I bought my first orchid back in 1985, a Valentines present for my wife. I still have pieces of that orchid today.
I currently have over 200 orchids, mostly cattleya alliance, with vanda's dens phals oncidiums and epidentrums sprinkled in for good measure.
I'm a member of the Venice area orchid society.
I grow outdoors under a live oak and in my screened lanai.
Here are a few shots of a few of my plants in bloom
Thanks wasn't that a great set of blooms. That's a cross of Blc. Mahina Yahiro X C. Sans Souci. It produced three doubles, with 2 side by side and the one centered above. So I got that arrangement naturally, without any staking. I can't wait till next year to see what it does.