Which orchid is the most rewarding?

[Shadeflower]

Ok lets not beat around the bush.

Challenging generlly means = 90% of growers end up killing it.

I can see the desire to want to achieve something nobody else has like climb the mount everest but with orchids it isn't the same thing at all so I unfortauntely cannot relate at all.
I think it is fairly stupid. If you guys were to want to do it because the orchid is worth doing it for then ok but if it is just a matter of trying to climb mount everst, hell one of the climbers died trying last year.

Least that was a bit of karma. If people know that 90% of the time they will contribute to the loss of orchid diversity in nature by picking one that is difficult to satisfy some personal ego that I cannot understand myself.

I know I like to be very critical so of course I like to exagerate and I lose orchids too but knowing this I am unltra careful about the future orchids I do buy.

If there is a high chance I could kill it, not because I'm a bad grower but because it is so delicate and challenging then why keep getting another, and another and another

I was really tempted to get an orchid last year that was very expensive and people told me it was tricky. The thing is the people telling me this are people I know have also killed a lot of orchids. What is trcky to some is generally not tricky to me but that is a different story.

Anyway, a complete beginner came along and declared they hd bought it. 9 months later they had killed it.

[YetAnotherOrchidNut]

I answered the question on the terms of "which plants give you best bang for your buck", eg grow the most and are flowering the most, etc.

But I also agree that the greatest sense of personal satisfaction comes from the more challenging cases. A few years back I got the "baby orchid" bug, and the satisfaction of seeing a "seedling" that you have raised flower fully for the first time is huge.

[wisdomseeker]

Agree with all of the above!

Most rewarding to me, are the ones that bloom when least expected. You know the scenario... you dedicate the time and effort to raise an orchid (even the ones considered to be a challenge or tricky) and patiently wait for it to reward you with a bloom.

Years pass, your orchid is healthy, but still no blooms. You start wondering if it will ever bloom - am I doing something wrong, should I continue growing this one, do I have a 'dud'? Then bingo! You pass by your collection one day and something catches your eye. The reward of a flower when you were least expecting it.

[Shadeflower]

wisdomseeker, that is well put.
Like I said I can understand the desire to want a challenging one, so I too have bought challenging ones in the past but I'd like to think I've learnt with the challenging ones, you better pick one in person to make sure you get a good one.

That to me often times is the challenging part. If you get one that has already had a bad history (the more challengin, the less good care they receive at the shop) then I find that is the main reason they end up being challenging - not because they are too difficult, but the result is still the same - money down the drain.

I will just add my recent experience with a ghongora galleata I got last year. It ticked all the boxed - I hadn't heard of it, different kind of looking flowers, fragrant, compact, cool grower. But most importantly an easy beginner orchid.

Up until this past week I did question the last part but I am happy to say that I discovered a flower spike this week despite it looking like it was forgotten about in a corner or something. Not in the best of shapes and nothing I was expecting to see flower for another couple of years.
So even though it won't reach it's full potential just yet it has completely surprised me doing that and it is a pleasant surprise. Just reminded me it is fragrant too.
Another thingto look forward to.

[SouthPark]

The o.p. brings an interesting question indeed. And which brings another question of ...... is it true that there may be no need to seek a reward for growing orchids? Maybe the meaning is linked to just liking orchids ..... and also aiming to grow them for ourselves ... and learning how to maintain their health etc.

[Clawhammer]

I prefer an orchid be in bloom all year / multiple times than for it to only bloom once and feel satisfied because it was a challenge.

An easy orchid will be challenging in the wrong environment.

All first blooms from grown out seedlings give me the same feeling of satisfaction regardless of the plant.

[WaterWitchin]

I'm with Clawhammer. The most rewarding, for me, are the ones that bloom consistently, often, and blooms last a long time. Ones that can all grow in the same space without requiring special attention, and embrace my culture of them instead of me being directed toward their requirements.

Have tons of houseplants, and more plants growing outside than a normal individual should care for. Some grown for blooms, some for foliage, all requiring care. Let's not get into the other challenges around, including many animals.

I've had more than enough challenges in life, and continue to be challenged in one way or another in aspects other than plants. I don't need to seek out challenge... it finds me regardless.

[Davey]

For me indoors it is Dtps. Winter Clouds 'Mendenhall' and Bulbophyllum frostii. Outdoors it's gotta be my Enc. Cyndi followed by Cattleya skinneri. I would like to have more fragrant flowers and plants in general. Clawhammer mentioned Phal. Bellina and fragrance has always been an important feature for me. I have killed most of my fragrant ones though. But, I am thinking it is time to try digbyana, nodosa, or their hybrids again. Or, better yet, something fragrant I can grow indoors.

Right now I would say it's Encyclia Cyndi for me, because it flowers reliably and has a scent I like to smell.

[tmoney]

personally i find many of the orchids we have bought this year to be rewarding. but, as others have said, the rewards are different. the vanilla is rewarding in that i have always wanted an ivy type plant that climbs the wall and cross the ceiling and droops down all crazy. the vanilla is totally that plant and not at all rewarding for flowers cause it hasn’t bloomed. but who cares, it’s awesome.

but then the epidendrum we thought was gonna die and it has been babied along gave us one spike of flowers and that was a fantastic feeling when it actually started to bloom.

so yeah, not to take the political answer, but i think all orchids are rewarding to people in different ways. like if the dracula we have (but really have no business owning) were to survive and bloom that would be the most rewarding challenge. unbelievably it survived this summer on the balcony, but it is just barely hanging on. having it live this long is a reward in itself in my eyes!

[DirtyCoconuts]

Restrapia cymbula - small, grows happily in my bathroom, has not stopped flowering since I got it. I
Every growing “branch” flowers, forever. And the flowers are super cute

Pros cochleata also once it’s big enough blooms forever. Possibly the coolest flowers and they just keep coming

Anything you don’t think you can grow and then succeed. That is the MOST rewarding but I’ll take flowers all year round over that every time lol

Neofinetia falcata- smell. Period. I average five blooms from a medium plant each year. They make the area within 30 feet smell like paradise after the cleaning man came

Phalaenopsis hybrid- any of them! The flowers last for 3-6 months, a bouquet that lasts forever!

Hwra puanani- a flower factory

Any “star” brassivola. 5-9 flowering’s a year for me, many are fragrant- little stars, yellow stars, you can’t go wrong