Prosthechea garciana with color variations

[papayj]

My garciana has been blooming since May, with couple of flowers opening now and then. Interestingly, each flower appears to have slightly different color, as you can see in the photo above. Some flower is almost alba-like, while some is deep purple and others right in-between. I have no idea why--do other garcianas behave this way? Still, it makes this plant even more interesting...

Btw, my garciana almost doubled in its size this year so I would need to repot it very soon; considering that I've never been able to successfully grow Prosthecheas before, this is a welcome relief.

[DirtyCoconuts]

you are certainly growing this one successfully!! that's amazing.

are the colors constant throughout the flower's life or is it fading from purple to white? also, did they open at the same time seasonally, perhaps more or less light is to blame


still stunning

[Fairorchids]

I bought one from Andy's a year ago. It has more than doubled in size, and is now blooming from 9 or 10 leads. However, the flowers are very uniform in color.

Caution: Thread Drift
Last week I got carried away in a 'toothpick frenzy'. In a 'Why Not' moment, I pollinated my garciana with a very good (and double flowered) Cattleya pumila. So far it appears that a pod is developing.

[Roberta]

Mine opens quite dark, and lightens somewhat as the flowers age, but otherwise, pretty uniform in color. (Maybe a little lighter in summer and darker when it is cool) but those white flowers are amazing.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Could this plant be an actual evolutionary mutation? Like the Alba trait has partiality appeared spontaneously??

[Roberta]

Or there are two plants tangled together, that were intertwined as seedlings. In effect, a grown-up compot. I have a Sobralia like that... some parts of the plant have light pink-to-white flowers that one would expect in a cross of a dark pink and a yellow species... other growths produce butter-yellow flowers. It grows like one plant - there's no clear separation, but it's obvious when it blooms that there is more than one in there.

[Orchidtinkerer]

very nice flowers.
I've only flowered this variety once but mine came out quite colorful. It's growing well without any additional heat or light which I like abut this variety. One of my easier ones to flower so far. Love the cotton candy smell even if it is faint.

[isurus79]

Color changes over time and multiple plants in the same pot could certainly be the cause of the multiple bloom colors. However, growing conditions could cause this as well. If you're growing on a windowsill, colder nights could chill the blooms, causing darker color. Increased sun exposure on sunny days can also darken color.

[papayj]

All of the recently opened flowers have deep purple color:



And some of the buds are developing very solid coloration now.



I think the temperature has something to do with this.

[Fairorchids]

Update on my thread drift:

After 30 days of seed pod developing, it suddenly aborted (not uncommon when I try crosses that try to stretch the limits).

Since I no longer have to protect the pod, I took the opportunity to divide the plant (purchased Nov 2019). At the time, it had approx. 4 mature leads, with new growths appearing on all.

After 14 months in my greenhouse, I made one division same size as what I bought (= my 'keeper'), plus six divisions with 2-3 mature leads each. I know of no other orchid species growing this fast.