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One Orchid Deserves Another

© Linda Fortner

Greetings and welcome to my Orchid Garden. In the coming months I will be bringing you useful information and fun stories about orchids. Yes, you can grow many orchids in most any home and, in many places, you can even grow some of them in your garden! Even here in Utah I have an orchid I grow in my flower garden, Bletilla striata also nicknamed the "Chinese Ground Orchid." It survives our winters and blooms every spring. So, as you can see, not all orchids are tropical plants. If you have questions about these beautiful flowers you may E-mail me and I will do my best to answer your questions. Or just click at the end of the article to post in our discussion area.

The one question that I am asked more than any other one is "How did you get started in orchids?" With this question in mind, I decided to write this fun article about that subject titled "One Orchid Deserves Another."

One Orchid Deserves Another How did I get hooked on orchids? Easy. I bought one--just ONE! My first encounter began in 1981 when I spotted a strange looking plant while browsing in a nursery. It was an orchid planted on a piece of cork bark. I took a closer look at it and then made the momentous mistake-- I bought it. The owner gave me its botanical name Oncidium jonesianum. I took my new possession home and placed my treasure near my living room window where I could keep a close eye-out for those first expectant flowers. It was not long before it started growing long stems which I learned were flower spikes. After two months these flower spikes produced the most beautiful butterfly-looking flowers I had ever seen.

It was incredible that something growing on a piece of bark could produce such lovely flowers. I was ecstatic! I had to have another one. I immediately returned to the nursery to see what they had. I wanted BIG blooms, so the salesperson recommended that I purchased a Cattleya. I placed my new prize near the window with my wonderful Oncidium. I hovered over my new Cattleya like a proud mother waiting for her first born baby to speak its first word. But alas, My Cattleya just sat there looking sad. I watered it, nurtured it, even sang to it, but nothing did any good. I was about to give up on this rebellious orchid and chuck it into the trash, when one morning around Christmas, I noticed a flower sheath forming! Success! My patience was, at long last about to be rewarded. I returned to the loving, nurturing mother's mode and finally, in February, I was blessed with five of the largest white blooms I had ever seen. The size and fragrance were overwhelming!