Many orchid enthusiasts in the beginning, just go out and buy orchids without really knowing anything about orchids or what to look for. Growing and caring for orchids can be a challenge, especially if you choose a difficult to grow or unhealthy orchid right from the start. Many factors should be taken into consideration when choosing an orchid; like the species of the orchid, the region the plant came from, the maintenance of the growers, how well it was care for etc. However, you can easily learn how to spot and pick a well cared for and healthy orchid. A florist Upper Hutt who also knew much about Lower Hutt flowers and the flowers Wellington provided the following information.

Here are some tips to start you off on the right foot or should I say flower. If this is your first orchid you might want to start off with a Phalaenopsis orchid. It is one of the easiest to grow and this species of orchid adapts well to a home or office environment.

Check to see if the roots are firmly attached to the orchid media (bark or moss). Weak or damaged orchid roots have poor anchorage. A way to check that the orchid is firmly attached is to use the "wiggle test". Hold the plant near the roots and shake it gently. Also, healthy roots usually look light green when dry and dark green when wet. Light brown or white roots can mean that the orchid is approaching expiration. Check the roots for signs of rotting. A few broken roots are fine, as long as most of the root network is healthy and intact. Make sure the roots are not rotting from fungal or bacterial infestation. Also, malformed roots may mean the orchid is suffering from a viral condition.

Check the leaves, they should be green, uniformly shaped and beautifully formed. The leaves should not be bluish or yellowish and malformed leaves may mean that the orchid has a virus. In most cases, orchids that have viral conditions can not be cured. Check the pseudo bulbs of the orchid. The pseudo bulbs are false bulbs which are the thick, solid and above-ground stem sections on certain orchids. The pseudo bulb is a storage organ used to store water and nutrients. The bulbs should be plump and healthy looking, with a good color.

Although the Phalaenopsis orchid is known to produce beautiful orchid flowers, it is surprisingly low maintenance. It definitely requires less care than the other types of orchids that you can choose to grow. However, just like any other plants, the Phalaenopsis, still require some amount of care in order for them to grow properly. Here are the things that you need to know if you want to grow Phalaenopsis orchids properly.One of the florists who also delt with flower deliveries and garden Bark had much to offer in orchid basics.
 
Be aware of the Phalaenopsis seasons in your area. This is because you will need to repot them every season if you want to grow Phalaenopsis orchids the right way. This is because after a long period of time, the Phalaenopsis mixtures start to break down. When this happens, the pot will lock in more moisture than what is needed. As the end result, it will make your Phalaenopsis orchid less healthy since it damages the roots.
 
You should also know when to water your Phalaenopsis orchids. One way to test if it is the right time to water them is by sticking your finger into the soil for about two inches. If the soil feels moist, then it is not the right time to water your Phalaenopsis orchids. However if it is dry, then that is the only time that you should water it. You don’t have to check it everyday though. Just remember than you have to do it before watering your plant.
 
You also have to be careful when it comes to fertilizing your plant. You should only fertilize it every other watering if the Phalaenopsis orchid is in bloom. However, if it is not, then you should just fertilize in once a month. Aside from saving you tons of money, you also get to avoid giving too much to your Phalaenopsis orchid which can result to its demise other than its growth.
 
The most important thing that you have to remember if you’re planning to grow Phalaenopsis orchids is that you should water, fertilize and pot it accordingly. You should always consider the time and the frequency that you should do these things so that you won’t end up smothering your Phalaenopsis orchids.

How are your orchids growing? I hope it is doing well because if it is then you are probably on the right lines. If you are having problems then having a bit of knowledge about orchid care will help you. Once you have mastered the basics then you will be in a much better position and feel more relaxed about it.

When you are researching orchid care for the first time it is tricky to know where to start. This puts a lot of people off having orchids. This is a real shame as with experience it will be a lot easier for you.

Not a lot of people know how much water they should be giving the orchid. This is often where people go wrong and if you get this part of the orchid care wrong then your plant will die. Please don't start over watering the orchid. It only requires watering about once per week, no more than that. Prior to watering, check the soil, at least an inch under the surface to check it is dry. If you are unsure then don't water just yet.

If you have just received your orchid then you shouldn't have to re-pot for a while. You should re-pot during spring. When you do re-pot choose a pot that is not too big, the orchid will prefer to have its roots packed in. You want to soak the soil when you re-pot.

