Winter has come roaring back for a few more days, but in my greenhouse it is still spring…or maybe autumn. My Cattleya maxima ‘Hercules’ is currently flowering, but the usual bloom season for this species is late autumn. I’m not sure what has induced it to flower now. This particular clone seems to be a bit erratic. Some years it skips flowering altogether, and then when it finally decides to bloom, the previous year’s growth flowers at the same time as the current year’s.
I can’t hope to compete with A.A. Chadwick’s expert description of this species and its history, so I’ll settle for commenting that this particular clone, with its dark flowers and stout pseudobulb, seems to be the highland form of C. maxima that comes from the western slopes of the Andes in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. I like its rich color and robust growth habit, but it lacks the intricate veining on the lip possessed by another C. maxima that I flowered several years ago:
This plant, with its smaller, paler flowers and spindly pseudobulbs may be the lowland form that grows along the Pacific coast of Ecuador near Guayaquil. Unlike ‘Hercules,’ which rapidly fills a pot with very vigorous roots, this plant is rather fussy and often loses its roots when kept a little too wet. I eventually unpotted it and mounted it on a piece of cork bark, but it hasn’t thrived–too dry, I think. I wonder if my greenhouse is just too cold in winter, and that is why it is subject to root rot. I may try potting it up again and then hang it high in the greenhouse to keep it as warm as possible.
Sweetgum and Pines 