Posted on: October 22, 2007

The Attainable Orchid

No longer considered a flower limited to the upper crust of society, orchids are popping up everywhere, bolstering their reputation with their beauty, scent and easy-to-maintain schedule

By Chuck Ross
CTW Features

Orchids have a reputation for being the prototypical hothouse flower. Beautiful and often heavily scented, they also are widely believed to thrive only in the most tightly controlled environments. Only the wealthy, it is often thought, can afford to make such a fleeting indulgence a part of their everyday lives.

Today, however, thanks to the same factors lowering the cost of everything from jeans to televisions – namely, mass-marketing and, in many cases, offshore production – orchids are everywhere. Lovely examples in full bloom can be found in the most unlikely outlets – your local supermarket or home-improvement store – for under $10. And a wider array of more costly and exotic varieties is available we well.

Familiarity Breeds ... More Orchids

"Over the last five to 10 years, there's been really rapid growth in technology - it's really cut the growing time," says Ned Nash, a former commercial grower and director of education and conservation at the American Orchid Society, who lives in Santa Barbara, Calif. As a result, he says, prices have fallen dramatically, boosting exposure in such mass-market outlets as Home Depot, and so encouraging consumers that they, too, can enjoy a bit of the tropics in the dead of winter.

"Once people began seeing them in friendly places, they really began to see what a good value orchid plants are," Nash says. "The same money spent on cut flowers would have gone down the drain in just a couple of weeks."

Tremendous Variety

Orchids grow in the wild in enormous variety; experts estimate that there are 25,000 to 30,000 species now in existence. The plants are highly adaptable to specific environments. Nash says separate species have evolved from a single mountain ridge or valley to the next. These wild plants are so attuned to their surroundings that they are often impossible to cultivate in a home or greenhouse. In addition, many wild orchids are considered endangered species, so removing them from their natural setting can be illegal.

Over the decades, though, horticulturists have developed several major varieties that can thrive in home conditions, including phalaenopsis, cattleya and dendrobium orchids. Each of these offers tens, if not hundreds, of hybrid options, providing a wide range of choice for home growers.

Easy-to-care-for beauty

Maintaining these plants isn't nearly as hard as you might think. Though orchids native to specific outdoor locations are notoriously difficult, the hybrid varieties available to general enthusiasts require little more attention than one would give a common African violet.

However, you may need to raise moisture levels around your orchids to meet their preference for humidity levels of 50 percent to 80 percent, depending on the variety. Locate your orchid near a humidifier, or group it with other plants, where it can benefit from the moisture they expire. Alternatively, set its pot in a gravel-filled tray to which you've added some water (don't let the pot rest directly in the water). The tray's width should match the span of the plant's branches, so moisture evaporating upward can be absorbed by its leaves.

Even the longest-flowering orchid will someday lose its blooms. It is possible to coax blossoms to return, experts say, though it might be another year before reflowering occurs. One strategy Nash suggests for phalaenopsis is to pinch the branch holding a fading flower back to a point between the bloom and the next highest node (a visible "bump" or joint on the branch). This may force a new branch to sprout from the node, which may, in turn, sport its own long-lasting flower.

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