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Blue Orchid?

While doing some garden shopping at Home Depot today, we saw Blue Orchids. Our first words, literally, were, "those can't be real, can they?" Of course, the florr guy said immediately that they were and that they were not dyed. Upon close inspection of the unopened blooms, it was readily apparent that they were, indeed, dyed, and identical to the white ones sitting next to them. But this got us thinking, for father's day, we'd love to get a blue orchid for my father-in-law. He's been successfully keeping about 30 different species, easy and moderate, for the last few years and gets them all to rebloom regularly. So, my question is, are there any real, undyed, blue orchids? If so, does anyone know anywhere relaible to get them from?
 
blue vanda orchids: (blue left, purple right) from http://an-exotic-affair.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
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good luck finding them...i bet they command a hefty price tag.
 
Vanda coerulea and many of it's hybrids are the bluest orchids that I know of. I've also seen nearly blue dendrobium hybrids before.
 
I know the orchids he's talking about, around here they got them first at my Aunts nursery job. They're "Saphire Phalaenopsis" or some such silly name. They have been watered with blue food coloring. I've seen the blue stain on the roots on one or two in a large shipment of them.

Here's a pic I found online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/diadsie/5560379998/


Real blue Vandas are beautiful in person!
 
I know the orchids he's talking about, around here they got them first at my Aunts nursery job. They're "Saphire Phalaenopsis" or some such silly name. They have been watered with blue food coloring. I've seen the blue stain on the roots on one or two in a large shipment of them.

Here's a pic I found online: http://www.flickr.com/photos/diadsie/5560379998/


Real blue Vandas are beautiful in person!

BINGO! Good catch swords, nice to see that I wasn't wrong, that's them EXACTLY. Cheers for that.

Now the Vandas, they're beautiful, and blue, but !HOLY CARP! on the price tag. I guess if you're an orchid guy $150 is probably not all that bad. But, being a CP and bonsai guy who looks mostly for "starts", phew, they sure are pricey. TY for the Keighley's Blue link, but they look more purple than blue. He's about 3 or 4 different purples.
 
depends where you buy orchids......the wife has a blue vanda she paid $25 for when we were in Florida.....
 
There are ones at almost every Lowes down south for like $13. That's where I got my pink vanda. And that's where I will only buy Vandas!
Those Blue Mystique orchids are ugly, except for the flowers where the dye has almost died out.
 
That blue Vanda is stunning! Much better than the unsightly gimick Phals.
 
  • #10
The fine print on the Lowes "Blue Phalaenopsis" the next flowers will be WHITE.

http://www.silvervase.com/blue-mystique-main.php next flowering will be white

http://silvervase.com/docs/IndigoMystique.pdf next flowering will be fuchsia

For a true BLUE flower you have to get:
Thelymitra crinita aka The Long-Haired Thelymitra - The Queen Orchid - The Blue Lady Orchid
or
Cyanicula caerulea aka The Sky Blue Cyanicula - The Eastern Tiny Blue China Orchid



The other blue species Vanda coerulea,Rhynchostylis coelestis,etc are varying shades of bluish purple.
 
  • #11
There is very few true blue orchids. In fact there is a guy trying to breed a true blue cattleya. I have a "blue" vanda, but it doesn't bloom blue all the time. If I grow it in full sun like vanda's are supposed to be grown it comes out purple. I have to get a spike started then give it just the right light to get the blue I desire and that has only happened once.

The "Blue" phal in the link is not a blue. It is more purple.

Just looked up the Cyanicula and it is more purple/blue to me too.

The Thelymitra now is a blue and it is nice. I wonder how hard species is to get and grow.

There was an article in the AOS mag about blue orchids. There is a guy doing a breeding program to get a true blue cattelya and doing other things besides breeding.

The blue orchid is along the lines of the black orchid. There is one black orchid now thanks to a guys breeding efforts, but in actuality it is a really dark purple that looks black, and one plant fromt he group of seeds expressed the dark coloring in the entire flower. The clones of that plant are still rather expencive.

I need to find the article on the blue orchid breeding.

