Encyclia alata, a plant I brought at a local Mall in the late 1990's.

I brought this plant in a local Mall in the late nineties.  It was in a block of tree fern and had an inflorescence with about twelve flowers.  It thrived under my care and produced large pseudobulbs with in turn produced enormous inflorescences.  Sadly the fern mount decayed, the orchid lost its roots and that was the end of it.  But I learned my lesson, the second plant of Encyclia alata I brought is still alive after ten years in my garden and blooming better than ever.  I will write about that one and how I potted it after the bitter experience of losing this one on a future blog post.