All orchids thrive on light. The more light you give it the better... up to a point. Once you get better at orchid care you will get a feel for how long you should leave them in direct sunlight.

My aim was to give you some of the basics of orchid care. I hope that you can use some of these techniques on your orchid. Please keep at it because although you will make mistakes you will learn from them.

Orchids (more formally, Orchidacea) are a grouping of plants comprising more than 20,000 known species, a large number of which are highly valuable commercially. Many people think that they are far and away the most interesting order of plants in the entire vegetable kingdom because of their astonishing mode of growth and existence, their bizarre habits and the multitudinous shapes and forms of their blooms, which are different from those of all other plants -- fine in texture and with exquisite and glowing colors.

Orchids are also to be remarked on owing to their well-known adaptability and the degree to which they will easily cross breed or cross-fertilize. This is the case in their natural environs as well as under cultivation. This fact also accounts for the practically endless varieties of flowers and colors that can occur from hybridization.

A little botany: The orchid flower as a rule consists of these parts: sepals, the petals, the labellum (or pouch), and the column (or crest).

On most orchids the labellum is generally the most notable part as well as the most important organ of the flower. Insects enter it looking for the sweet juices held within the spur or walls of the flower, pollinating the plant as they do so and bringing about cross-fertilization in the bargain. This is how such a large number of new varieties come about in the wild, and these are termed natural hybrids.  But under cultivation this task must be accomplished by human caretakers using tiny camel's hair brushes and with a careful eye and judgment as to the proper moment for fertilization. It is in this manner that the most beautiful hybrids are produced, and these are known as garden hybrids.

One of the the things that makes orchid growing so exciting is the possibility of producing our own hybrid orchids. It takes knowledge and much patience, but even first-timers have created breathtaking orchids by experimenting with hybridizing.

If you are wishing to experiement with the hybridization of orchids, you should first gain some good experience in basic cultivation of these plants.  Only when you feel confident in growing and taking care of orchids should you venture on the more demanding task of hybridization. Orchids are slow growing plants, and slow to produce blooms, so you must be comfortable with waiting often years to learn if your hybridizing experiments are successful. Nontheless, when you do succeeed, it's fantastic experience.  You can produce not only some beautiful flowers by this process, but also orchid types never before seen in the world.

Certainly, you must seek out all the knowledge that you can before attempting to hybridize orchids. Fortunately, there are good books available on all aspects of orchid growing, including step-by-step instructions on hybridizing orchids.

The most thorough guidebook to 21st-century orchid care, in the opinion of many, is Orchid Care Expert by a Mr. Nigel Howard, which is available to be downloaded over the Internet. Mr. Howard's ebook is a complete course in itself, suitable for the novice as well as the more experienced. As well, check out the Orchid Secretsweb site, which features an ever-expanding library of articles on a broad range of aspects of orchid cultivation.

Orchids are in general placed into two major varieties, epiphytal and terrestrial. The epiphytals are plants that grow on trees. There are a number of methods for growing this type of orchid in the house or in a greenhouse. It all begins with the potting.

Epiphytal orchids, in nature, have their roots more exposed to the air than the majority of other plants do.  As a consquence, by "potting" we do not mean to pack them all around with dense potting soil.  Rather, we want to place them in a pot containing loose, organic material, from which they can draw necessary nutrients, along with rocks or broken pottery shards to create open spaces as well as to assist the plants to stay upright.

The usual recipe for potting material suitable to epiphytals is one part sphagnum moss to one part peat moss. Place a layer of this matter in the bottom of the pot, followed by a layer of rocks or pottery pieces, then another layer of the mix, and so forth. When the pot is around a quarter or at most a third full, carefully place the orchid's roots down into it. Then continue adding rocks and compost, packing all of this potting material just firmly enough to support the plant.

Gradually build up the compost up to and above the top of the pot. The height you should go above the top of the pot depends on the size of the pot as well as the depth to which you have placed the plant. The general rule is to allow the plant's crown to rest on top of the compost. By crown, we mean that section of the plant from where the roots begin.

If you happen to be repotting a plant, you must be careful about extricating it from the old pot. If there are any new roots attaching themselves to the outside of the pot, you should try to ease them off with a penknife. It there is a mass of vital roots -- that is, roots that have sap in them -- attached to the interior of the pot, then you might need to break the pot and pick away all of those roots that you can. You might need to repot it with pieces of the old pot still clinging to the roots, and this is fine.

It is preferable not to water the orchid for a day or so before and after potting it.

