The garden of indoors...Phalaenopsis orchids

If there is a more perfect cure for winter (other than a trip somewhere warm) than orchids, I don't know what that would be. For those of you who think you can't grow orchids at your house, I'm here to tell you: if you can grow a simple African violet, a Christmas cactus, a philodendron, you can grow phalaenopsis, or moth orchids.

Trust me on this. I have about a dozen, in myriad shades and shapes and yes, even sizes. When I first became intrigued by these graceful, long blooming and elegant plants, they tended to come in only a couple of colours, white and magenta, at least locally. They were also very expensive. Today, things have changed quite dramatically!

This little beauty is actually the only plant in my collection that has a cultivar name, or at least was bought with an included name tag. I call it a little beauty because each flower is hardly bigger than a guitar pick, but its name is impressively long. Meet 'Sogo Gotris 'Flora Ark'." How's THAT for a name? The ACTUAL name is Doriataenopsis Sogo Gotris, a miniature type developed by clever breeders. I hope to find more cultivars, if they're out there. 

Now, I realize you can pick up moth orchids in all kinds of venues, from big box stores to department stores to professional nurseries and flower shops. You might pay a little more for those from a nursery or florist's, but chances are the plants have been properly grown at a reputable growing centre, then properly handled, shipped and cared for at the retail outlet, given adequate moisture, light, and nutrients, and not jammed side by each in a dark shelf. Plus, you'll always find the most strikingly coloured and marked varieties at nurseries. This beauty was at a nursery last year, along with several other equally strikingly marked plants.

When you're out looking at phalaenopsis orchids, make sure the plants have strong, healthy foliage, not wrinkled or dying. Although these plants' marvelous blossoms last for a long time (as in weeks and even months), you'll do well to select a plant with  several unopened flower buds on its flower stalks.

I bought this plant in February of last year, and it is STILL blooming, and still putting out new buds. It's very happy in my office, which is not the hottest room in the house (and may be the coolest. It gets plenty of light, but no direct hot sunlight--it's set back enough from the window that there's no danger of its foliage being burned by too strong light. They like cool temperatures (18 degrees C/ 65F at night, 22C/71F to 26C/78F during the day). Too warm a temperature can delay flowering. Avoid strong temperature fluctuations, however, because these can cause flower buds to drop.

As with most plants, correct watering is important to a moth orchid's wellbeing. They don't like to be dry to the point of wilting,  but should be watered thoroughly, then allowed to have their potting medium nearly dry out before being watered again. They like some additional humidity, which you can give them buy putting their pots on a tray with gravel or pebbles and water, but don't leave the pot so that the plants are sitting in water. Unlike some of their more particular orchid relatives, they don't need to be grown in a greenhouse or special conservatory--I have them around the house, from the fairly warm kitchen to my office to the bedroom to the livingroom, and move them around if I think they need a little more light at various times of the year.

Phalaenopsis generally are repotted about once a year, because the bark or moss they've been grown in will decompose over time. They need good aeration (air circulation) around their roots, or the roots can develop rot and kill the plant. Bark mixes should be soaked overnight before being used as planting media, but sphagnum moss is also useful if it's good quality product. I fertilize mine with a good quality orchid food most every time I water them when they're putting up flower spikes or in bloom, but at only 1/4 strength.

Occasionally I have killed a plant, usually by having waited too long to repot, so that there is next to nothing left for roots. Now, once a plant stops flowering, I check its roots carefully and then repot it in good quality bark purchased from an orchid grower, and often top the pot with some sphagnum to help with humidity--but don't bury the plant's crown! I've never had any problems with scale, aphids, or other indoor houseplant pests on my phalaenopsis orchids, but maybe I've been lucky. I don't put them outdoors in summer, but move them into a north window where they get plenty of light but no direct sunlight.

Let me stress, that although I love these plants and am learning more about them all the time, I am not an expert with them or any other orchid. In the course of looking up something for this post, I did, however, discover a website that seems to be extremely sensible and useful in its information, and you can go there to find out more about these fantastic, gloriously coloured plants.

There's also a wonderfully informative site called Plantgasm, whose owner confesses he "loves plants too much" (as if that were possible! Derek just did a post on phalaenopsis orchids too, so if you need further proof that Yes, You Can Grow Orchids, please pop over to his site and have a read of his post.