What did it for you?

[Pelepel]

I'm sure this has been a topic before. But, I'm always interested in hearing the epic journey of "orchidhood" people have forged in a flurry of blooms, tears and delight. The Orchid Cult.

Most importantly, what was it that made you so passionate for this beautiful plant? There is a first time for everyone, what made you fall madly in love with those greens and sorbet of colors?

What was your first orchid that turned you on to a lifelong love that can only be quenched with the purchase of a "few (10,000) more" or to gaze longingly at their exotic foliage after a long day? Like how the dog gazes for that strip of bacon you're frying up. No, eating our orchid would be a bad thing. Very bad.

Let's hear your tale and journey.

[johnblagg]

LOL a friend decided that he wanted to get a phal from Walmart to rebloom and asked me can you grow these? Well turns out I can indeed....but noid phals just are not floofy enough so I bought a catt for ever season ....one spring bloomer, one summer,one winter ....a big floofy purple Mac Holmes which was lost the first winter to fungal crud, well I destroyed it rather than let it spread actually since I was a novice ..a art shade Mary ellen carter 'Dixie Humming bird' and a Goldenzell 'Lemon Chiffon'..... and lol now into the second winter have 40 or so with a good mix up of dens catts phaius ect.

I also have physan 20 in my arsenal and use it once a month....

[Lady Tottington]

FUN THREAD! My obsession started when my neighbor and friend gave me an beautiful white noid dendrobium as a gift when my son was born. It was lovely, and eventually and sadly I killed it, after about 3 years of success. I don't know what happened, but obviously I didn't know how to care for it. But it was the one that I vowed to redeem myself because of. I still continue to hunt for a replacement/replica of it, knowing that I would be able to keep it alive now, but I can't seem to find it yet.

Now I have onc., catts, dends., and a tiny vanilla, one paph, phrags, epis, max, all totalling about 96 plants hidden around the house. My husband doesn't know the tally, and I shall not telling him. They are beautiful everywhere though, and even the ones not yet in bloom, are like a promise to me, a hope of a truth that if I do things right, it will reveal it's mysteries to me and help me find my own life and inner bloom.

crazy, I know. I still have so much to learn. But they seem to give me a hope and a focus, and "a something" to learn more from and of. <3

I still kill my share of poor phals, and it doesn't help that I purchase most of them when they are on their last legs at Lowes on the sale rack. But I figure that it's good experience to try to nurse them to health? I have purchased some species phals that I'm waiting for delivery, and they are seedlings, so I'm hoping I can have them grow old with me.

[gnathaniel]

Hi Pelepel, my Dad has grown orchids since he was 14 (I think Encyclia tampensis was his first, ordered by mail), so orchid society meetings, shows, greenhouse visits etc. were a big part of my childhood. The first that really caught my eye were Cattleya (Sophronitis) cernua and Bulbophyllum medusae, and I remember bugging my Dad until he got one of each. When I got into growing on my own a few years ago, a division of his large medusae was one of my first acquisitions. Bulbos are still one of my primary interests, along with Dendrobiums, mini-Cattleyas, and whatever else strikes my fancy when I have money in my wallet...

--Nat

[en3rmax]

It started for me 2 years ago this easter when my friend who is living in australia sent me a surprise gift back to the uk of a phalaenopsis orchid and some chocolates, i'd never knew about them before but am now obsessed.

It's her birthday today so i rang a florist in australia and sent her a surprise dendrobium orchid, they call it a singapore orchid. the florist said it grows in a pot of rocks, i'm quite interested to see that they mean.

[Jennyfleur]

Hmm, let's se - A friend of mine at uni used to talk about hers all the time and so I got fascinated about how different growing a phal was compared to growing the rest of my 'household jungle'! I still didn't take the plunge and get one but then, Toyota gave me a beautiful purple phal when I bought my car from them. I managed to keep it growing and healthy and then one day started surfing the net for orchids that were fragrant. I bought a coelogyne and a brassia and 30-odd plants later, they're all still alive ... and the indoor jungle is now even more of one!

[snappyguy]

I've long enjoyed plants and have a green thumb, but I wasn't sure I could grow orchids. Then I saw one of those "bag babies" at a local big box store marked down to $1.00. I managed to get it for 10 cents though. Wanting something blooming, my wife and I went to a nursery and picked up a Beallara. It all went from there.

[neb]

For me it was a V. Roberts Delight "purple" my wife and I bought it for my mother as a Christmas present. Unfortunately our apartment was so much of a shock that the flowers all fell off so then I bought her a Phal. that was about to bloom. It faired much better. We were able to get it to her just as the first bloom was opening. I did not want to throwaway the Vanda so I held on to it and just did whatever I thought might work. Then when it rebloomed the next year and had bigger and more blooms then when we got it I was hooked.

[heatherk]

I have always been an avid gardener and growing unusual plants was the most fun. I once brought home an orchid from Hawaii and promptly killed it. On 2 other occasions friends brought me orchids also from Hawaii and I killed those even faster. I love a challenge and decided to learn more about these amazing plants. I just had to try again. I quickly learned that orchids are nothing like my garden plants...at all!! I set about making an orchidarium using an old fish tank, fans and HID lighting. I started with Phals and low and behold I got one to bloom!! That was a red letter day in my house. I slowly expanded the collection to include Catt, Oncid, Dendrobium, Tolumnia, Masdavilla, Miltonopsis, Sedira Japonica and 3 Paph's. For a total of 18 plants. After 2 years only 4 have not yet bloomed for me. I cannot describe how exciting that is for me. I just had a Paph bloom open for the first this morning!! She has a second bud I didn't know what to do with it. Should I cut it off or leave it alone. I researched this on the forums and found this to be called sequential blooming and my fellow members said only a happy healthy orchid will do this. Such gratification. I know my friends do not understand my obession with this hobby but my fellow Orchid Board members do. Happy Growing!!

[BobInBonita]

It's an ongoing evolution for me.

It started with a single phal when we lived in Minnesota. I always gardened outdoors, but wanted something with some color during winter. Kept adding one more, and then another with good success, but gave them away when we retired to Florida.

After discovering just how different conditions were in Florida (and how most of the plants from "up North" wouldn't grow in Florida), I started experimenting with naturalizing orchids on the trees. Didn't have a clue what I was doing, but learned a lot (the hard way) about which needed what light. A couple of those experiments are still alive and growing, but most have succumbed to our sporadic frosts and damage by tree trimmers and squirrels.

Moved into "big box" phal noids, which did quite well during winter outdoors (similar conditions to winter indoors in Minnesota), but they suffer every rainy season. I still have trouble with them outdoors (not enough protection from rain during summer) regardless of the medium I try. Now I only acquire phals through gifts or abandonment (we have a homewatch business, and some clients tell us to "take them if you want them" when they leave for summer.

I have much better luck with the cattleya and vanda alliances, with a few dendrobiums thrown in. The collection is about 100 now.

So - what did it for me? It just grew and grew. Never really had a "moment", but bit by bit it took over my spare time. Every time I see a new spike growing, I still get a thrill.