Photo by Shariff Che'Lah/Fotolia
All about orchids
Growing tips and myths unveiled on how to maintain these exotic gems
**Orchids are hot—**but not because they’re all tropical. In fact, there are more than 25,000 species growing around the world. Today, their wondrous blooms in a panoply of colours, shapes and sizes are readily available to anyone with an eye for the exotic.
**MYTH BUSTING**
**Myth:** They’re parasites.
**Fact:** Most orchids are epiphytes—air plants that grow above ground attached to trees. They don’t sap their hosts or inflict any damage. **Myth:** They’re hard to grow.
**Fact:** They are no more difficult than most houseplants. Bryon Fischer of Paramount Orchids in Calgary says the easiest orchids to grow are moth orchids (*Phalaenopsis*), which can bloom for three to six months, and slipper orchids (*Paphiopedilum*). **Myth:** They hate drafts.
**Fact:** Orchids like a gentle breeze, just not from an air conditioner or furnace.
**GROWING TIPS**
* While all orchids require good air circulation, bright light (but not direct sun), regular watering and occasional feeding, they do vary in their specific demands. Do your homework to make sure you give your orchid the proper TLC. For help, check out *Orchids: A Practical Guide to Care and Cultivation*, a new, info-packed book by orchid grower Mike Tibbs (Ball Publishing), or browse the more than 550 titles at Orchids Books, a Quebec-based online specialty bookstore (orchidsbooks.com).
* If you get hooked on these intoxicating plants, consider joining an orchid society—more than 25 exist across Canada. The Canadian Orchid Congress has a complete list at canadianorchidcongress.ca. Or head to Miami in January, 2008, and hobnob with 250,000 orchidophiles from around the globe at the 19th World Orchid Conference, held once every three years (19woc.com).
**NEWS FLASH**
Five new orchids, including three unusual leafless ones, were recently discovered in central Vietnam. A new bog orchid (*Platanthera yosemitensis*) was also found in Yosemite National Park in California. An inconspicuous plant with tiny flowers and a smell like sweaty socks, it still made national headlines and set the orchid world aflutter.
**Fact:** Most orchids are epiphytes—air plants that grow above ground attached to trees. They don’t sap their hosts or inflict any damage. **Myth:** They’re hard to grow.
**Fact:** They are no more difficult than most houseplants. Bryon Fischer of Paramount Orchids in Calgary says the easiest orchids to grow are moth orchids (*Phalaenopsis*), which can bloom for three to six months, and slipper orchids (*Paphiopedilum*). **Myth:** They hate drafts.
**Fact:** Orchids like a gentle breeze, just not from an air conditioner or furnace.
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