Where to buy ?

[snowflake311]

I want to be able to walk into a store and buy a nice Paph or better yet a Phrag. What type of places besides an orchids show can I find these orchids.

I am going to the Bay Area, CA in a little bit and want to check out places down there. I found Brookside orchids and will check them out. I found Orchid Zone but they look like you can't just go and by 2 plants it is for whole sale. SO WHO BUYs THESE PLANTS WHOLESALE WHERE DO THEY SELL THEM? Why is it so had to find these fancy orchids.

Thanks

[estación seca]

With the transition of the US economy over the last 20 years or so, from quality goods and services to puerile entertainment, shoddy objects and disgusting snacks, requiring massive advertising to sell to lazy simpletons, a lot of businesses catering to knowledgeable customers have closed.

This includes specialty nurseries who grow their own stock, rather than reselling whatever mislabeled wholesale crap arrives from the mega grower. How many family-owned nurseries are left in any metropolitan area?

Even the big-box stores have drastically reduced nursery stock over the last few years, to the few items that sell the most. The focus has switched from giving the customer what the customer wants, to providing the lowest-quality product or service that will entice the customer to turn over the money.

Orchid growing is expensive in terms of heating, cooling, water purification and finding / training / paying staff who know what they're doing. A lot of the remaining orchid nurseries don't have regular business hours, but are open by appointment. This is to reduce costs associated with a display area and sales staff.

Companies on the Internet, whose real business usually involves identity theft, often provide lots of stuff for no exchange of money. Customers have been trained to think everything should be free or cheap. Witness the numerous threads here started by people who were swindled on eBay because they thought they could get a bargain almost too good to be true. At local garden society silent auctions, I put minimum bids on plants I donate of $2 - $5 rather than the 25 cents most other people put. My plants sometimes don't sell, even though they are usually worth over $10, or otherwise unobtainable.

People in your area can probably point you to regional growers who would welcome a visit. But don't get them started on how is business.

[Dollythehun]

Originally Posted by estación seca

With the transition of the US economy over the last 20 years or so, from quality goods and services to puerile entertainment, shoddy objects and disgusting snacks, requiring massive advertising to sell to lazy simpletons, a lot of businesses catering to knowledgeable customers have closed.

This includes specialty nurseries who grow their own stock, rather than reselling whatever mislabeled wholesale crap arrives from the mega grower. How many family-owned nurseries are left in any metropolitan area?

Even the big-box stores have drastically reduced nursery stock over the last few years, to the few items that sell the most. The focus has switched from giving the customer what the customer wants, to providing the lowest-quality product or service that will entice the customer to turn over the money.

Orchid growing is expensive in terms of heating, cooling, water purification and finding / training / paying staff who know what they're doing. A lot of the remaining orchid nurseries don't have regular business hours, but are open by appointment. This is to reduce costs associated with a display area and sales staff.

Companies on the Internet, whose real business usually involves identity theft, often provide lots of stuff for no exchange of money. Customers have been trained to think everything should be free or cheap. Witness the numerous threads here started by people who were swindled on eBay because they thought they could get a bargain almost too good to be true. At local garden society silent auctions, I put minimum bids on plants I donate of $2 - $5 rather than the 25 cents most other people put. My plants sometimes don't sell, even though they are usually worth over $10, or otherwise unobtainable.

People in your area can probably point you to regional growers who would welcome a visit. But don't get them started on how is business.

Preach it!

[AnonYMouse]

Nevermind

[snowflake311]

So the days of buying nice orchids at a store are gone?

Now I am really kicking myself for not getting another Paph at the orchid show.

[estación seca]

Trader Joe's, many supermarkets, and big box hardware stores often retail nice orchids. They often lack nametags, and may have rotten roots from poor care at the retailer. TJ frequently sells Paphs.

Realize slippers are propagated by seed or division, not mericloning, so they are precioussss. One does not simply walk into Phrag store.

[snowflake311]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Trader Joe's, many supermarkets, and big box hardware stores often retail nice orchids. They often lack nametags, and may have rotten roots from poor care at the retailer. TJ frequently sells Paphs.

Realize slippers are propagated by seed or division, not mericloning, so they are precioussss. One does not simply walk into Phrag store.

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.

I have found some good plants with name tags at TJ in the past. I am looking for different types of Paphs and Phrags . I am looking for plants like Phragmipedium Schroderae, Paphiopedilum armeniacum , and Paphiopedilum Richardianum or Hybrid of that. I should have bought it at the show. I guess I will just wait till the next orchids show.

[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.

[fooferdoggie]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Trader Joe's, many supermarkets, and big box hardware stores often retail nice orchids. They often lack nametags, and may have rotten roots from poor care at the retailer. TJ frequently sells Paphs.

Realize slippers are propagated by seed or division, not mericloning, so they are precioussss. One does not simply walk into Phrag store.

we got a sweet sixteen a miniature sharry baby for 18.00 I went to transplant it and it was two plants in one pot. got a mounted orchid on amazon and the pic showed a grown plant and t was just a tiny baby plant. eBay has been pretty good. Orchids Trade and Sale on facebook seems good lots of growers there.

[Chris17]

The Tiny Jungle in Daly City comes to mind, they have a Facebook page.