Hello from Colorado
Greetings, orchidophiles! I caught the orchid bug about 30 years ago (!), when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. We bought our first orchids after taking the “Acres of Orchids” tour at Rod McClellan Orchids. After some years of accumulating an unwieldy-sized collection, a couple moves to drier and harsher climates—and life—I gradually fell out of the hobby, but have had a recent relapse. It’s interesting getting back into an activity that I started in before the age of the internet, iPads, Kindle, digital cameras, LED lights, etc.! I’ve discovered that, not only has the technology changed, but even the taxonomy seems completely rearranged now! Species have been combined or split, there are new names for intergeneric hybrids—I have to learn a whole new alphabet soup!
Well, my reentry has been a lot of fun so far. I don’t have the most forgiving growing conditions—a wire shelf by the west-facing, partly tinted and unopenable window of my office at work. I’m particular smitten with the compact and miniature Cattleyas (what we used to call Sophrolaeliacattleyas-Slcs), and I’m going to try to stick with those, given my cramped quarters, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to resist all the others. Yes, it’s a sickness!
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