I must contribute to this thread to reinforce the negative comments about Orchids.com (Norman's) and the positive comments about Hausermans. From my experience, Orchids.com sucks! About 3 years ago I made a fairly large (@$350) multi-plant purchase from them for the first (and last time). I spent quite a bit extra to get each plant in "bud or bloom". When the plants arrived, one had a near-dead (end of bloom) flower on it that fell off the next day, a cat. had one "bud" on it about the size of a pea (which yellowed and fell off a week later), and another plant was well under the size advertised. I e-mailed them my dissatisfied-customer comments, along with photo documentation and was ignored twice. Then I called and spoke to a poorly-english speaking person who pretended (I am sure about it) to not understand why I am dissatisfied, kind of playing the Abbot-Castello "Who's on First" dialog game.
On the other hand, my order from Hauserman's was perfect, with at least one plant much better than advertised and a signed sheet saying my plants were chosen by one of the Hauserman family members. I also buy orchids directly from them when visiting family in Chicago and their operation is fantastic.
Two pieces of advice (besides "steer clear of Orchids.com"): 1) If ordering from a new dealer, don't make the mistake I did and order only a small - 2-3 plants batch to test them out; 2) If you can get to Hausermans personally and don't care that you may not get the orchid you want in bloom due to the timing of your visit, it's worth the wait and pick out the nicest plants by yourself or with their help. They always have many blooming specimens in the forward greenhouse, but you can go anywhere else you want and find the section of your particular species of interest and get one that calls out to you!
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