It’s time for the peonies.
Indoors, the last of the orchids I ordered last year from Sunset Valley Orchids has bloomed. It’s a hybrid of the “blue” forms of two Cattleya species, “C. mossiae f. coerulea ‘Blue Moon’ x L. sincorana f. coerulea ‘Dark Blue.'”1 Orchid specialists must use an eccentric definition of “blue,” because I see pale lavender and purple, not blue.2 The flower is large (though smaller than the pure C. mossiae); if the petals lay flat, it would be six inches across.
Update: Now in stereo.
Notes
- L. (Laelia) sincorana has been transferred to the Cattleya genus, but it is still often listed under the old name.
- True blue orchids do exist, but there aren’t many of them and few in cultivation.
Interesting – It looks like you’re about a week ahead of me with your peonies. I’d have thought it the other way round.
The peonies are on the south side of the house, which is warmer than the rest of the yard. Things happen one or two weeks earlier there than elsewhere.