This has been a general introduction to potting epiphytal type orchid plants. The subject can be more complex than this, particularly in the case of some of the more delicate or senstive species. People have written entire books on the subject of potting all the different types of orchids!  Luckily, most of us don't need books devoted only to the potting art to achieve success with orchids. A recognized, step-by-step guide to all aspects of orchid growing is usually sufficient.

Today there is an abudance of good, accurate information to be had by anyone who wants to cultivate orchids. The most up-to-date guide to contemporary orchid gardening, without a doubt, is Orchid Care Expert by a Mr. Nigel Howard, which is available to be downloaded from the Internet. Howard's clearly written guide will furnish a thorough education on the subject. Also, check out the Orchid Secrets web site, which is publishing a growing database of postings on a wide range of topics of orchid care.

Not that long ago, people believed that growing orchids was a hobby reserved for the rich among them, or certainly at least the very affluent. These days, most people know that orchid cultivation is a pastime available to nearly everyone.Yet there is another mistaken assumption that continues to be passed along: that growing orchids is so difficult it is almost not worth the effort. You should be relieved to know that this is not so.

The fact is, many of the most astonishingly lovely orchid types are in actuality pretty easy to grow. What you need is foreknowledge, gathered easily from books, whether they are the hard-copy kind or the convenient digital kind that you can find and download from the World Wide Web. If you live in a mild or warm climate, you will be able to grow many varieties outdoors, in your yard or garden.But even if your climate is a cold one, you can still grow gorgeous orchids in a greenhouse or even a regular room, dedicated to the purpose.

Why grow orchids rather than other types of plants?If you have spent any time in caring for an orchid, the question wouldn't occur to you. Orchids can grip us, infecting us with a sort of fever that never goes away once we catch it!

Regardless, here are a few answers to the question. One huge advantage of growing orchids as opposed to other flowering plants is their extreme showiness paired with the great length of time they will stay in bloom. Some orchids will continue in bloom for three or four months. A select few are even known to keep their blooms for as long as six months. Even with a small collection of different species of orchids, you can have blooms all year round since these plants vary in their season of blooming.

The topic of orchids, and how to cultivate them, is both broad and deep. You should dig deep into the subject, learning as much as you possibly can before acquiring your first plant. Nontheless, there are some basics you need to know at the very start. Among those basics is that orchids can be classed into two great groupings, based on growing habits.

One of the major orchid groups is the epiphytals. These are orchids that grow on trees, or sometimes in moss or fungus on rocks. These are the "air dwelling" orchids, that seem to thrive on nothing but sunlight and air, although this, of course, is not really the case. It was these mysterious species that first grabbed the imaginations of collectors and resulted in the first great orchid mania of a more than a century ago. They are still the ones that most fascinate people today.

These epiphytal orchids should not be thought of as parasitic, though. The get only a little of their sustenance from the tree bark on which they grow, and this doesn't harm their hosts at all. They also pull nutrients from water, fungi and moss, as well as the decomposing leaves that sometimes get caught on them. Orchid growers love the epiphytals because of the fun--and sometimes challenge--of recreating their growing environment in a greenhouse or garden.

The other major grouping of orchids consists of the terrestrial ones. As you can guess, these are the kind that grow in the soil like "normal" plants. Growing them means pottting them, as we do with most other of our familiar houseplants. Some of the most beautiful species of orchids will be found in this group.

Many orchid growers start out by concentrating on one of these two main groups of orchids. As you might guess, though, they end up growing at least a handful of species from both groups. It''s recommended to learn about both types of orchids if you are serious about joining the world of orchid growers.

These days, of course, we have an abundance of solid information on the correct way to grow orchids. The most thorough guidebook to today's orchid cultivation, many growers agree, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which can be downloaded from the web. Howard's well-written guide is a thorough education all by itself. And, it's appropriate for beginning gardeners as well as more experienced orchid growers. Also, check out the Orchid Secrets web site, which features an ever-growing database of information on all aspects of orchid cultivation.

The Cattleya fly is one of the most potentially damaging pests that canfind their way to your precious orchids. In fact, this pest is closely associated with orchids rather than any other type of plant, as you might guess from its scientific name, Eurytoma orchidearum.

Cattleya flies deposit their eggs in the orchid plant's young growths. The eggs hatch and then nymphs (or maggots) hatch and begin to feed voraciously. The nymphs quickly swell to a grotesque size within the bulbs. One signal that these maggots are doing their dirty work is that the bulbs themselves will swell becoming club-shaped at the location where the pests are feeding.

