What was your first orchid? - Orchid Board

Oscarman · #1 07-13-2006, 01:07 PM

We all have to start off somewhere, usually with one plant that sparks our interest in orchids.

What was your first orchid - can you remember it's name?

Mine was Blc. Oconee 'Mendenhall' AM/AOS and it's flowers looked something like this.

cb977 · #2 07-13-2006, 01:10 PM

My first was actually a NOID phal but she's gorgeous!

This should be a very interesting thread...thanks Dave

justintimedc · #3 07-13-2006, 02:45 PM

When I was in 8th grade, I was into gardening and house plants, so my mom brought me to this orchid greenhouse she heard about, called Kensington Orchids, in Kensington, MD. This was a HUGE operation, with literally acres and acres of greenhouses. I walked into the first one, and saw a field of phals in front of my eyes. I honestly remember that moment well to this day. I understood on some level that I was hooked for life.

Mom bought me a nice big white phal, i have no idea what the name of it was. We moved to Minnesota, waaay up north, near Canada. I kept that orchid through the years there, and it never bloomed, but kept on growing. The plant got huge. At the end of my high school years, we moved back to the DC area, in my senior year, and I brought the phal with me. It started blooming immediately. It then bloomed non-stop for the next 5 years, never without a bloom, and sometimes with as many as 30 blooms at a time, each easily 6 inches across. I started accumulating more orchids at this time.

Sometime in college, my parents were tending to my orchid collection, and it got some kind of virus and died quite quickly. But to this day, it was the largest, most robust, bloomingest orchid I have ever had.

Tindomul · #4 07-13-2006, 02:53 PM

Nice stories. My first orchids came in a trio! (Again with the trio for me). NOID Phal (The one I posted about lately concerning the seed pod and its seeds), one NOID Dendrobium, and on Onc. Sharry Baby. When I saw that I didnt kill them, I got more orchids. Always in trios though, how strange.

Oscarman · #5 07-13-2006, 04:30 PM

Tindo, that sounds a little like OCD. One, two, three...one, two, three...one, two, three!

ScottMcC · #6 07-13-2006, 04:40 PM

I'm also in the noid phal club...

this one had about 25 flowers on a branching inflorescence, and is now awaiting repotting (tonight) into s/h. so far it's been growing well, hopefully it continues!

Oscarman · #7 07-13-2006, 05:25 PM

Scott, sounds like you are in deep with the S/H......

ScottMcC · #8 07-13-2006, 05:47 PM

yep. so far I have the catt that I divided and the phal that was poorly potted (repotted it last night into s/h), and tonight (provided I ever get home from work, which is questionable at best...) I will be moving 3 or 4 other plants over. over the next few weeks I've got another couple that are going, just waiting for the optimal time.

my catts are doing great. I just noticed not only some wicked new root growth on them, but also another new growth. so now both baby plants have 3 new growths! I lost one leaf from one of the oldest backbulbs, but it was kinda tenuous even before I repotted, so I think it was just that leaf's time to go.

Tikva · #9 07-14-2006, 09:16 AM

*putting off cleaning the house from top to bottom in the horrible event that MIL comes here!*

I have a funny story about how I came to love orchids. One year my husband was away for business for our anniversary, the 4th of July and my birthday - which all fall in a 10 day span.... so he sent me crazy expensive flowers. One of them smelled SO strong and I was in LOVE. I thought it was an orchid and always thought I would like to run across that orchid and grow it. I knew nothing about orchids. Every once in a while I would sort of look for it - but I don't even remember what it looked lie - online. I came across an orchid that smelled like chocolate / vanilla and thought nothing could be better than that!!!!

Noticed there would be an orchid show in my area and planned to go. Had a trip to Miami with the husband's work and we drove out the Keys. I begged him to stop at every flower nursery in search of what I knew was Sharry Baby. FINALLY got him to stop and wouldn't you know - they had one! In bloom!

I carried that home the whole long flight. Got so many compliments on this orchid and couldn't stop sniffing it!
I now realize that the flowers from my husband probably weren't even orchids LOL but I quickly became obsessed! Would still love to know what the flowers were.....

Mahon · #10 07-14-2006, 03:20 PM

...first orchid was Dendrobium Burana Jade...

I hate hybrids (as most of ya know!), but this is the only man-made hybrid orchid I still have... I love this plant, the petals and sepals are light green, and the labellum is purple with white striations... easy going plant... it won't make a specimen though, and its been 8 years...

-PM