Cattleya (Guarianthe) aurantiaca & quadricolor. Spathe & flowers in 2 times?

[sbrofio]

Hi guys!
I've bought a C. aurantiaca and a C. quadricolor at the end of September, and it had a green empy floral spathe, without blossom.
Now the quadricolor has 1 blossom (it was without roots so it's already a miracle), while the aurantiaca dried the spathe, I thought the flowering was died. Now I saw a little swelling inside the spathe. Flowers? Do the grow spathe and blossom in 2 different times?
Mu others cattleya (hybrids) make all in the same time.
Thank you,

Have a nice day

Filippo

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by sbrofio

Hi guys!
I've bought a C. aurantiaca and a C. quadricolor at the end of September, and it had a green empy floral spathe, without blossom.
Now the quadricolor has 1 blossom (it was without roots so it's already a miracle), while the aurantiaca dried the spathe, I thought the flowering was died. Now I saw a little swelling inside the spathe. Flowers? Do the grow spathe and blossom in 2 different times?
Mu others cattleya (hybrids) make all in the same time.
Thank you,

Have a nice day

Filippo

Filippo,
Different Cattleya species will usually bloom at different times of the year. In fact, certain species will often bloom very consistently at the same time of the year. Hybrids tend to be more free flowering throughout the year, while species plants will often have a set "schedule."

[sbrofio]

Hi Steve and thank you!
I wrote in a terrible quick before so I couldn't give the right sense of what I was asking for. Yes I know there are different "flowering period" due to different geographic origin. My question was: the membrane and the inflorescenze: do they always grow togheter in time or in some species (and hybrids) they grow in 2 times (before the empty membrane and then the floral stem and blossom insiede it)? I'm going to take a pic and post

[DavidCampen]

Yes, my Guarianthe skinneri (C. skinneri) puts up flower sheaths that then turn brown and only months later do flower buds develop inside the sheath. Last March when the plant bloomed for me the first time I had spent months looking at the brown sheaths wondering what was wrong. This year it has put out multiple flushes of growth since the summer so that I have a mixture of recent sheaths that are still green and older brown sheaths. One of the green sheaths seems to show the shadow of a flower bud inside. It will be interesting to see how it flowers this year.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by sbrofio

Hi Steve and thank you!
I wrote in a terrible quick before so I couldn't give the right sense of what I was asking for. Yes I know there are different "flowering period" due to different geographic origin. My question was: the membrane and the inflorescenze: do they always grow togheter in time or in some species (and hybrids) they grow in 2 times (before the empty membrane and then the floral stem and blossom insiede it)? I'm going to take a pic and post

If I'm understanding you correctly, you are asking if the flower sheath and blooms grow at different times. The short answer is yes. Many species will grow a sheath and then bloom some months or sometimes, a year later. Some growth the sheath and blooms at about the same time, with little space between the growing times.

[sbrofio]

Here the aurantiaca and the quadricolor with bloom. Sheaths were green in September then in 1 month get dried. Because with all my hybrids sheaths and blooms grew together, I thought the flowering of these 2 were gone. Instead the now are getting slowly full
Good to know they grow in 2 different times

Thank you guys!!

[DavidCampen]

Photos of my Guarianthe skinneri and also a plant purchased as C. deckeri are here:
Guarianthe skinneri vs patinii, distinguishing characteristics?
The first photos are of the deckeri and the last 2 are of the skinneri. One difference between the deckeri and the skinneri was that the deckeri bloomed from a green sheath very soon after the sheath formed; very different from the skinneri, but the plants are of different maturities so I can't draw any conclusions yet. I will have to observe them for a number of years.

Edit:
Correction, I said C. patinii above, I have corrected that to deckeri. I purchased the plant as C. deckeri (which is now considered a synonym with Guarianthe skinneri) not patinii but I have been wondering if it is actually a Guarianthe patinii (formerly C. patinii).

[sbrofio]

Thank you David! And very beautiful plants