Finally, the nymphs turn into flies, which munch their way to the outside by chewing through the flesh of the bulbs. Adult flies are deep black, have clear wings, and are about a quarter inch in length. Sadly, by the time you see them, it could be too late to salvage many of your plants. Nonetheless, you should try to kill the flies before they get a chance to inject their eggs into your remaining good plants.

If you have plants that are already infested, the best remedy is to slice away any bulbs that you notice are swelling more than is natural. Then just drop the nymph or maggot into some water to drown it. It's disheartening to have to cut away your plant's young growth, but this is better than leaving your other plants open to being attacked by this pest. With luck, the plant that you had to do "surgery" on will grow a new bulb in place of the old one.

Now for the good news about Cattleya flies. They are fortunately not especially common, and most orchid growers will never see them. Regardless, it is just good practice to inspect every new orchid for the signs of these flies and their maggots. Besides looking out for abnormally swollen bulbs where the fly's nymphs might be feeding, inspect for tiny holes where a female fly's ovipositor might have inserted eggs into the orchid. If you don't see these signs, you are probably safe from Cattleya flies.

To be really successful growing orchids it is vital to know how to deal with all the various threats to your plants, including insects. It isn't as hard to grow orchids as many people apparently believe, especially if you read up on how to properly care for these wonderful plants.

The most accurate and clear guidebook to expert orchid growing, I have found, is Orchid Care Expert by a Mr. Nigel Howard, which is available to be downloaded from the web. Howard's wonderful guide is a comprehensive education all by itself. And, it is suitable for beginning gardeners as well as more seasoned orchid cultivators. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets site, which is publishing an ever-growing database of entries on all aspects of orchid care.

So, you've nursed and fussed over an orchid for many long months and now it is rewarding you with a gorgeous bloom.  Should you treat the plant any differently now? The answer is: Maybe.

Although the species of your orchid will be the final determinant, as a general rule it would be advisable for you to remove the plant to a cooler and drier place that that in which it was grown. This will help the flowers to last much longer than in a warm and moist greenhouse or other typical growing room.

Most orchids will not suffer by being place in a drier and cooler location when they are in bloom. For most of them, it will be positively beneficial. Nevertheless, you should ensure that the temperature of your orchid's temporary new home should never get below 50 degrees F. at night.

Here's an experiment you can carry out if you happen to have two orchids of the same type that bloom at around the same time. Leave one in your growing room, and put the other in a cool, dry place as advised above. You will almost certainly notice that the one in your "cool room" will have fresh flowers for a much longer time than the one that was left behind.

Naturally, the flowers of even the best-cared-for orcnhids will eventually begin to fade. When this happens it is time to move the plant back to its warmer room. Just take care to shade it from the sun until it has re-adjusted to the warmer surroundings. Otherwise it can become scorched.

One of the keys to success in growing orchids is to understand their life cycles and the different stages they go through. Every stage requires a different kind of care, and the blossoming stage has its own unique "rules.".

The most up-to-date guide to modern orchid cultivation, I have found, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which can be downloaded from the Internet. Howard's wonderful guide constitutes a complete education all by itself. And, you will find it suitable for those just starting out as well as more experienced orchid growers. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing library of articles on all topics of orchid cultivation.

One of the pleasurable side hobbies to orchid apprecation is that of looking for references to these mystery-shrouded flowers in works of literature and popular entertainment.

Among the earliest short stories in which an orchid plays a central role is an odd little piece by the pathbreaking science fiction writer, H.G. Wells.This story is not so much science fiction as it is horror, though. You can easily find it in short-story compilations as well as on the Internet under the title of "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid" or simply, "The Strange Orchid."

Wells lived and wrote during the era of the first great orchid craze, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This was also a time when there were still some isolated and relatively unexplored places in the world, which fired contemporary imaginations with fantasies of unknown monsters that could yet be lurking in some jungle or mountain fastness.

For "The Strange Orchid," Wells built on the fact that flowers discharge their scent into the air to attract insects, which in turn spread pollen from one plant to another, assisting the plants to reproduce. What if--Wells wondered--there were a flower that took this a step further by evolving the ability to use its scent to overpower and feed on large animals?

