Hi everyone!
I'm really glad I found these forums! I've been reading through a lot of posts here and it seems everyone is super friendly and has lots of good information to share on orchids!
So a little bit about me, I've always been interested in orchids but was a little scared of how "hard" it was to take care of them. I tended to stick to houseplants and eventually veggies that could be grown in containers when I lived in an apartment (my balcony was one of those 'can't see the sliding glass door due to all the dang plants' types). I have a green thumb it seems, except when I get lazy and don't water my plants (but I'm getting much better at that!) As for orchids, the first ones I really remember were a set of four Phalaenopsis in a 12x12 inch pot that my husband gave me for Valentines day a good 3-4 years ago (he said he wanted to get me flowers but didn't want them to die- it was so sweet!) Long story short, 3 of the 4 original plants survived despite my apparent efforts to kill them with neglect. They sat unwatered for who knows how long. They ended up in a garage with no widows for a good three weeks when we moved from one apartment to another. And when we bought our first house in 2012 (yay!), they sat out in direct sun for a good month. Oh, did I mention that I never repotted them or gave them food? I have no idea how they survived but they did! I did a little research on them, learned about everything I was doing wrong (which was most things!), and now they're looking really good and all three have a new leaf growing! They haven't flowered again but I don't blame them, it probably took all their strength to just survive!
In the past 8-9 months since we've moved to this house, I've been given or purchased two more Phals (I think that's the correct nickname?), an Octopus Orchid (the scientific name is in my profile- thanks Google!), and my most recent addition, a pretty orchid that didn't have a tag but has pointy petals that are dark burgandy with bits of tan/yellow and a single larger petal that is dusty rose pink on the outside and has smaller burgandy spots ringed with that tan/yellow color. It also has a nice smell, and a sweet clear liquid which I'm guessing is nectar? (I know, I know, don't lick the orchids!
) It's got a very similar leaf structure to the Octopus Orchid.
I live in San Diego, in Zone 10b (according to the map- it might be 10a, it was one of those 'on the line' things). I've also seen other maps saying I'm in Zone 23, which may be even more region specific. Anyways, the climate here is pretty mild, we don't get really hot (at least for long periods of time), or really cold. Currently all my orchids are living in my enclosed patio room which gets good ventilation but probably isn't as bright as the orchids like (at least where they're sitting now- I'm trying to get them out of the way of my clumsy cat who tends to break things as he walks by them). I'd love to build some type of small greenhouse that was based more off shade (trellis/ shade cloth) and the regional climate rather than systems that require electricity, but I don't know if that's feasible.
I'm also trying to learn all the actual scientific names of these orchids (ok, ok... I know some of them but I admit I have NO CLUE how to pronounce them). Or spell them in some cases. If anyone can provide pronunciation help, it'd be put to good use (I think I'm a lost cause on spelling!).
I look forward to talking to everyone here!
Greetings everyone, newbie here!
glad you found us!
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