Welcome, orchids!

a post from Bea

Jan 04, 2022

I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I consider myself a pretty good gardener. I have lots of plants, indoors and outdoors, but today I’m going to tell you all about a really special kind of house plant that I love to take care of.

Orchids are very particular plants. They need the right amount of light, the right amount of water, and the right amount of humidity. They are also very, very pretty so all the hard work is definitely worth it.

There are more than 25,000 species of orchids in the world, which is more than mammals and birds combined. I have three orchids, which all came from the Orchid Gallery in Pittsboro. Two are Phalaenopsis, also known as moth orchids. The third is called Brassocattleya Maikai, which is a hybrid, or a mixture of two kinds of orchids. She is a bigger plant, with many shoots that all converge into one plant. The stem has blossoms, with a cup-shaped center and five pale pink leaves, like a star. It also looks a lot like a vanilla flower, if you’ve seen one on a vanilla bottle. Vanilla comes from orchids!

Most orchids bloom for about three months. So, when you’re getting a new orchid, if you want it to last longer, choose one with only a few or no blooms, just buds. Then you can enjoy your blooms for longer, and you get to see them open.

The first thing you do when you’re getting an orchid is welcome her to the house. Show the orchid the different rooms of your house so you can figure out which one is best. Gently carry her to a spot where she has some good light, and ideally a good view. According to the owner of Orchid Gallery, good orchid light means that you can make a shadow for at least four hours a day. I put my orchids on top of a small bookshelf by the window.

Orchids don’t sit inside of a regular terracotta pot with regular dirt, like a normal plant. They usually have a clear plastic pot with bark and moss and a little soil inside. This special way of being planted is important because it mimics how they grow in nature. Some orchids grow on trees in the wild—that’s called an epiphyte. They also often hang upside down in nature because their flowers are so heavy. They take nutrients and moisture from the tropical air. They’re not used to regular soil.

To see whether your orchid needs to be watered, gently lift her out of the pot. Do not pick her up by the stems. You can use the plastic support to pick her up, then put your hand under the bottom of the pot.

If the roots are white, you need to water. If the roots are green, that means GO DO SOMETHING ELSE.

Orchids are tropical plants. In the tropics, the air is so humid—very, very humid. To help your orchid feel at home you need a spray bottle or a mister. I water my orchids once or twice a week, based on their root conditions, but I mist every day. With the mister I’m just spraying the air around my orchids.

To take good care of plants you need time and patience. Every plant has special needs, and you have to get to know them. It’s like taking care of a baby, except a baby is much harder actually.

The reward is that you get to see them bloom and grow. It’s a proud feeling!

Here is a video about the many kinds of orchids and why people love them:

Here is the smallest orchid:

The largest orchid, or Queen of Orchids, can grow eight feet tall!

Do you have any orchid tips? Or plants you love to grow?

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