What we have is random genetics at work here. The Big Alex produces typically rounded Den. Phalaenopsis type flowers from a lighter pink through rose pink to darker pink purple.
The Silver Wings has pointed, triangular petals that basically are ivory white through creamy white in color with an amethyst blush. Some spotting can be found.
So do the petals of the hybrid favor the Big Alex or the Silver Wings? The answer they favor the dominate genes independently and randomly.

I better post a couple before any more blast due to our crazy weather.

Vanda Parchara Delight 'Parchara' Second time to bloom this year


Laelia gouldiana This poor baby is suffering from lack of sun (it likes a lot of it). There are 8 spikes, but one has died as are many buds. I was hoping for a great display, but not happening.

And for Lindsey...Yes, Bc Lisa Carmichael 'Rasberry Sunset' does fade. Just dropping old blooms but one more popped out late



Got lots of buds on others, so , but we'll see if I get any more for Dec.

Very nice Parchara Delight! Good round, flat flowers, nice and full with beautiful purple flowers. Gorgeous Carol, simply gorgeous.
The fact that you have a gouldiana that large to produce that many spikes is fantastic! Not an easy plant to grow let alone have a specimen sized plant. Great job!

This is 2 plants from our recent Apopka road trip, I've decided to keep them and put them together in one pot.. not bad for $6.!
I saw something similar this week at the University greenhouse and it was tagged Onc. Wildcat.
Could this be one?




The 'skirts' are huge.. almost 1 3/4".

Carol ... I am so smitten with your Lisa Carmichael ..
( that Vandas not too shabby either)

Ohh I love the blue Vanda Pachara Delight!

I am wondering why I don't have a pretty dancing girl? Colmanara /Oncostele Wildcat? If that is the one, it is much more patterned.

I think that you have an Oncidium Sweet Sugar.

I'm absolutely in love with that blue Vanda Pachara Delight. Can any of you point me to a reliable place to buy it? I looked and saw it on Ebay, but don't trust the plants there.

Motes Orchids has loads of Vandas, RF Orchids in Homestead FL sells Vandas.
They may be pricey but they are nice plants.
Plantio in Sarasota is another good place. You may not find the same cross but maybe something similar.

Bill, thank you for the comments. Most of the Mexican Laelias do well here, but they do need bright to full sun. I've had to move that one three times because it was hitting the ceiling and bending over. As to the Vandas, I'm just thrilled to have them here. Until 2 years ago, you never saw them at the shows...just too dry for them, so climate change has been good for them, I guess. Unfortunately, the 2 Vandas and that Laelia are taking up a lot of green house space, and no room for a bigger one. I've started evicting some of the poor performers to the great outdoors to survive...or not.

Those beautiful purple V. Pachara Delights were available last year by the hundred, almost everywhere down here including Lowe's and Home Depot. I'd caution you against buying one online at this time of year, though because they're very cold tender and if it were shipped, and encountered cold weather on the way to you, it may be damaged or killed.

Lindsey, I think I bought the same little yellow Onc. as you did. Nice big skirts on the ladies, and mine is just beginning to open the first of four big spikes. My neighbor has a gorgeous dancing lady plant just setting on an oak branch in his yard, so after this one gets finished blooming, I'm thinking I'll put her out there on the oak tree and see what happens . . . I'm delighted to call it Onc. Sweet Sugar since Bill says that's what it probably is.

A group shot (above) of the little Tols chatting with the purple Dens - that dusky purple color at the right of the pic is the actual shade they are. Why, oh why does the camera mess with the colors like that??

My Maybe Yellow Bird has seemed to be blooming since the middle of the summer, and here are some of the most red flowers it's ever put out. I love them when they're at this stage. Another portrait of Bl. Punakea and I can't walk by the "I'm not Lulu" without shooting her picture too. Her scent just about drives you away, and wafts into the house when the windows are open, too.

beautiful day in your cage , Elaine! The Yellow Birds at the University greenhouse are this darker color right now too...I don't remember seeing that so pronounced before. Mine always bloomed much lighter. One of my orchid club members is having a clearing out sale today and she offered a Den. Cathy Beck...that looked VERY close to our Apopka plants.

Yes, very nice display, Elaine! Your plants look happy!

Very spectacular show there Elaine! Very nice indeed.

I gave a talk before a camera club years ago. I brought my orchids as models. A camera was only as good as its' sensor. This was like 2003 or maybe 4. All Nikon SLR cameras were seeing the purple blue Vanda color like Delft tile blue. I can't remember what the name of the tile or the Dutch (?) word for it was but all of these cameras saw the purple as rich sky blue. Rendition was WAY OFF.
Canon shooters in the club were seeing the true color of the orchid on the back of their SLR's. By now I figured color rendition issues were a thing of the past.
It was such a dramatic difference you would not have believed it. Sensors can be recalibrated in some instances but I have no idea how to or can you do that nowadays.

Years ago in my "Nikon SLR days" I would take at least 30 - 50! shots under all sorts of conditions, play with the f- stop, hold a piece of white paper over the flash, did whatever it took to get that difficult-to-capture red fluorescent sparkling shade correctly. Then I bought an IPad Air. I took two pictures, on both the color was spot on!!
Of course I have no idea how they looked on other monitors, since we don't own a PC.
I have used my Nikon last in 2016 to capture birds in flight and a bear, stuff like that which needs a telephoto lens.

I'm loving all of these Dec. orchids! I have some of the same ones, but mine are going to be later...if they don't blast. Gotta love all those Brassavola crosses. They are such reliable bloomers. My Yellow Birds hasn't gotten big enough to bloom yet, but it's growing, all 4 of my Bc. Maikai Mayumi are starting to bloom (even the two that don't get enough sun).... except David Sanders, which died before it ever bloomed.

I should take the time to learn my Panasonic...but probably won't. It does fair, depending on light, in auto focus, and does a pretty good zoom. Better than I can see without the camera. These are about 100' away

Do you know what kind of bird that is??
It is a good likeness.





It is a member of the Accipter group of hawks. A Sharp-shinned hawk to be exact. Very quick, highly maneuverable, a bird eater by nature. Will occasionally take something as large as a cardinal but uses its speed to catch sparrows and other small birds.
Just more useless information that is crammed inside my head.

Bill, we have lots of hawks/falcons in this part of the country. Most of the time I can't see them well enough to Id them. He may be the one that used to hang out in my avocado tree...before I had the tree removed. I just saw it on that light next door and had to see if I could get a shot. When I worked on the freeways, they used to follow us to see what we flushed out, but as development encroached and landscape filled in, I saw fewer and fewer. Red Tailed are the most numerous here but we have many raptors.

Great job getting the shot, they are not easy. Right place, right time kind of thing.