Deb, I am reminding myself that 'Kathleen' was given a CCE but not a flower quality award. Its strength is in the multiple growths and that they are compact. This makes for a great display, even if an individual flower isn't award quality. Steve Christoffersen is offering a virus free division of 'Kathleen' for $250 minimum bid on eBay right now. He mentions that the flamea can fluctuate a lot between flowerings, including having only the semi-alba. We will have to see what happens with ours.
Terry, sorry, I mistook this as a post from Leslie
. So, I’m editing it appropriately, but you are right! And the CCE had 18 flowers, several unflowered sheaths and, I think, 2 seed pods in a 10" pot!! So, I have a way to go with 10 flowers and 2 sheaths in a 9.5" If Christoffersen is offering a virus free division at that price it's a good deal. Mine is virus free, and a division of Rogerson's original plant from Jerry Fischer at Orchids Ltd, and I paid almost twice that (I said my most expensive plant--see the horrible influence Leslie has on me with flameas!!). It was the only place in the U.S. I could find it at the time, and it was a nice BD present I asked my hubby for.
BUT, my flamea does not fluctuate at all (at least not so far). I got in in May of 2020. it's been repotted once in 6/22 and divided then. It has bloomed in 1/21 (4 flowers), 3/21 (2), 1/22 (8), 1/23 (10)
Now, having said that, an anomaly occurred in one (only one) flower this current bloom. It has a yellow streak that seems to be emanating from the yellow in the lip in one of the lower sepals on ONE flower. I sent a photo to Jerry and asked him about it, after immediately testing again for virus!!!
Negative again, thank God! Jerry responded, "No it’s fine. Sometimes they express the yellow from the lip in a petal once in a while, so it may not happen again for years if at all."
Other than that, my blooms have all been exactly the same re the flamea. Here is a photo of the flower with the yellow streak.