Introduction to the Orchid Corner

I’m Joelle, and I’m addicted to orchids. 

The first orchid I ever saw was on the corsage my brother gave to his senior prom date. It was also the first black flower I’d ever seen, which at nine years old struck me as impossibly cool. It matched his date’s gothic beauty and looked nothing like the boring roses my mom grew in the yard.

I didn’t think much about orchids other than when they popped up at funerals or graduation celebrations. Sometimes I saw them on the countertops at restaurants, and I couldn’t resist touching their leaves, thinking they must be fake. Orchids have never seemed Earthly to me, and that’s probably why I love them so much. 

Even after I became a plant fanatic, I hesitated to add orchids to my collection. Their reputation for being difficult and my doubts that I could keep them alive scared me off. Then I met a friend who became something of an orchid mentor. 

Ben had three orchids when I met him and his wife Carolyn. Whenever I hung out at their place, Ben would show them off, whether they were blooming or not. I began to notice their other features, including their sprawling, searching aerial roots. I also noticed he had them on a pebble tray and that they were all in plastic pots binder-clipped to bigger terracotta pots, which were both revelatory details for me at the time. Ben’s lack of fear around his orchids gave me the push I needed to buy one of my own. I picked the most common type—a phalaenopsis, or moth orchid, with white flowers.

My first phalaenopsis (middle).

Fast-forward ten years and my orchid collection has grown to 17. In addition to phalaenopsis, I’ve got dendrobrium, cattleya, masdevallia, and jewel orchids. There’s always at least one in bloom at any given time, so our kitchen table always has an orchid centerpiece. Right now, my very first orchid is flowering from two different shoots in opposite directions (see photo). 

The orchid centerpiece today.

People have long been obsessed with orchids, especially when they weren’t widely available (if you haven’t read Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, I highly recommend it!) But their beauty isn’t the only remarkable thing about them. Despite their reputation for being hard to maintain, they’re actually the most common species of flowering plant in the world, thanks largely to their adaptive and evolutionary capabilities. Their aerial roots remind me of alien tentacles, gently searching along windowsills, seemingly sentient. Visits to orchid shows and gardens make me feel like I’m on another planet, surrounded by beauty I can barely believe.

I’m working with Maison Green and writing posts for the Orchid Corner because I want as many people as possible to experience the joy of owning orchids. I’d like to demystify the process of caring for them and getting them to rebloom (especially so people don’t assume that orchids that aren’t flowering are dead). If you have an orchid question, please let me know! Otherwise, look out for future posts about repotting, feeding, general maintenance, cloning, and branching out beyond phalaenopsis orchids.