New from Michigan
 

Hi there, everyone! :hello

My love of plants began when I was very young, and when I was 12 I began asking my mom if I could grow an orchid. I already had African Violets, Amaryllis, and a few other general houseplants in our 100 year old farmhouse. She told me she personally thought orchids were ugly, and that my dad only bought her an orchid corsage on Mother's day because it was something that he liked to get her.

My mother allowed me to buy an orchid from my only mail order resource I currently knew of... Michigan Bulb Company. (Needless to say, that orchid was in a 2 inch pot, and took the next 7 or 8 years before it bloomed. I've learned a bit since then! hehehe!) I was at that time 15 years old.

THEN she saw an article in our eye doctor's waiting room while I was in for an exam. It was a Better Homes & Gardens magazine featuring an interview with Orchids By Hausermann in Chicago. She was so enthused by the article, which had amazing photos of Paphs, Cattleys and Phals, that she showed me afterwards and contacted Hausemann's herself to have a catalog sent to me.

When it arrived, I placed an order for a white Phalaenopsis. It arrived on Valentine's Day ... how fitting! That plant bloomed for me every year, and was even in my Senior photo shoot.

Over the years, I have added enough orchids to my collection that I don't have space for many more indoors in this farmhouse! I have in my collection Phalaenopsis (doesn't everyone?), Cattleya, Dendrobium, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum and Phragmipedium, Vanda, Miltonia and intergenerics, an Encyclia and Epidendrum orchids.

Eventually, I will take in for my senses an orchid show! I just missed the Ann Arbor, MI, show this past weekend. That just means I will have to wait a little while longer.

Cheers!
Adam~

:welcomeflowers: to the OB

Welcome!!!!

Welcome! You are going to love it here!:waving

Hello and welcome, you've got quite a collection but I bet you still have space for some minis:rofl::rofl:
Joann

Love the back story. Thanks for sharing.

Welcome!

-J

:welcomeflowers:
Glad you found us!
Wow - great story!

Welcome to Orchid Board!

Thanks so much, to each of you! I plan on adding my photos in the photo album, and I just joined the facebook page, too, to keep better in touch.

Joann, you are SO right. I was just contemplating purchasing 2 Tolumnias that I saw on sale -- just yesterday! They're mini's right??

Fragrant orchids are my favorite. My avatar photo is of my Iwanagara Apple Blossom 'Mendendall', and today it has just one bud left to open of 3 spikes with a total of 25 blooms. I love mass specimens! It's a nice complement with Onc. Sharry Baby 'Sweet Fragrance', too. :-)

Cheers~
Adam

Welcome to Orchid Board Adam :welcomeflowers:

Cheers from Chicago!!! I love hausermanns!!

I don't know how far "Up north" you are, but there is an amazing huge two greenhouses in Grand Ledge, MI of just about every kind of Orchid out there. Nice people too.

Hi, and thank-you!

I did not know there was a grower in Grand Ledge! I'll be in the Lansing area in 3 weeks, so that's wonderful news. Maybe I'll leave a bit early so I can check their place out.

"Up North" for me is near Alpena. I'm still below the bridge, but not by much!

Thanks again,

Adam~

Potter's Orchids, I believe. You need to check out their web site and see when they will be there. They go to a lot of shows. They have 3 green houses worth of various Orchids. Alpena is closer than Lansing!