Gabriel's with the sun shining
while heading north on the 57

Spectacular Carol!
I especially love your 'Synda Nelson'
It reminds me of a daffodil...it looks like you got a really nice bag baby in that Yellow Bird!

Jim, I sent you a T-Mail.

@Australis, Joshua, I really need to apologize to you for not immediately editing my original Psycho Bride post! I didn't mean to make extra work for you.
I talked today to the vendor, Marlow Orchids and he is looking into it. I did see a plant today in one of the exhibits, which looked exactly like my Psycho Bride and was also labeled as such. The plot thickens, as they say. But, if there is no answer, I am fine too, it is a pretty plant and I am not exhibiting officially, right?

No need to apologise, Ursula! Hopefully it's possible to sort out the ID. If not, it's still a very nice plant and the photos can stay in the generic Cattleya entry (unless someone wants to have a go at identifying exactly which Cattleya Alliance genus it should go under).

Thanks Joshua!

I hope everyone else appreciates Joshua as much as I do. He really works hard to get the database right. I buy a lot of my orchids at local shows and some only list the cross. Joshua does the sleuthing and comes up with the registered name, and puts them in the database, where I get the acorns...which I don't use.

Hey Carol.
Give your acorns away like I do for every raffle. It really makes the new members happy!
I agree, Joshua works like crazy and it can't possibly be easy!

Thankyou for the kind words! I do try to keep the Orchid section of the database accurate, so if you ever see something that's not right, please let me know.

Bill/Lindsey, have you ever seen the C. maxima var. lowlands shown for judging or for sale in all your years judging AOS shows? Perhaps that's not the proper (full) name, but that's the best I can do with the name. I have two plants beginning to bloom, and the photo below is that of what then was my only plant when she bloomed two years ago. After blooming, I divided her. It still amazes me that two (or many more) plants of the same variety will bloom within hr. or days of each other. I think that this is a pretty rare plant, based on what a Cattleya species collector told me several years ago. He wanted to purchase my only plant, but I declined.

I will post photos of those two when the flowers fully open.

It is a very pretty maxima for sure!
One might mention that Cattleya maxima grows in Ecuador in
cool Andean regions ( highland) and
warm coastal regions ( lowland) regions. There are dozens of cultivars around from each of those regions. I have two maximas, both from lowland/warm regions. For those who like to purchase a C. maxima, this info might help in matching this one to one's cultural conditions.

When it comes to Cattleya maxima, they are all judged as Cattleya maxima! We don't distinguish between the two.

However it is generally said that the upland plants generally produce 3-5 flowers and they tend to be of darker color and better form.
Flowers of lowland plants number between 12-15, are more floppy and tend to be from white to pink with darker veins in the lip.

In looking over recent awards, we find a clone, 'Chadwick's Dark'. It had five flowers on a single inflorescence. I think we could assume that it was an upland clone. It received an AM of 86 points!!
That was in February of 2018.
If I look at an award from 2013 to 'Peruvian Beauty', I would assume that it was a lowland clone. It got an 82 point AM with 36 flowers and one bud on two inflorescences! I see the color to be a medium pink/lavender.
The color of Chadwick's Dark was described as being pink, overlain with darker pink!
No where in the records of awards could I find any reference to lowland form or upland form.

Any judge worth his weight in salt better be familiar with the differences or be good enough to discover them while doing research. No maxima should ever be screened for low flower count, say 4 versus 12 because it could be the upland form where the flower count would be proper.

Now that's BigBill!

I have been known to have my moments.

Thanks for the feedback and the acorns.