# Blc. Aloha mermaid: thorn in my side



## Tlynnt66 (Nov 3, 2020)

Having rescued this specimen from a tropical plant nursery in Portland 2 years ago (almost to the day), I was finally able to get it to produce one, count em ONE, absolutely gorgeous bloom. It only produces that lovely and bright citrus fragrance at the crack of dawn, which I am not a fan of, but it does get me out of bed! Anyone else have any brassiolaeliocattleyas in bloom?


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## Linus_Cello (Nov 3, 2020)

Curious about the pitcher plant in the background. Looks like a sarrencia, if so how do you give it winter dormancy? Sorry for the tangent.


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## abax (Nov 3, 2020)

It's a rather spectacular flower and it does get attention if it's just one.


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## Tlynnt66 (Nov 4, 2020)

Linus_Cello said:


> Curious about the pitcher plant in the background. Looks like a sarrencia, if so how do you give it winter dormancy? Sorry for the tangent.


Good eye! This is actually a Snow Leopard, and I'm not sure of its exact parentage but it is a hybrid between a leucophylla, which shows in the white coloration near the lip, and a sarracenia purpurea, as subtly indicated by the wide, ruffled lip at the top. Here's a better photo of it.


I just put it in a cold window with medium lighting during the winter; in Washington, those are in no short supply!


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## Guldal (Nov 4, 2020)

Why a thorn? It's a beautiful flower... worth waiting for - and, possibly, as it now has "acclimatized" to your growing conditions, it should reliably provide you with flowers as well as with citrusly scent (much like C. walkeriana, the main contributor to its gene pool, I guess?)!


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## Tlynnt66 (Nov 7, 2020)

Just because this is the first species I've ever really struggled with in terms of growth and blooming. This particular species is very slow growing, so it took forever to yield its bloom! Hoping for even more blooms next year; unsure why it prefers to bloom in the Fall here, being about as cold as Winter gets so abruptly.


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