How did your orchid addiction begin?

[PaphLover]

Tried searching for a similar thread, but didn't see one…

Curious what started your orchid addiction? Did you get your first orchid as a gift? What was your first plant? When did your addiction really kick in… say, after your first successful rebloom? What is it that you enjoy most about growing orchids? What keeps you going?

Thanks for sharing!!

[Leafmite]

I grew up around plants. My father comes from a family of gardeners and my mother comes from a family of gardeners and houseplant people. On all our vacations we toured gardens, conservatories and other plant places. We went on yearly family visits to a conservatory. So, starting very young, I grew plants.
On one of the family trips to the conservatory, when my oldest child was a toddler, I was looking at some of the plants they were selling off and the sales lady recommended trying the Dendrobiums they were selling. They were rootless, leafless canes but they soon sprouted new canes, roots and blooms. They were not fragrant, I found them boring and I gave them to a teacher, then erased the experience from my mind. Then someone gave me two seedling orchids (a Cattleya and Vanda) for watching their home while on vacation. They limped along, not tossed out but not engaging any interest. Then, I read some Rex Stout mysteries and my interest in orchids was ignited. At this time, the internet was not much of a source for vendors so I bought them from a florist who sold them after using the blooms. They were usually planted in dirt and rootless. This was my early collection. Eventually, I discovered online forums and Hausermann's and, well, it just went from there.

[bil]

When I was younger, back in the 70s, I read a lot about them, but nnever tried keeping them. All the people that I knew who kept them weren't having much luck, or if they did OK, they din't know why.

Then a couple of years ago, I made a friend that kept phals, told me they were easy and showed me the way of keeping them in large pots with large bark. I tried it and it worked well for me, so I took it further.

[judith_arquette]

My husband is responsible lol. I've always admired orchids (phals, until I joined this forum I thought phals were the only kind of orchid, boy was I wrong!) but heard they were difficult to grow so I never bought one. He bought me a grocery store Phal that soon turned into about 30...of which I only have 2 that have survived my "care". I finally had to FIRMLY forbid him from buying me any more and would have given up trying to grow orchids completely had I not learned that the Oncidiums and Cattleyas are much more forgiving when you murder all their roots DEAD. I still steer clear of Phals but have managed to get several of my Oncidiums and Cattleyas to rebloom and can't imagine my life without orchids now <3

[SaraJean]

My Great-aunt Sara. She had over 300 orchids and walking into her sun room in Florida, when we would visit as kids, was like stepping into paradise. It was my favorite place on earth and I would spend every waking moment in there. She has been gone for many years and since everyone else in my family kills plants like its going out of style, I have to come here for advice!

[PaphLover]

"...can't imagine my life without orchids now <3"

I agree judith_arquette! I'm completely hooked!

[jmccoy]

My orchid addiction began about 3 years ago when my mom got me a orchid as a gift for my birthday. I bought another one a couple months later. One didnt last long, the other lasted about a year before I gave up on it. I have always thought my whole life that I was not good at growing anything. So then my mom got me a orchid for my birthday last year and I decided to really give it a go this time properly. I read up some on it and was doing well until I started dating a guy with a bunch of plants including orchid and just seeing him be able to do it so successfully at home really inspired me. I am not with him anymore but I have bought books and read up endless articles and watched endless hours of videos. Iv joined the AOS and hope to attend a meeting in the future though the nearest society to where is live is over 3 hours away. The thing I enjoy the most about my orchids is watching them grow. I love looking at them grow new growths or spikes. I love watching them get larger and mature. I really love the variety is shapes and colors of the leaves, bulbs, canes, etc. I feel really rewarded when they rebloom but it is almost as exciting as seeing a new growth for me. What keeps me going right now is that there is really no end to the variety of orhcids and I have some small ones which have never bloomed so I have lots of room to grow them. Also what keeps me growing is my little success stories. I love buying a orchid, getting it settled and a few weeks or months later I see new growths. It really makes it so wonderful for me. I will always have orchids in my life, I am absolutely hooked!

[estación seca]

1 Lots of relatives who were farmers and gardeners (but no orchid growers) taught me how to grow vegetables and flowers;

2 A grandfather who indulged my many requests to visit the Mitchell Gardens dome greenhouses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - one temperate, one tropical, one desert;

3 A visit to Orchid Jungle in Florida when about 9 years old while visiting family friends who retired to Miami. I went nuts. I still clearly remember the scent of Aerangis flos-aeris. My parents (wisely) said I wouldn't be able to grow an orchid in Milwaukee.

My dad was very disconcerted; he didn't approve of boys playing with plants. So it was quite a while before I had an actual orchid plant, after it became clear I was a very headstrong boy.

[PaphMadMan]

April 1971 National Geographic Magazine - The Exquisite Orchids. I was already a plant crazy kid. I had mostly displaced my parents from the family vegetable and flower gardens and maxed out the window space in my room for houseplants. I saw that article and I was hooked. It still took me 4 years to get my first orchids, after I had my first summer job and got my first checking account I wrote my first check for an order to Hausermann's.

What keeps me going? I don't have them all, yet.

[estación seca]

Yes to National Geographic! You triggered a memory. On that trip to Miami, I found a NG from the late 1950s or early 1960s with an article on orchids in our friends' library. My interest prompted the people we were visiting to suggest the visit to Orchid Jungle.