The story centers on an Englishman with a passion for orchids who has acquired a rare specimen. After months of tending to it he is excited to see that it is about to blossom. He goes alone one day, eager to enjoy the first sight and odor of the unknown flower. Three hours later his housekeeper finds him lying unconscious before the orchid, which is  giving out an intoxicating odor and is looking very vigorous and wicked. A blood red-tint suffuses its
leaves and it has already pushed some of its finger-like shoots round the orchid lover's neck and beneath his shirt front.

With an inarticulate cry she ran towards him, and tried to pull him away from the leech-like suckers. She snapped two of these tentacles, and their sap dripped red.

Then the overpowering scent of the blossom began to make her head reel. How they clung to him! She tore at the tough ropes, and he and the white inflorescence swam about her. She felt she was fainting, knew she must not. She left him and hastily opened the nearest door, and, after she had panted for a moment in the fresh air, she had a brilliant inspiration. She caught up a flower-pot and smashed in the windows at the end of the greenhouse. Then she re-entered.

She tugged now with renewed strength at Wedderburn's motionless body, and brought the strange orchid crashing to the floor. It still clung with the grimmest tenacity to its victim. In a frenzy, she lugged it and him into the open air.

Then she thought of tearing through the sucker rootlets one by one, and in another minute she had released him and was dragging him away from the horror.

He was white and bleeding from a dozen circular patches.

Thanks to the quick thinking of the housekeeper in this story, the orchid's victim survives--this time.

Fortunately, orchids that feast on blood do not actually exist.You can, though, view this tale as symbolic of the strange grip that orchids can have on anyone who falls under their spell. People who contract orchid fever, including all who venture on growing them, tend to suffer from it their whole lives long. So now you have been warned!

If these fascinating plants have put their bite on you, you'll want to learn as much as possible about how to grow orchids successfully.  The most thorough guide to expert orchid care, without a doubt, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which is available to be downloaded from the Internet. Howard's wonderful guide constitutes a comprehensive education all to itself. And, it's suitable for beginners as well as more experienced orchid cultivators. Also, visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has an ever-growing library of postings on all facets of orchid cultivation.

Cockroaches are among the greatest pests with which you will have to deal in growing orchids. They can do heartbreaking damage in a scant few nights if not intercepted and killed.

Why do cockroaches pose such a big problem?  The answer is that one of their favorite meals is a potted plant's tender young roots and flower stems. It is not unknown for the roots of a plant to be completely chewed up in one night by roaches.

How to fight cockroaches effectively is one big topic. People have been fighting with them in their homes and kitchens for centuries, and we will probably be fighting them for centuries to come. They have evolved to be incredibly successful in living amongst us and in resisting extermination.

A wide array of poisons have been marketed in an attempt to control roaches. If you go the route of putting out poison, you must of course only use the ones that will not do damage to your plants. Check out the garden supplies aisle of your local hardware store.

For a less potentially risky solution, many growers have had success using boric acid, sugar and flour mixed with water to make a paste. The paste must be spread in every possible crevice to be effective. Some people even make sure to put some behind their light switch plates in their walls. To be completely safe, though, don't allow any of this paste on your plants themselves.

You could also set out a few those "roach hotels."  These will catch many roaches and keep them from getting to your plants in the first place.

But really, the only way you can hope to keep roaches reasonably controlled is to hunt for them by both day and night. You should especially search for them on and around your plants in the evening, using a flashlight. They leave their hiding places in the evening to seek food and it is then that they are most easily caught and killed. Don't forget to move your pots and baskets around to uncover ones that may have run into hiding from you.

A good guide to orchid growing will have many more tips and suggestions for making sure that pests such as roaches don't destroy your plants. The most complete guide to today's orchid care, in my opinion, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which may be downloaded from the web. Mr. Howard's guide is a complete course in itself, great for beginners as well as those more experienced. Also, be sure to visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has an ever-growing database of articles on all topics of orchid cultivation.

Orchid culture is so widespread today that it is diffcult to imagine a world without these wonderful flowers. Yet, not so very long ago, the people of the so-called civilized world were completely ignorant of the overwhelming majority of species of orchids.

Europeans of course knew about their local orchid types, such as the lovely Bee Orchid. But knowledge of the many gorgeous tropical orchids had to wait on the results of explorations into the jungles and mountains of South America and the eastern Indies. Even then, orchid specimens were slow to make their way back to England and other European countries.

