# Phalaenopsis Casandra



## mrhappyrotter (Mar 9, 2018)

Phalaenopsis stuartiana x equestris

I bought this at Lowe's home improvement if I recall correctly. I remember that it caught my attention when I walked by the Phal display because I caught a whiff of the fragrance, so I stopped to smell all the flowers and sniffed it out. The fragrance isn't terribly strong, but it's nice. A mixture of sweet floral notes and vanilla sugar cookies.

I've honestly struggled with this plant quite a bit through the years and I always expect that my time with it is limited, sadly. At most it's only ever had 4 leaves, and usually it only has 2 - 3 leaves at any given time. I've tried giving it copius water, and I've tried growing it a bit dryer (my P. stuartiana likes to dry out a bit) and nothing seems to work. I grow this warm and on the bright side for a Phalaenopsis. I've mounted it to cork, then stuck the mount down into a pot and covered the roots with a very thin, loose layer of moss. This is the most recent attempt to appease it and it does honestly seem happier this way, despite the fact that it just dropped a leaf and is now down to 2 again.


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## abax (Mar 10, 2018)

It's a small miracle that it's hung on at all coming from Lowes. I love all
Phal. equestris and this one is very nice. As an aside, most of my species and
primary Phals. lose a leaf for two over winter and into the blooming season.
They all bloom well anyway.

Do the speckled leaves belong to the equestris cross?


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## mrhappyrotter (Mar 10, 2018)

abax said:


> It's a small miracle that it's hung on at all coming from Lowes. I love all
> Phal. equestris and this one is very nice. As an aside, most of my species and
> primary Phals. lose a leaf for two over winter and into the blooming season.
> They all bloom well anyway.
> ...



It has inherited the lovely mottled foliage of Phal. stuartiana but much reduced in size thanks to equestris.


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## Ozpaph (Mar 10, 2018)

beautiful leaves


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## Secundino (Mar 10, 2018)

Lovely. Thanks for sharing! Are the flowers true in colour like we see them, or is the photograph rather bright?


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## mrhappyrotter (Mar 10, 2018)

Secundino said:


> Lovely. Thanks for sharing! Are the flowers true in colour like we see them, or is the photograph rather bright?



It's hard to say. I think it depends on your monitor/screen. I know the lights make it impossible to get good "in situ" photos with accurate color. I'm sure it's bright since the plant is right under the fixture.

The flowers are white with a faint purple-pink blush, and then have a yellow-brown tint in the lower sepals.


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## Secundino (Mar 11, 2018)

Thank you! I have a Phal Baguio which behaves the same way. No flowers up to now but a very nice plant. Lots of water = lots of leaves; less water = less leaves, but never ever a spike.


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## My Green Pets (Mar 11, 2018)

The flowers and leaves are heavenly, congratulations.

I am perplexed by the schilleriana i bought a couple years ago. 13 blooms last year on 4 leaves, 7 blooms this year on two leaves. Not sure what's not right.


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## blondie (Mar 13, 2018)

Intresting hybrid love the leafs on th eplant stunning


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