Where to buy ?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by snowflake311

Yeah That is what I am asking. Can you find Phrags at stores? Do you have to buy them online? I know they are grown from seed. Some place has to sell locally in Nor Cal? I don't mind spending money on the plant. I just don't like spending it on shipping for a plant I don't get to see before I buy you know.

In short, there are usually no stores you can walk into that will carry a Phrag of any kind. They need special care, and rarely will anybody at a Trader Joe's or a Home Depot will know what to do with something like this. You are more likely to find a Paph hybrid with no ID at an Armstrong Nursery or a Trader Joe's than you will a Phrag or even a Paph species. The exception for obtaining a Paph species at places like an Armstrong Nursery would be Paph delenatii. Paph delenatii rarely pops up at an Armstrong Nursery, but I'm seen them there before.

You will either have to search the web for specialty nurseries, which are going by way of the Dodo, or you must attend a show to purchase from an international seller.

I have experience selling a few of my orchids before, and I am not a professional grower, but I can attest to what estacion seca had said, and I will say that I have severe reservations of selling any of my orchids if I needed to based off of some of my experiences in the past. The problem is largely how the economy in this country has devolved, and that eventually translates to people not willing to foot the actual cost of the plants.

Shipping costs have also risen. And because of that, the actual cost of shipping the plants are a deterring factor as well. You see, shipping a plant properly means that the plant has to be packed a certain way to ensure it arrives to the buyer safely. What some people are not considering are the costs of the packing materials on top of the actual shipping service. This is why shipping is no longer $6 for a small package, for example.

Piping Rock Orchids I can vouch for. I have purchased from them before.

You may also try Hillsview Gardens for Paph hybrids.

For Chinese Paphs, another source is Hengduan Mountain Biotech currently run by Wenqing Perner. Please support her business. Her husband Holger Perner just passed away. If you want a steady, legal, and fairly affordable source of Chinese Cyps or Chinese Paphs, please support her by buying some of her plants when she comes to a show in the US. It is not necessary to purchase a ton of plants from her. Paph armeniacum has been on their price list regularly since they've opened their business to the public. It is not "buying American" if you buy orchids from her, but it is straight from the source - namely, China. I mention this as a supplementary source in case you are looking for other plants that American nurseries do not carry or if you are looking to get plants to breed into the American stock we have circulating around for more genetic variation.

Thai Paphs are a whole different story...other than scrounging around the net for a local seller that will sell at an affordable price, there aren't many international sellers that offer these guys at the show rounds. Thai international sellers don't always stick around for very long.