Description
Everyone knows that chocolate is one of the most important things in the universe, right up there with air and water. So it’s no surprise that the chocolate-scented Oncidium Sharry Baby is one of the most popular orchids ever.
But did you know that there are quite a few orchids that produce a chocolate fragramce? And in Onc. Golden Leopard, Sharry Baby has definitely met its match! Golden Leopard’s yellow and brown blooms look very different from Sharry Baby’s reddish flowers, but it produces a rich chocolate aroma every bit as delightful.
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Even more interesting are the different breeding paths to producing chocolate fragrance in these Oncidium hybrids. Sharry Baby gets its chocolate genes from its grandparent, Onc. ornithorhyncum (aka sotoanum), a LOVELY miniature orchid that produces a wonderful chocolate fragrance. One would assume this species occupies an important position in Golden Leopard’s family tree, but shockingly, it’s not there at all! So that means Leopard’s chocolate fragrance arises through a completely different breeding path, and possibly different biochemical pathways. Which begs the question: what would happen if we crossed Golden Leopard with Sharry Baby? It’ll be chocolate orchid insanity![/END DIGRESSION]
Golden Leopard is a big Oncidium, with large producing long leaves. And Leopard’s spike is easily as thick as your pinky, but that’s because a single inflorescence can reach three feet with dozens of blooms.
So which is better, Leopard or Sharry? Well, Sharry is generally a robust orchid, but it doesn’t come close to Golden Leopard’s hardiness and vigor. The Golden Leopard plants we’re offering are divisions of larger plants that have gone through everything: over a year with NO water, freezing and frying temps, no fertilizer – and they still bloomed out amazingly well! If this orchid can thrive on such neglect, just imagine what it can do if you take care of it!
