A brief introduction to the most beautiful varieties

The general plant description

The most striking thing Cattleya Orchids are their flowers. These are divided into oval sepals, broad petals and a three-lobed lip. The flowers are monochrome or spotted and have colors in red, green, white or brown tones.
A distinction is made between one and two-leaf species, with the two-leaf cattleyas being used for indoor cultivation because more flowers develop here.
As with most orchids, the Cattleya also needs enough light for flower formation. However, they do not like direct midday sun. A normal room temperature is well tolerated. Once a week there is vigorous watering, every two weeks there is an application of fertilizer. For the required humidity, water can be atomized with a squirt bottle. With these conditions, the Cattleya should thrive on the windowsill.

The Cattleya in the field

Usually orchids are kept in the room. However, Cattleya can also stand outdoors. Here the location should then be in Penumbra lie. The leaf color shows whether the plant receives too little or too much light. Dark green leaves indicate a lack of light, a yellow-green leaf color means too much light. If the orchid gets sunburned, the leaves have black and dry spots.

Beautiful Cattleya species and their hybrids (plants without seed formation)

From the approximately 45 species of the Gattleya genus, many hybrids have been bred that are unparalleled in terms of beauty.
Some examples:

• Cattleya Williette Wong, with large, yellow flowers, flower size 12 cm to 15 cm, total height up to 25 cm
• Cattleya Floweringsize, flowers with different shades of blue, up to 18 cm tall, total height about 25 cm
• Cattleya Chia Lin, with ruffled pink flowers, the flower lip is shaded yellow and pink, flower up to 23 cm tall, height about 30 cm
• Cattleya Angel Kiss orange-colored, small flowers, up to 12 cm, total height between 20 and 25 cm