It is a a Harlequin Phal. and a nice one. Should be really nice when it grows up and has more flowers. My hoped for Harlequin turned out to be fairly normal.

Still me? how about Tom, Dick or Harry or Joan or Alyshia? You do not have to tell us your surname?

So Harlequin is considered a deformity of sorts, one that is desierable.

As to name I am a 21 year old male my name is Dana I am in college for elementary Ed. I hope to have a nice collection to be able to have an orchid in bloom in my class room all the time.

Dana, No, it is not a deformity, just a reference to the interesting blotches/splashes of colour on the petals. Do not know when this useful mutation first occurred but sometimes the hoped for colours do not come out and you have a more or less normal coloured phal.
You need a Phal. Guru to tell you about Phal breeding.

from what i can read on the tag, your plant is a yellow harlequin (Haur Jin Diamond) crossed to a standard (light pink, i believe). so the substance of the flower is probably not as heavy as some more typical harlequins, but the patterning definitely qualifies it as a harlequin.

It's been my experience that temperature can sway a harlequin phal to either more or less spots on a blooming, and the spots can vary quite a bit between one flower and the next on the same blooming.

This one's absolutely lovely!

Sharon

Now you say temp. will influence. Well high= what and low = what?

Thanks everyone!

growing conditions play a big role on how the flower will look -- size, substance, color, pattern, etc. even among clones, there can be a good bit a variation due to growing conditions.

Here is my Doritaenopsis I-Hsin 'Black Jack', similar to the Harlequin Phals.

Mine has bloomed reliably now for me for 2 years.
All my orchids go outside from spring through fall,
and they all get a bit of a chill cuz I don't bring them in until it dips into the 50's for a week or so.

This is how I get them to spike. :)

So you would recomend outside in the New York area during the summer?

And this is what the tag says (P. Haur Jin Diamond x P. Shan-Lin's Maki Stuart)

Dana, I hang most of my orchids in trees.
They go out around April 15th.
(sometimes as late as May 1 depending on the weather, plus out here on the east end of LI we are at least a zone warmer than mainland NY)
I hang them in preference to how much light they like.
Phals deep inside, Catts and other light lovers farther out in more light. Some I hang under the rafters on the front porch...they get a LOT of morning sun.
I put my Phrags and Paphs in the evergreens, deep shade.
A couple get hung inside the umbrella of my patio table.
The best part is the natural rain they get.
Really washes all the built up crap out of the potting medium.
Also, give them pond water from my lily pond, that is the only fertilizer they get all summer.
(also a bit of compost tea from my composter which has a 'tea' reservoir in it's base)

I have quite a few mounted orchids too, and I hook them on nails on tree trunks here and there, according to their light needs.

If it doesn't rain (some of mine are set up so they get sprinkled by my automatic inground sprinkler system) I hose all mine down with the garden hose once a week. (I have well water) Some I just dunk into the pond up to their rims for a few moments.

When they come back inside for the winter, they get Reverse Osmosis water. :)

Thanks, I will probably put them outside, but wait until lke end of may or june.

Where do you live?

I am 100 miles east of Manhattan, on the North Fork of LI.
We are having a zone 8 winter so far.
Usually we are a zone 7.

Good luck with your orchids! :)

Very pretty bloom! Sheila :-)

It's been my experience that my greenhouse phals have more background color in cooler weather, some nearly solid dark when it heats up in the summertime. Don't know if that's true for all harlequins, though.

Sharon

Thanks for all the advice.

I live two places. During school time I go to SUNY Fredonia, and during winte3r break and summer I live near Canandaguia Lake.

Joyce--
You mentioned that you keep your orchids outside all summer in the rain. I am new to orchids, but am trying hard to learn. I was told never to let water get into the leaves or they will rot. Now I know in the wild no one dries out the leaves, but have been afraid to let mine get rained on none the less. Do you do anything to yours? Also, what do you feed--if anything--in the winter? I love the idea of organic orchids, but have not found much about it so far---and I would love to see some blooms!

Joyce has not posted for a long time. As for puttng your orchids (Phalaenopsis?)
outside. Depends...... on where you live and the type of orchids. Here, Sydney Australia, outside is death to Phalaenopsis, but fine for some other Genera.
You might get a better response if you post the question on the discussions page and if you fix up your my page details. USA is awfully big. A state would be a big help.