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Originally Posted by charleyismydog  I love blue orchids, but I have heard they are hard to find. Does anyone have any ideas of any species or hybrids that are easy to find and easy to care for? Something that likes water would be good, since I have a hard time staying away. Thanks everyone! |
There are lots of blue species and hybrids in the Cattleya alliance. I have a lovely
Laelia dayana v. coerulia which I bought at a flower and garden show (not even a specialty orchid show). I would wager that most big orchid nuseries would have some blue Cattleya alliance plants.
I found 2 websites with lots of pictures of different crosses and species:
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...1947NycOnJRgai http://home.att.net/~egranier/
The later has "normal" orchids too.
And finally here is a website filled with articles on blue Cattleyas:
http://www.c-we.com/blue.cattleyas/index.htm I have not reviewed all of these articles so I can not vouch for the accuracy or usefulness of their content. It does give a list of Cattleyas that come in blue varieties.
There are some non-Cattleya types that come in blue, like
Phal bellina. and the hybrid
Dpts. Kenneth Schubert. which is bred using a blue variety of Doritis pulcherrima. There are few blue Dendrobiums too:
Den vistoria-regina, and a few hybrids like Den. Blue Twinkle.
There are also some stunning blue Australian native terrestrials, some blue Caladenias, and some blue Thelymitras, but if you're in the US these will be difficult to find and they're difficult to grow in cultiviation as they have pretty specific needs.
I don't think you'll have too much trouble finding some blue orchids. Take some time, do some research to see which species have blue varieties, make a list of blue hybids and start searching around for them.
Happy hunting!