What got you hooked growing orchids?

[Dorothy]

Margie and Kiki - shall I introduce you to some products in our OB store that maybe 'fitting' to the both of you - OrchidBoard : CafePress.com
Click on 'Husband'

[quiltingwacko]

I have always loved houseplants, vegetable gardening, and other plants in the yard. My husband was the orchid person. He liked cactus too. Anyway, he went thru a busy time at work and I wound up caring for the orchids. First thing you know, I was the orchid person. Now, of course, it is a full fledged disease. Orchid shows are my downfall. Havne't tried Ebay yet. Have received several orchids as gifts.

[jkofferdahl]

When I was a teenager I went to visit the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. The entire place fascinated me, but when we got to the greenhouse, and I saw a number of amazing orchids in there, I really was intrigued. That memory remained just a memory, however, until after I finished college and got my first apartment. There, to try to dispell the drabness of young bachelorhood, I bought a couple of houseplants. These plants thrived.

Well, we all know that buying palnts of any sort leads to buying books. I bought (this will age me, I think) Jim Crockett's Victory Garden Houseplant book. Leafing through it I saw several entries on orchids as houseplants, which at the time really amazed me. I had always presumed that a greenhouse was somehow necessary to grow orchids.

Armed with the new information I drove from where I lived to the other side of Richmond, to a wonderful store called The Great Big Greenhouse and Nursury, where I bought a Phalaenopsis. And that was that.

[orchidexpress]

sounds like everyone has quite a story of how they got started with orchids!

Happy Growing!

[Chococatte]

I was always amazed by how my mother could turn a barren yard into beautiful array of color with selection of plants she chose. Than one day last year while passing through the garden section in Lowe's, I happen upon the orchid section, a few Phal, Paph, and Den. I decide there on I wanted to recreate that same affect in a different variety of plants. So I purchase one of each kind. The blooms lasted for a few weeks and leaves shivel up, 'cause I had nelgected them. There after, I went back and brought a few more and acquiried a few books on caring for Orchids. This time I gave them alittle more attention, watering and fertilizing them and the flowers lasted longer

Until I brought home my puppy, Presa Canario (dog), Kamakura. She soon discovered them outside on the covered carpot and destroy all but one Phalaenopis thru rough and tumble play. I was able to bring it back from entering the light Since than I've brought a few more orchids from different genera this year, and they're thriving.

[bonsai1504]

i got hooked on orchids when i was given a sherry baby. i loved the fragrance of it and i went online to research orchids some and i immediatly got hooked when i saw how many different, absolutely beautiful orchids there were. i went to the nearest orchid nursery (it's a jungle) and bought a blc. keowee 'mendenhall' (another fragrant orchid). since then i have bought 7 orchids and i have been given two. my collection seems to be multiplying!!!

[Soonix]

Im originally from Bonaire, tiny carribean island next to aruba, where you water twice a week and everything grows. My mother always kept a lot of plants and ferns, so i inherited that green streak. Also in Bonaire most people have the native orchids growing in some tree in the yard. So here in Canada i had my house full of tropical plants. One day my friend took me to an orchid store , the first couple of times i just admired and than i got 4 small seedlings, i figured i kill them it will not be so much $$. (only 1 died) And i like a challende. Than I got some more and know i have 50+, I also buy a lot on ebay.

[Junebug]

I've always had a fascination and respect for plants and pretty much anything made by mother nature. During my youth I fondly remember joyful experiences with my mother as she tended to her houseplants and other memories of tagging along behind my grandmother in WV while she tended to her hillside garden as I eagerly sampled her fresh picked tomatoes. As I grew into adulthood I found that I too enjoyed plant care. I had a robust vegetable garden, succulents, cactuses, 27 rose bushes, and several varieties of ferns.

One day my first husband brought home a curious looking plant with long leaves growing from a bulbish base with a beautiful magenta bloom arising from a single long stem. He said he thought it was an orchid and had found it growing wild on some neglected property alongside an old decayed wooden fence. At the time I knew nothing about the cultural needs of any Orchid. The poor things roots were exposed so I promptly submerged its roots in a bucket of water and planted it in potting soil a few days later. Needless to say, it never stood a chance. That experience stuck with me and it was years before I tried my hand at orchid growing again.

