Blooming season

[plumania]

I have been surfing e bay and saw really good offerings from Kawamoto Orchid. Since I am new to Orchids, I have hard time figuring out their bloom time. I do not have access to the fancy and expensive database and if I ask questions on the forum, it may be too late. They have no info reg blooming season and I had same problem with some other vendors. It is too time consuming to inquire from vendor about each plant.
How do you all find out the blooming season ?

[tucker85]

It is possible to look up the blooming season for species (orchids that exist in natural habitats), but most of the orchids we buy are hybrids. Hybrids do not necessarily bloom in the same season as the species in it’s background. Generally we depend on the vendor to tell us when an orchid hybrid can be expected to bloom. Otherwise you can ask other forum members about specific orchids and maybe someone will be able to give you information on it. I have a journal where I document when each of my orchids blooms so I’ll know when to expect them to bloom next year.

[orchidsarefun]

I agree with Tucker and even programmes like OrchidWiz do not indicate a blooming season for hybrids because of this unpredictability. Your own cultural conditions also impact blooming - if you don't get the conditions right, it is possible your orchid won't bloom when it is "supposed" to.

Some vendors do show the blooming season - Andy's Orchids for example. You could cross-reference to those sites as many vendors offer the same hybrids for sale. You could also do a search on OB as there are blooming photos posted for many hybrids when they are in bloom.