Your orchid collecting habits question...

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by Rosiefuture

Lady T, if you look in the Phal Hybrids section of the forum you will see a thread I wrote called Mini Phal - extreme makeover. It's about a little Phal noid I bought at Ikea and I've named her Cinderella because she changed from a scruffy little sparrow to a lovely yellow canary! lol

Marion

Ooooh thanks! I'll find it!

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by CTB

but then they will all become my favorite when they flower.

TRUE TRUE!

[Call_Me_Bob]

i also sneak them in when i can also through the orchid black market. i smuggle them in through a trap door

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by RJSquirrel

So your collecting or not collecting should reflect the type of response you expect to get with the orchids you have.

Me, I just collect the ones that talk to me

This is true... so far it's only me and my family and what I really want is to nurture, and somehow these little plants help me feel that I'm accomplishing that.

I think collecting the ones that talk to us is a good strategy.

[Lady Tottington]

Originally Posted by help

i also sneak them in when i can also through the orchid black market. i smuggle them in through a trap door

lol! I think my husband is onto my sneaking tactics. But, luckily he just bought me a great plant rack at the thrift store, welded it up so it's level and solid, and painted it black. Now I have more room to fill!!!

[Call_Me_Bob]

yay!! nice!!
i saw a little ( maybe 4ft tall and 3 ft wide) shelf with a clear plastic zip cover and it was labeled as mini green house for 30 bucks at weiss market

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by RJSquirrel

I see 2 distinct groups..The Scientific people and the Grocery Store 10 dollar orchid people like me. I don't know about others, but I'm already seeing the noses being turning up on my kind and I think thats very unfair bec its all love we give them whether its awarded or been a noided.

You should not feel like that. There are lots of people here (including me) with loads of NoID's we just love. I think I'm in between the two. I don't think the groups are actually so distinct.

A good 80% of my orchids are NoIDs and I'm so excited as many of the Phals are spiking just now and I can't wait to see them flower again

But at the same there is (at least here in the UK) a limit to the variety available as Grocery Store orchids. When I look arround the grocery store ones now (I always have to look even if I don't buy) I don't see anything of interest because I've pretty much got most colour combinations of Phal you can find at grocery stores. I will still pick up the odd one with when I see an ocasional one in very different colours to any of mine and I'm still on the lookout for a good harlequin, which I would buy as a NoID if I see a good looking one.

... so now I favour those I can get on-line and I have started to find knowing the name and thus the parantage to be important to my understanding of why they look like they do. There is a whole world of Phals (just to pick one genera) when you start looking at species and primary hybrids, that you would never see in grocery store ones. That does not make the grocery store ones worth less to me than the ones I get online. It just adds a whole world of extra interest.

So to answer the original question. I think the value of a collection is almost entirely in the enjoyment the owner can get from it. No point owning an orchid worth loads of money if you hate the sight of it in my opinion. If you fall in love with a NoID then it is worth far more to your enjoyment than a tagged one that you are not so keen on.

I buy both, but having limited money I would rather save it for something interesting from an online grower or when I visit a grower... but I still grab those discount rack ones when there is something I fall in love with.

[trdyl]

Originally Posted by RosieC

I think the value of a collection is almost entirely in the enjoyment the owner can get from it. No point owning an orchid worth loads of money if you hate the sight of it in my opinion. If you fall in love with a NoID then it is worth far more to your enjoyment than a tagged one that you are not so keen on.

So very true!

[ardera]

Ok, I'm a little late joining the party...
I'm still a newbie, got my first NOID Phal 2 years ago. It seemed to go well, so a year ago (almost exactly) I started to buy more. I'm currently at 15, with 2 more on the way. I don't really care if they are named or not. I definitely have more named than not, but for me it is really just a case of "It's so beautiful, I have to have it NOW". Doesn't care if it is AOS or not, they are all my beautiful babies.

[ardera]

Originally Posted by help

i also sneak them in when i can also through the orchid black market. i smuggle them in through a trap door

It's just me and my son (who is 17), so I don't really have to do too much sneaking. He rolls his eyes at me, when I tell him I got a new one, but really he is an enabler. For my birthday, we went to the nursery, and he voluntarily bought me an orchid. Even though he was annoyed about being there, and thinks I am crazy.

He is such a sweetheart.