Perhaps the first living orchid to find its way from the tropics to England was an Epidendrum cochleatum, one of the more showy of its family. It flowered in London in the year 1787. Another species from the same orchid family was brought in to England in the year 1778. It took a decade for its caregivers to bring forth flowers from the plant.

Admiral Bligh, of Bounty fame, took 15 species of epiphytal orchids to England from the West Indies some time in the early 1790s. These were planted at the well-known Kew Gardens in London. For many years the West Indies, along with India, were the primary sources of tropical orchids for Europe. In 1793, though, a species of Oncidium was transported to England from Panama, followed several years later by orchids from Uruguay.

By 1818, Brazil in partcular was contributing to what had become a steady stream of orchids back to England and other European lands. By 1830 the Royal Horticultural Society had sent representatives traveling throughout Brazil looking for unusual species.

The orchid trade quickly turned into a serious profit making enterprise, with businessmen in Brazil negotiating deals with their opposite numbers in London to ship plants to England to be resold there. William Harrison, a merchant in Rio de Janeiro during the 1830s and 1840s, sent many beautiful orchids to his brother Richard in Liverpool. Richard's house soon became a magnet for orchid fanatics who pilgrimaged there to see the latest arrivals.

Of course, it was one thing to import orchids into Europe, but another thing to get them to thrive and reproduce. For more than half a century England was known as the grave of tropical orchids. The plants that survived did so in spite of rather than because of the treatment they received. Growers continuing experimenting and making mistakes until, by about 1850, they had largely figured out the art of orchid cultivation. That's when the orchid craze really took off, because now the knowledge was available by which even non-botanists could grow these stunning plants.

Knowledge of successfully growing orchids has greatly expanded during the intervening years and today we know so much more than did those Victorian enthusiasts. We also have, of course, better technology to assist us in the greenhouse and garden.

The most complete guide to modern orchid cultivation, many agree, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which may be downloaded from the Internet. Howard's wonderful guide is a complete education all by itself. And, you will find it suitable for beginners as well as more seasoned orchid growers. Also, be sure to visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing database of postings on all topics of orchid cultivation.

It is common "knowledge" that the orchid is a tropical/subtropical plant. But in truth, orchids can be found in almost every part of the globe outside of the deserts and the polar regions.

About 85% of orchid types may inded be found in the tropics and subtropics, but that leaves a large proportion to the more temperate zones. Among other things, this means that you will not be out of luck if you live in a cool area and want to grow orchids, but do not have a greenhouse or other warmed area in which do so so.

The number of orchid species known to botanists is in the tens of thousands. You could be surprised to learn that there could well be orchids growing in your own vicinity, even if you make your home in a cool region. Take the fairly common Lady Slipper.

Lady Slippers (also written Lady's Slippers and Ladyslippers) is the name given to a large subfamily of orchids, the Cypripedioidea, with many species that grow in cool climates over much of North America and Europe. If you live in the New England states of the U.S., or the Appalachian mountain region, or even in Canada, you might find Lady Slippers of one variety or another growing in the woods near your home.

A species of Lady Slipper is the state flower of Minnesota. Another is the official state wildflower of New Hampshire. The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has a Lady Slipper as its official flower.

If you're thinking of growing orchids, especially in an outdoor garden, you would do well to consider a native species. It will already be used to your specific climate, and--if you live in a place that has low temps in the winter--you might not even need to bring it inside when cold weather arrives.

Among the loveliest American orchids is the Yellow Lady Slipper. It is also among the easiest orchids to grow in a garden. On the other hand, the Pink Lady Slipper is extremely difficult to grow.Clearly, unless you are already experienced with growing orchids, the Yellow Lady Slipper is the preferred choice.

Nurseries that specialize in orchid plants tend to run out of stock from time to time. Nevertheless, Lady Slippers are generally some of the easiest orchids to acquire. They're also less expensive, for the most part, than orchid plants that originate in far-away places. They are an excellent orchid for getting your thumb green, so to speak, before you take on the challenge of rarer or more "foreign" species.

All of the rules governing successful orchid gardening apply to the Lady Slippers and similar plants. You need accurate information before you begin attempting to grow these or other orchids, and  the best, most thorough guide to modern orchid cultivation, without a doubt, is Orchid Care Expert by Nigel Howard, which can be downloaded from the web. Mr. Howard's guide is a comprehensive course of study, useful for beginners and more experienced growers alike. Also, be sure to visit the Orchid Secrets web site, which has a growing database of articles on many aspects of orchid cultivation.