The saga of Slc. Jeweler's Art 'Carved Coral'

Just as the weather is turning cold, the orchids are coming to fore. This is Slc. Jeweler's Art 'Carved Coral'.

I first obtained my plant in 1995, although I can't remember where it came from. It came in a little 3 inch pot with maybe 3 leaves on it. Being considered a "compact catt" I figured it would bloom on the next growth with little flowers. I coddled it along, and it did produce new growths but did not bloom. I moved it from location to location to no avail. I moved to Albuquerque and it came with me since the leaves were growing nicely even if it didn't bloom. I tried it in the indoor greenhouse. Nothing but bigger leaves. It outgrew the greenhouse. I tried it in the front window. I tried it in the back (burned leaves). I threatened it with the trash can. The garbage disposal. I threatened to throw it outside in the freezing winter cold. I gave it warmer winter temperatures on year, then colder another year. I ran the blender next to it and told it that THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU DON'T BLOOM. Nothing. By now, it was getting to be a pretty large plant (nothing "compact" about this guy), and it wasn't paying for its real estate. I tried the studio window, south facing, and expected severe leaf burning. Nothing.

Then, NINE YEARS after I obtained the plant, I thought I saw a tiny swelling in the bud sheath. I didn't get my hopes up, I though I'd seen them before, but nothing happened. A week later, there was definitely some swelling in the sheath. I held it up to the light. Through the sheath, there were buds forming. I did a cautious happy dance. Several weeks later, the blooms opened. All was forgiven as the 4-1/2 inch blossoms dazzled me. This is what I grow orchids for. 'Carved Coral' produced flowers on a regular basis from then on, two or even three times a year, which is impressive for a Cattleya orchid.

Then studio came. In 1995, my second semester of studio I realized that I was late for repotting him. But it was winter, and everyone knows not to repot Cattleya's in winter when they aren't growing. But as spring came along, the new growths on the plant stopped growing and turned black. Uh-oh. I unpotted the plant: all the roots had rotted. I had waited too long to repot. I was hysterical. I spent a few hours in the kitchen trying to find some living roots first gently teasing away the bark from the dead roots, then violently. Bark and dead roots could be found yards away from the mess in the middle of the kitchen. They ended up in drawers, in cupboards. I found maybe a dozen half-living roots. As you know, an orchid without roots is a dead orchid. It may look fine on top for several months, but it will slowly look more miserable until it is dead. I hysterically potted up 5 divisions as possibilities for salvage. One went back to the windowsill, the others went into the greenhouse. Two did not make it. They tiredly put out a small growth, which withered. After nearly a year, I threw them out. Two have grown. The one in the greenhouse grew long streamers of roots (outside the pot) and half-sized leaves. The one on the windowsill slowly put out leaves, much fewer than the one in the greenhouse, but sturdier.

This is the one on the windowsill today. I'm doing the happy dance again. And checking the roots.


Sidenote 1: If you google image search for Slc. Jeweler's Art 'Carved Coral' you will find that although all these plants are clones (a grex), the flowers are slightly different from photo to photo. This is due in part to photography, and in part to growing conditions.

Sidenote 2: "Slc." refers to this hybrid as being an intergeneric hybrid between Sophronitis, Laelia and Cattleya. The first name "Jeweler's Art" refers to the parents, Lc. Dreamboat x Sc. Doris, and 'Carved Coral' refers to a specific child of those parents, which is propagated asexually and called a "grex".