{"id":26123,"date":"2016-10-16T20:20:07","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T04:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=26123"},"modified":"2016-12-28T17:59:03","modified_gmt":"2016-12-29T01:59:03","slug":"a-big-purple-sobralia-orchid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/16\/a-big-purple-sobralia-orchid\/","title":{"rendered":"A Big Purple Sobralia Orchid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sobralia flowers never fail to impress. Recently I mentioned this plant in a post about\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/07\/growing-orchids-in-pacifica\/\">Growing Orchids Outdoors in Pacifica<\/a>. This <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/20\/sobralia\/\">Sobralia species<\/a> bloomed for years outside in our San Francisco garden. It didn&#8217;t do so well after <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/13\/orchid-eviction\/\">our move to the coast<\/a>, so I finally brought it indoors. After a quick growth spurt, it flowered before we left for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/07\/fall-color-in-colorado\/\">our recent trip to Colorado<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_2_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26127 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_2_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, close up of lip of large purple flower, grown indoors in Pacifica, California\" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_2_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_2_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_2_800px-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_2_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_3_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26128 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_3_800px-128x96.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower, grown indoors in Pacifica, California\" width=\"128\" height=\"96\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_3_800px-128x96.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_3_800px-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_3_800px-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_3_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_1_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26126 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_1_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, close up of lip of large purple flower, grown indoors in Pacifica, California\" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_1_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_1_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_1_800px-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_1_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>These big purple blossoms, with sunny yellow and white centers, only last for a few days, the very definition of fleeting beauty. The first three pictures above show my plant&#8217;s recent bloom indoors. The remaining pictures below show blooms from past years, when the plant lived outdoors in our San Francisco garden, They include a great photo of a visit by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2012\/11\/12\/gulf-fritillary\/\">a spectacular Gulf Fritillary butterfly<\/a>, warming its wings in the autumn sun, and adding even more beauty to a Sobralia bud.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_6_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26131 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_6_800px-128x96.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower, grown outdoors in San Francisco, California\" width=\"128\" height=\"96\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_6_800px-128x96.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_6_800px-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_6_800px-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_6_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_and_Gulf_Fritillary_Butterfly_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26134 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_and_Gulf_Fritillary_Butterfly_800px-96x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower bud with Gulf Fritillary butterfly resting with open wings, outdoors in San Francisco, California \" width=\"96\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_and_Gulf_Fritillary_Butterfly_800px-96x128.jpg 96w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_and_Gulf_Fritillary_Butterfly_800px-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_and_Gulf_Fritillary_Butterfly_800px.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 96px) 100vw, 96px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_8_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26133 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_8_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower, grown outdoors in San Francisco, California \" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_8_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_8_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_8_800px-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_8_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_7_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26132 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_7_800px-96x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower, grown outdoors in San Francisco, California \" width=\"96\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_7_800px-96x128.jpg 96w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_7_800px-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_7_800px.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 96px) 100vw, 96px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_5_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26130 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_5_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower, grown outdoors in San Francisco, California \" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_5_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_5_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_5_800px-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_5_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_4_800px.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-26129 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_4_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Sobralia macrantha, orchid species, large purple flower, grown outdoors in San Francisco, California \" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_4_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_4_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_4_800px-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Sobralia_macrantha_4_800px.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sobralia flowers never fail to impress. Recently I mentioned this plant in a post about\u00a0Growing Orchids Outdoors in Pacifica. This Sobralia species bloomed for years outside in our San Francisco garden. It didn&#8217;t do so well after our move to the coast, so I finally brought it indoors. After a quick growth spurt, it flowered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cool-growers","category-fragrant-orchids","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26123"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26164,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123\/revisions\/26164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}