Hello everyone,
After "stalking" the board for a few months I've finally decided to join. I've kept orchids for a few years now, fairly successfully considering I live in the desert.
Originally from Western NY, I now realize it would have been MUCH easier to tackle this hobby there than it is here, but I do love a challenge.
Like most, I started by receiving a phalaenopsis as a gift, it did pretty well so of course that became my husbands gift of choice. Not complaining! Before too long I had 5-6 in varying stages and once I was able to get them to successfully re-flower, decided to expand my horizons.
The next gift was from Sunset Valley Orchids, a 'Witchcraft' from the Catasetinae alliance. Followed by an 'After Dark" Catasetum. You see where this is going, right? I'd pick up anything unusual I'd see locally and for Christmas received a gift certificate to SVO which resulted in eleven new additions, most all Cattleya. As I was starting to run out of space in the 'best' orchid growing window in our house, I decided to take this obsession one step further and purchased a 36x18x36 Exo Terra and turned that into an orchid terrarium, with all of the latest additions. It has been quite the learning experience, but thankfully after a few weeks in their new home, the plants all seem to be thriving.
My goal is to eventually feel comfortable enough to turn the terrarium into more of a 'living jungle' than the basic plants on shelves that it is now, I'm hoping to learn enough to feel confident in mounting a few of these beauties and turning this giant terrarium into a work of art. My other hobby is reptile keeping, primarily gecko species, so I have two young day geckos coming in this week to grow up and move in eventually.
I'm excited to join this board and continue learning!
Greetings from Arizona!
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