My next guinea pigs were a bareroot Angraecum which did pretty well and a Dend. Aggregatum which I promptly killed. Next was a dancing lady variety of Oncidium...never bloomed...then a lovely Catt received as a gift...then the divorce and a change of environment where my orchids didn't fare too well. Being determined I purchased a few more orchids...a bare root Rhycostylis Gigantea, a bare root Brassia Rex, and a gorgeous Loddigessi cross. With my nurturing care the Loddigessi suffered horribly, and then another change of residence.
Another year and a half went by and my remaining orchids were surviving, but not thriving and not one had never bloomed.

It was Mar 2004 when tragedy struck my life...a parent's worst nightmare...the death of a child (my 24 year old daughter). Feeling completely devastated and heart broken it was hard to face the prospect of a new day, but I knew I had to survive and be strong for the sake of my other children. Each day I had to make myself eat when I didn't feel like eating and force myself to go to work because the bills had to be paid. I recoginized that stress was taking it's toll on me and I began trying to think of some healthy options to redirect the serious path my life had taken. It was then that I began a regimen of long brisk walks and the renewed interest in the challenge of orchid growing. I promptly purchased a few more plants and became somewhat obsessed with their care. The next year of my life was devoted to my health, the health of my children, and to the care of my orchids. I guess you could say that Orchids helped to save my life.

[Lene Th.]

Thats quite a story, Junebug... Im glad to learn you are doning well now... *hug*

My story is not that special, but it tells a lot about me as a person.
I got my first chid almost nine years ago, from my sweet husband at my birthday. It was a gorgeos phal, and i was so exited! Ive always loved plants, but i guess i wasent born with green fingers...
The chid survived about two months.
After that, seeing my reaction on the orchid, my sweet man continued bying an ochid for my every birthday, every time a phal, the one more beautyfull than the other... and them all survived a coupple of months before they had to trow the blanket...
Every time a chid died, i was feeling terrible... seeking advise on how to care for theese lovely plants at every greenhouse i knew. And they all had different saying... At this time i didnt had internet, and after a few years, and equal many chids, i quit trying for å while... Its not exetly good for the selfersteem killing each plant you receve...
But i was determed to find a way, somehow, to make theese beautifull plants live and thrive in my care!
Then, in last october, my husband gave it a final try... and bougth me yet another phal. This time i had internet, so i started searching for some advice on how to grow chid, triyng to find out where i did wrong the last times... I was not going to let this one die!
And it didnt! It started to grow new roots, and when i saw the signs of a tiny, new leaf appering, i had to dance of joy, spinning around my husband
After the word got out, Lene didnt kill the new chid , all my friends bought me orchids for my next birthday in november... I got four new chids, expanding my little collection to 4 phals, and one cambria (mix).
Now i have 14, all phals exept the one cambria i got as a present. Ive lost two, but this was becorse of the cold (it was left outside in the car, as a surprise... )...and now the first one i got in october has severeral new buds, just waiting to pop Ive counted 20 buds this far, and its not finished yet, it seems... She is still growing, seeming very happy Ant two of my other phals has gotten "nubbins" (love that word, Dorothy!) still to small to identify.... But from my wieu, it looks like the beginning of a flowersteem.
As i told you in the beginning, this says quite a bit about me as a person... Im a stubbern person , and right now im trying to learn to be pasion...as that may not be my best quality...
But im learning! Its not like i have a choise, right?

[jkhom]

I like growing different plants and flowers. As examples, I grow herbs, vegetables and roses as well as landscape perennials.
My wife gave me a Phal - Brother John for Valentine's Day two years ago. I loved it! Then we went to an orchid seminar at a local nursey and we purchased an Brassia. It's history from then. Now we keep finding "must have" orchids and our collection is close to thirty. My biggest challenge now is a ghost orchid that I'm trying.