This is a Home Depot special. I spent 36 dollars on it. I picked up my first Vanda at an orchid festival. When I saw Home Depot selling Vandas, I just had to get one. I paid $60 at the orchid festival for one a bit smaller in size. So when I saw the Vanda species priced at $36 and larger at Home Depot being sold, I picked one up. I wrote about my first Home Depot Vanda earlier on it’s second bloom, which I named the Fuchsia Orchid. Less than a month later I saw this guy. Its colors are so unique that I ended up picking this one up too.
Ok this is a Vanda. It’s official name is Vanda Taveesuksa x Piyarat butterfly 286 per it’s label. I found no reference to this hybrid on the internet. I’m able to find each of it’s hybrid parents which gives evidence to this flower’s pattern and color. Two unique characteristics of this flower is it’s variation in pattern from top to bottom and it’s unique colors gold/tan and garnet/red. The Dorsal Sepal which is the upper middle petal (technically not named a petal) is devoid of any pattern or garnet/red color and is mostly a rich gold/tan color. While the two lateral sepals (the bottom left and right petals) are thick with a rich garnet/red colored blotches. Dare I say this can be appropriately named the “Seminole” Vanda? Shhh… don’t tell my wife I said that. We’re a house divided. She went to FSU and I went to Florida, but I doubt I’ll be able to find an orange and blue one. More details on an orchid’s anatomy can be found here. How lucky I feel when these guys bloom. This is its second bloom since picking it up in October 2024.
