Cattleya (syn. Slc.) Wendy's Valentine 'June'

[ansku]

This beautiful red flowered orchid that is flowering for me now is Cattleya Wendy's Valentine 'June', a cross between Cattleya Jinn x Cattleya Paprika.

I bought it at the Helsinki Orchid Show of 2013, from the nursery Yh-Chen Orchids, from Taiwan.

It is one of my favorites. Compact, pretty, and a reliable bloomer.



This plant is an unifoliate cattleya about 20 cm or 7.8 inches tall. The flowers are 10 cm or 4 inches wide, not fragrant, and of a very deep and bright red color, with dark yellow (almost orange, like egg yolk) lip. When the flower opens, the color is magenta at first, but becomes red within a few days. This orchid usually produces 2 buds inside a small sheath.

It flowers twice a year, once in the Autumn or Winter at the Christmas time, and then again during the Summer months. The flowers can last for more than a month.

This cattleya's ancestry is interesting. She has in her ancestry cattleya (sophronitis) coccinea, c. milleri, c. dowiana, c. purpurata, c. cinnabarina, c. mossiae, c. schroederae and c. harpophylla.

You can see the whole ancestry of this orchid in this (ugly) picture I made here:



It's a very good cross, easy to grow, and reliable bloomer. I recommend it to anyone who would like a compact and easy windowsill cattleya.

I made a little video about it: