Collection question with a difference - what would you not buy?

[Becky15349]

great post!! i think i would have to say i hate bulbos...they are so tiny and smell like rotting garbage. How can one even be happy when it blooms with flowers so icky? I'll never understand it.

[Vanda lover]

I don't like to take up valuable space with orchids that only bloom a few weeks of the year. That is why hybrids are often better than species. They are often bred for increased bloom. I have to make maximum use of my windowsills.

[lily99]

My house doesn't get cold enough for me to even try the cool growers, which is too bad because I do like masdevallias.

I have trouble with some smells, and I am probably the only person who really hates the smell of Sharry Baby. When I was pregnant I had to put one of my cattleyas outside because the smell made me gag. Some cattleyas still bother me a bit if I put my face right up to them.

[Vanda lover]

I agree that some scented flowers can be overwhelming, especially if you are pregnant. I am allergic to some of the strong scented ones and so is my husband. I loved the smell of my stanhopea but it didn't agree with me.

[Arenalbotanicalgarden]

I only chase species that are natural from 250 to 1200 meters in elevation. I no longer seek commercial hybrids. I believe that was/is just as wrong as GMO foods.
Yep. Beautiful and often far more hardy. For what ? Monetary gain and more production ?
No thanks.

[smweaver]

Although I like a lot of the standard cattleya hybrids (including the large, fragrant and "floofy" types), they're only appealing when the plants are in bloom. When they aren't in bloom (which is most of the year), they look amazingly unattractive--like someone very cruelly has ridden over them repeatedly with a bicycle. A number of the cattleya species, on the other hand, are fairly tidy (C. lueddemanniana, for example, doesn't strike me as ugly, even when not in bloom).

And although it pains me to say so, because I'm so fond of the plant and blooms, I would not, if I had a chance to do things over again, pick Cymbidium tracyanum as an addition to my collection. The flowers are stunning, and the plant is highly attractive even when not in flower. But this is one big sucker that takes up WAY too much room. Currently I have it growing on the front porch in a fourteen-inch pot, and its diameter (by which I mean the leafspan) is around four feet. While that's not a big deal right now, once winter arrives and I have to move it indoors, it becomes a pain to decide which piece of furniture I want to move out of its way in order to accommodate it.

I'm also not a big fan of hybrid phals. I'll forever be grateful to the lady who first introduced me to orchids many years ago by giving me a hybrid phalaenopsis. But now I think of them as the dandelions of the orchid world.

[Mira-Claude]

Me and cool growers play at different side of the play ground. Plus I've never found them 'cool'!

Any real high light plants are out to. Their just plain weird and say things I'm not sure I understand half the time... After all a north east window is not high enough for them! But I do manage some vanda and cattleya! Their drug is easier to come by!

Any artistic orchid is welcome to my bunch! Special flowers, strong nice smells and even patterned leaves makes great addition to my home lifestyle! But anything too frilly finds itself out the window! I mean sure a pretty girl in a frilly dress is nice, but too much is just good to tell guys you are easy... right?

Anything too large is just too much to ask for ad I feel like putting them on a diet. Which most don't appreciate, compact to micro I like!

I'm also a purist, though I tolerate good breading, mostly primary hybrids. Though I do own a few little bastards, their cute and little pouty upturned faces broke my heart. They are rare though and I NEED a tag!

While I do like mount, they have to fit in my sink, misters and misses I am too big for life can go elsewhere!

Otherwise I am still finding out who is ready to act nice with me and who don't!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Becky15349

great post!! i think i would have to say i hate bulbos...they are so tiny and smell like rotting garbage. How can one even be happy when it blooms with flowers so icky? I'll never understand it.

A small number of Bulbophyllums actually don't have any fragrance, (good or bad). Some have fragrant flowers that smell nice. The fragrance is not particularly strong. You would have stick your nose directly in front of the flowers to detect the smell. You just need to know which ones they are.

Bulb. fletcherianum
Bulb. phalaenopsis
Bulb. spiesii

These are the real stinkers that can be smelled from a distance. They also tend to be as large as a human being, (anywhere between 4' - 6' long per leaf), so they make home growing very difficult to attain.

There are close runner-ups, such as Bulb. echinolabium, in terms of stink broadcasting, but many are not as potently pungent.

Many smelly Bulbos have fragrances that are not detectable by the human olfactory cells from any great distance. In other words, they only stink up close when you stick your nose directly in front of the flowers.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by The Mutant

Oh, forgot. I will never get an orchid from the Maxillaria Alliance or the Pleurothallis Alliance. These together with Cattleyas are my biggest no-noes I think.

Pleuros are not for everybody. Many are very small flowered and that in itself is a major turn-off for a lot of people. However, there are some Pleurothallids that have rather large flowers for their group...

Of these that I know are:

Pleurothallis (Acronia) cyanea
Pleurothallis (Acronia) gargantua
Pleurothallis (Acronia) marthae
Pleurothallis (Acronia) teaguei - (this species has a leaf span that is about 3' - 4' widen when fully grown - each flower is about 2" - 3" across) - p.s.: The IOSPE has the flower listed at 1/2" across. This is incorrect. I've seen this plant in real life. It is most definitely not 1/2" across - not when you can clearly see details of the flowers when the plant's mount was hung about 8 ft - 9 ft above the ground and the flowers still look rather large from where I stood!
Pleurothallis (Acronia) titan - (this species gets to be 5' - 6' tall when fully grown - hence the name "titan")


It's interesting that you would consider excluding plants from the Maxillaria Alliance, granted, you're still entitled to your likes and dislikes.

I find many Maxillaria spp. to be rather floriferous. Each plant can put out a large multitude of flowers all at once and put on a show! Each individual flower may or may not be all that showy, as a whole, they are spectacular, imo. Many also tend to be fragrant. Some are very temperature tolerant plants!

I can understand being off put by Zygopetalum spp. because they're plain looking, or any of the "pseudobulbless" Zygopetalinae within the Huntleya clade because they're finicky and can be difficult to grow, but I do find it intriguing you would not do Maxillaria spp., Bifrenaria spp., or any of the other genera that may be showy and/or are easy to grow.