I found this while looking for the article online.
APPEARANCE

The frequent use of the term “blue Cattleya” notwithstanding, the flowers of variety coerulea Cattleyas are a color that is nowhere near the primary color blue the name suggests. The reason coerulea Cattleyas are referred to as blue is the bluer than is normal color of the flowers. The flower color of "blue" Cattleyas varies widely from cross to cross and may even vary considerably between orchids from the same clone. The color can be anything from an attractive shade of pink or pink-mauve to rich shades of purple-blue. AOS judges describe “blue” Cattleyas use a variety of descriptive colors such as lilac, rose blue, blue-lavender, lavender-blue, blue-violet, blue-purple or indigo blue. From these names, it should be apparent that most 'blue' cattleyas have a considerable amount of red in the flower color giving most 'blue' cattleyeas a color that is best descibed as a bluish shade of purple.


ORIGIN
Blue flower color is rare in orchids, and very rare in Cattleyas growing in their natural range. While growing in the natural range, "blue" Cattleya are the result of extremely infrequent mutations producing a plant that is typically called "variety coerulea" Many Cattleya species have coerulea color forms, though some species such as the yellow flowered Cattleya dowiana either doesn’t have a coerulea form due to the yellow original color or the coerulea form is extremely rare.

CHEMESTRY AND GENETICS
In orchids, the range of colors possible for a flower is defined by a complex of anthocyanin and co-pigments within the cells of the flower while the actual color expressed is determined to a great extent by the floral pH. The blue color in many orchid flowers is known to be associated with an alkaline floral pH. Research on some blue orchid blue forms has sown that blue color increases as the floral pH becomes more alkaline. Experiments with the blue form of Phalaenopsis pulcherrima show that the pH resulting in the blue form of the flower is inherited in the ratios expected for as a single recessive gene. [1]

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
Blue Cattleya breeding expert Ervin Granier has conducted research which shows that the expression of coerulea coloration is very dependent on plant nutrition in at least the Cattleya alliance orchids he tested. His findings showed that the lack of a certain nutrient may suppress the expression of coerulea coloration significantly.. Fortunately, he says, most commonly used fertilizers such as Peters or Miracle Grow contain just enough of the nutrient to assure the full development of coerulea color. Adding more of the nutrient doesn't make flowers any bluer.


[1] Robert J. Griesbach, PhD, Breeding for Blue Flowers, Orchids, May 2005 (Volume 74, Number5)

Found this while doing more searching.

delphinidin is the anthocyanin that is "true blue", and it does not exist in orchids.

I thought this info was impressive. They go on to talk about the Australian blue orchids. One said
Cyanicula spp. are impossible to find for sale.

The following are more reasonable acquisitions, and only certain species or hybrids:

Thelymitra
Diuris
Corybas
Leptoceras
Caladenia
Pterostylis (and it's subdivisions in genera)
Of course he is talking about importing from down under. Many things are protected and very hard to obtain legally.
 
  • #12
The 'blue' Phalaenopsis are in UK garden centres too. Named Phalaenopsis Royal Blue

n2bm88.jpg


2d825ix.jpg
 
  • #13
Are they dyed blue though? Like dying daisy's blue.
 
  • #14
Yes, it's blue dye flushed through the pots that turns the blooms blue (have seen some of the dye still on the roots) they will not rebloom blue without the same dye treatment.
 
  • #16
Either way it is not a true blue.
 
  • #17
There is no such thing as far as I know of a true blue orchid. There are many though that are very very close. I just saw the same Phals at Home Depot and thought no way.... read the tag and my thoughts were correct, they are dyed. I have Bollopetalum Midnight Blue and the blooms are a very nice dark blue. But I have seen some that get purplish. They usually run about $15, at least that's what I payed for mine. It is starting a spike now, when it blooms I'll post a pic if I can.
 
  • #18
i recently saw a very nice blue orchid... Dendrobium vexillarius var retroflexum. the clone that i saw in particular, because of it's crystalline nature, had metallic grey turquoise petals. along with the dark purplish lip with a bright orange tongue...quite a site to behold!
 
  • #19
This is what a naturally 'blue' phal looks like
P8250017.jpg
 
  • #20
There is no such thing as far as I know of a true blue orchid. There are many though that are very very close. I just saw the same Phals at Home Depot and thought no way.... read the tag and my thoughts were correct, they are dyed. I have Bollopetalum Midnight Blue and the blooms are a very nice dark blue. But I have seen some that get purplish. They usually run about $15, at least that's what I payed for mine. It is starting a spike now, when it blooms I'll post a pic if I can.

Awesome, I'd love to see what they look like from a "home grower" posting honest pics, rather than overly flattering or photoshopped images.
 
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