Species orchids will tend to be in a niche market for a very long time unless somebody can figure out a way to get them into the mainstream without hurting wild populations of orchids. People who start off with orchids are not familiar enough with the large numbers of orchid families out there to even know what to get.
Some species are difficult to grow, but not all, that is a half-truth. There are quite a few that are so easy to grow, you wonder where this, "species orchids are harder to grow than hybrids" saying comes from.
While there are some species orchids that have a definite flowering period, there are quite a few that don't and can bloom off-and-on, without much effort on your part, throughout the course of the year.
Many species orchids are smaller flowered than their hybrid cousins. But there are a few species orchids with flowers that are fairly large. For example, Phramipedium kovachii has flowers that are around 5" across! Disa uniflora has flowers that are 3" - 4" across! Cattleya leuddemaniana has flowers that are anywhere around 4" - 5" across!
I hate to say it, but I think marketing plays a far larger role in species orchids being in a niche market than any of the things I've mentioned about species orchids above. It does appear that marketing species orchids seems to either be somewhat tricky or the effort isn't really being made to do so for whatever reasons.
I think it comes down to; if you have an excellent sales agent, they have the skills and training to sell you dirt and make money off of it.
Again...
Some of them are difficult to grow for a beginner. Some of them are very, very easy - much easier to grow than their hybrid counterparts!!!
I'll tell you one of the easier species orchids that occasionally makes its way into the many big box stores' garden centers here in the States, and many people here in the US probably didn't even know that it was an orchid to begin with!
What is that species orchid?
Bletilla striata
Yes, that's correct. Bletilla striata is a species orchid, and it is undoubtedly a terrestrial orchid at that!!!
It goes unnoticed by hundreds of people who may go to the racks full of Phalaenopsis, Cymbidium, Oncidium, and/or Cattleya hybrids in a place like The Home Depot and admire the beauty of those plants, but for Bletilla striata, it'd be lucky if a few people pick up the bag to take a look at it.
Bletilla striata can be seen from time-to-time being sold amongst ordinary spring bulbs along with the irises, daffodils, lilies, amaryllis, anemones, tulips, hyacinths, and such. The draw here is that, they are super inexpensive!
Although the flowers aren't as large as 5" across, they are brilliantly colored a bright magenta.
So, again, why isn't this orchid noticed over the sea of hybrids? I think it's due to poor marketing. I think species orchids in general get a bad rap and not enough recognition. It also doesn't help that a large number of species orchids are novelties because they are miniatures, and have no chance of being "a garden staple".
I'll add another thing...This one factor, alone, especially hurts the prominence of species orchids in the hobby - over generalizing things. Not all species orchids are plain looking. Not all species orchids are small flowered. Not all species orchids are hard to grow. Not all species orchids need extremely specialized care. Not all species orchids are tropical plants. Not all species orchid need to be grown in a greenhouse. Not all species orchids have a definite bloom period, or bloom only once a year.
What "the masses" don't realize is that Orchidaceae (orchids) is one of the larger groups of plants on this planet. There is probably only one other group of flowering plants that rivals the sheer number of diversity within the family! We're talking upwards of 25,000 species strong in Orchidaceae!!!
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Philip
Last edited by King_of_orchid_growing:); 07-09-2012 at 03:52 AM..
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