I will like to share and hear how your love for Orchids started it?

[Ysa]

I will like to share and hear how your love for Orchids started it?

Since I moved to United States (12 years ago ) and have my own place I always have orchids in the house just for the flowers, that I bought in HD after they finished flowering I will put it under a tree on the yard and forget about them to my wonderful surprise they will rebloom without much care :that bright: and then I start paying more attention and learning a little bit more about them

My Dad had a nice garden at his house in our country Venezuela and had some orchids in it. When he got diagnosed with cancer and got really sick I started taking care of his garden. Since he got diagnosed to the time he died was only 7 months, it was very fast and extremely sad. He was very young he died at 57 years old. Since then orchids have been my way of healing and passion, I can see and feel him in every bloom and all the time that I spent with my plants I can feel his presence...

[Call_Me_Bob]

aww! thats sad, im sorry....


i started when i bought my mother a phal for mothersday a few years ago, she almost killed it and then gave it back to me to revive. i found this wonderful site and got hooked

[ardera]

I had always been told that orchids were hard to care for, so I stayed away. Then 2 1/2 years ago, my husband had forgotten our anniversary so, one month later, he bought me one. Went to my local nursery to take a class on orchid care, and they had all these beautiful orchids that I HAD to have. After 1 successful year with my 1 orchid, I decided to try some more. Today I have 27, with 5 more on the way from Oak Hill. I have a VERY small apartment, so I'm trying to figure out how to fit them all in my two windows. A couple weeks ago, I made a terrarium for some of my small low light orchids. My next project is to try s/h. Got my kit from Ray and now I'm just waiting for them to get ready to transition them.

[RosieC]

I was given one (a NoID Phal) for by Birthday in 2006 by my Mum.

She warned me to be careful about over watering and that they don't like standing in water but that was all I knew. My hubby and I soon spotted that it's roots "told" you when they needed watering by turning silvery, we started waiting for them to fully change colour in the clear pot before watering... and so we stumbled upon the great way of getting the right amount of water and it lived rather than died... always a good start

Anyway I assumed that,if you wanted to get them to flower again, they needed some special care that only experts could give in a greenhouse with lights etc. Imagine my suprise when a new flower spike started in summer 2007 then another in March 2008.

All was going well... until I tried to repot in arround April 2008, it seemed fine to begin with but little did I know that I had used poor quality bark and the roots were rotting. I only realised something was up when I got home from my summer holiday that year and found that it had gone from 9 leaves to 4 in the heat. By that time I had bought another two NoID Phals and they had been fine in the same conditions.

Anyway... I came here for help... and THAT is how the addiction started My original Phal flowered this year for the first time since it lost it's roots and leaves but it now has 55 companions of various genuses spread arround the entire house.

[peeweelovesbooks]

March/May 2007. Started a new fancy job. My office was bare, and my sister told me it looked unwelcoming and impersonal.

So she dragged me to Redlands Orchid show where I bought 3 phals from Baldan Orchids. Everyone in my office went crazy and I started to develop an interest in the plants.

[snappyguy]

I started in orchids only a week ago when I got an Ascocenda that Lowe's had marked down for only 10 cents! Two days later I bought a Beallara in bloom. No one in particular really got me started. I've always liked orchids, and so does my wife, but neither of us had ever kept any. With an Ascocenda for 10 cents we couldn't pass it up.

[Eyebabe]

I began my love affair with orchids in March 2004 when I went to the Philadelphia flower show with my mother and some girlfriends.
One of my girlfriends who had a few phals convinced me to buy one and give it a try....so I did.
Since then, I have executed many many a plant and learned a whole lot. The joy of victory, the agony of defeat, and the passion of a war with anything that can kill your babies
I also learned that orchid = phal is INCORRECT
I discovered large flowering cattleya hybrids and species and love matured into commitment
As with any mature relationship, you make plans to build...and my greenhouse is "in progress".
So much for whirlwind romance!

[PaphMadMan]

The April 1971 issue of National Geographic had a feature article 'The Exquisite Orchids' with many impressive photos, and my addiction started then at age 11. With no access to orchids and little money of my own to spend it wasn't till 4 years later that I bought my first orchids, with the first check I ever wrote, a few weeks after getting my first part-time job. Now 35 years after that first purchase, and still addicted.

[Monique.rbld]

Oh Ysa it is very sad. I started my hobby about 19 years ago when my youngest daughter was newborn. It was football season an my husband would spend the weekends glued to the tv so stewart orchids was close to my house and I went in once and was hooked. I now have more than 200 plants of different kinds and there is always room for one more. I love it
Monique

[Connie Star]

I've always been interested in plants- I have a masters degree in botany- and I enjoy a scientific challenge. 2 years ago (to help an elderly relative)we moved to a house that I basically hate BUT it has a fabulous 2 story south facing living room with a tile floor. What could be more perfect? I'd always wanted to try orchids so I went ahead and bought my first 2 at my local society's orchid show in Feb 2009. Now I'm up to about 80, and planning to acquire 1-2 this weekend at a show. I've decided it's time for me to settle on a few genera that clearly like my space instead of getting whatever strikes my fancy. Oddly, I do better with masdevallias than with dendrobia. I've tried a few genera, such as oncidia, encyclias and angraecum that don't do well for me. My philosophy on gardening is try a few different plants here and there and if they do better in a particular spot, put more of them there. I'm having so much fun with my new hobby.