Cattlianthe Jewel Box 'Orange'
 

This is one of my favorite plants. It had kind of a rough year last year. I was out of town for most of July, and I had a friend who came over to water my plants every day, and when I got home, I found this one lying on its side on the ground in the blazing sun. It was super dehydrated and had a few serious burn spots. I think it kind of stunted the new growths, because they are a little smaller than usual, and several of them only have one or two buds instead of the usual three. But here are the first ones to open this year (it has six or eight buds still to open). The color is much better in person, but it's a pretty good picture.

That's a beauty!
I can see a really large sunburn in your photo.

Love the color! How large is the plant? It's hard to judge from the photo.

It's a pretty short plant. It's about six or eight inches tall, and it's in a five inch pot. It was a much larger plant, but I divided it into three clumps a couple years ago, and gave the other two away. It was getting so big, and so the pots were getting so tall, and I had a 12 inch pot, and I thought about putting it in there and filling it like halfway with styrofoam peanuts, but I thought the plant would look silly in a pot that tall, since it is so short, so I divided it. There's another user here on Orchid Board who I've seen suggest several times using bulb pans for large plants (I think his name is Bil, maybe?). It's such an obvious solution, I can't believe I didn't think of it myself haha, and I think now I'll just let it get as big as it wants and keep it one piece and put it in a bulb pan (it will need to be repotted this spring).

---------- Post added at 03:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:25 PM ----------

Yes, it was sad :( It's a little unsightly, but it will grow out of it eventually.

I already bought one in my mind. Now I'm waiting for the weather to break.

Haha, I think you're making the right decision. You're gonna love it.

A survivor and a keeper...just so beautiful. I'd have a talk with the friend tho.

:rofl: LOL I know right! But I actually decided not to say anything to her about it. It was awfully nice of her to come to my house every day for almost a month to water my plants while I was gone, and she didn't want anything in return (I gave her a little money, but she refused that at first, and I had to make her accept it), and I'm going to be gone for the same period this summer, so I'll need her to do it again, so I don't want to offend her by complaining lol. I might very casually mention to her that sometimes the plants can fall off the racks if it is windy, and she should check the area near where the plants are to make sure none have fallen, or something like that. When I first saw it lying there on the ground all burned, I was kind of annoyed tho, and I cursed her generously in my head haha

What a beauty! I am so glad that it recovered nicely for you.

It is nice to have someone willing to take care of your stuff for a month and to do so well. Most of my plants have not fared very well in the care of others.

I've considered asking people to give incorrect care to my plants, since they usually do the opposite of what I ask them.