Cattleya Frankeana (velutina x schilleriana)
 

What do you get when Cattleya velutina and Cattleya schilleriana decide to have a baby?
Well you get a Frankeana!

First flower on this young plant, and i wasn't dissapointed, it has some good qualities from both parents. A lovely cross that should be grown more in my opinion... :waving

Oh yes, nice cross. Very nice!

Thnks Colette! 😃

I agree, it's got so much going for it. The lips, the stripes, the spots, the colors, the shape...I could go on and on :)

:biggrin: you're 'spot' on! And it is fragrant too!

Pat...I bought C. velutina from a grower in California about 2 yrs ago,a very small plant. He had it growing in granite chips which I've kept that way and now finally a pb has formed. When I saw a foto of the bloom,it was exquisite as yours is. How tall is yours?

Hi DeaC, i love velutina, it is such a pretty Cattleya, and it is one with an amazing fragrance! I have two small velutina's and i must admit they are not the easiest to please (for me). One is standing still for about a year now, and the other is thinking about making a new shoot, but it is still doubtfull! The first one is about 15cm tall, the second about 10cm. I got some advise from a excellent grower, she told me velutina's prefer a little less direct (sun) light then other Catt's, and they also prefer to have a little more moist during their growing period. The slender pb have a tendensy to dry and shrivel quite rapidly. She grew them in wooden baskets. The one that is standing 'frozen' in time graced me with one flower a year ago. The shape wasn't perfect, but you could see the potential! :biggrin:

Both the hybrid and the velutina are gorgeous. I have not seen these available here to my knowledge.

:waving Very nice,Pat. I've never been a Catt. fanatic and growing them is challenging for me. Wasn't used to seeing such skinny growths,almost den-like. But this one appealed to me in color and maybe because it's so unusual too.:crossfing

Wow, really pretty.

Oh, I think it's gorgeous. Of course, I'm a big van of C schilleriana and hope to get mine to bloom one day. Well...one can hope.

That cross is surprisingly nice!! I have to admit, I had pretty low expectations when I clicked on this thread. lol

Then we can hope together, lol, :biggrin: my schilleriana still won't give me any flowers also...but it makes a nice compact plant, so i don't mind to much...yet. ;)

---------- Post added at 10:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 PM ----------

It surprised me too! I must admit i have the odd habit in buying primary Cattleya crosses, in the hope that some will give exceptional good flowers. In most cases the flowers are nice but nothing extraordinary. This is a pleasant surprise indeed, lol!! :biggrin:

What a striking flower! Really got the best of both parents! :) Do you know of any other velutina crosses? This is the first one I've heard of, and I'm very curious to see what others might look like!

Oh haha after a brief search I found this in an older post lol:
Cattleya velutina x Encyclia cordigera =Catyclia Never Remake This

There are some more, it is crossed with schofieldiana (Greyae), with aclandiae (Acvel), and with luteola (Bless Pat), that are the crosses i know of, but there will be some more i'm sure...

To bad i could find a picture of your Catyclia, very curious what that might look like!! Lol!! :rofl:

Nice one Pat! I will do my part to grow it more.....just need to find some in my parts!

Thanks! That is always the tricky part, isn't it, getting the orchids from your wishlist! Lol! ;)