Orchids are basically parasitic plants that live on and with trees. They originally come from South America, but thanks to their fascinating appearance, they quickly made friends all over the world. The Cattleya species enchant with large flowers and magnificent colors.
What are special characteristics of Cattleya species?
Cattleya species are orchids with showy, large flowers in a variety of colors and patterns. Popular hybrids include Cattleya Williette Wong, Cattleya Floweringsize, Cattleya Chia Lin and Cattleya Angel Kiss. The plants need sufficient light, suitable temperatures and humidity for optimal growth.
The general description of plants
The most striking thing about 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 shades of red, green, white or brown.
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, Cattleya requires enough light to produce flowers. However, they do not like direct midday sun. A normal room temperature is well tolerated. Water heavily once a week and fertilizer every two weeks. To achieve the required humidity, water can be misted using a spray bottle (€9.00 on Amazon). Given these conditions, the Cattleya should thrive well on the windowsill.
The Cattleya outdoors
Orchids are normally kept indoors. However, Cattleya can also stand outdoors. Here the location should then be in partial shade. You can tell from the color of the leaves whether the plant is getting 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 will have black and dry spots.
Beautiful Cattleya species and their hybrids (plants without seed production)
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, plant height about 30 cm
- Cattleya Angel Kiss orange, small flowers, up to 12 cm, total height between 20 and 25 cm
