Extravagant orchids definitely worth their price
“They cost how much?” DC, my husband, asks.
I repeat what I’d paid for the tall grouping of white potted orchids that now graced our dining room table. I mumble the amount, which even I admit was high when you’re talking about fresh flowering plants that will die, and in my hands, probably soon.
I had been out with my friend Susan shopping for a few home accessories. High on the list was a centerpiece for my dining room table. It needed to be big and spectacular. We found a gorgeous blue and white ceramic container for $60, but it needed something in it.
Everything we imagined didn’t seem quite right — succulents, fresh fruit, silk flowers — meh. Then we both said at once: Orchids!?
I knew a flower shop nearby that specialized. Susan and I handed the ceramic container to store owner Genevieve Enstab, who whisked it away confidently and brought it back filled with six towering 30-inch-tall phalaenopsis orchid stems dripping with giant white orchid blossoms and as many buds. I handed her my credit card — $90 for three pots containing two stems each.
Back home, I carefully placed the potted orchid arrangement as if it were a precious newborn on the dining room table. Susan gasped. I gasped. “It’s perfection,” she said. All this happened 10 weeks ago. Meanwhile, the orchids have looked lovely and required almost no care. But now the blooms were off, and nothing less would do.
“Is this going to be a habit?” DC wants to know.
I explain it this way. Having fresh flowers in the house to me is like having fresh fruit, or fresh water. In other words, they’re as essential as chocolate. Even when my budget is tight, I will still buy flowers from the grocery store for $10 a week.
“So,” I reason, “I can either spend $10 a week or $90 every 10 weeks. The potted orchids actually save us money.”
I head back to Ginny’s Orchids with my container, and hand it over to Enstab, who has been selling orchids for 31 years. She passes the container off to a helper to refresh it, while ask her some questions.
Why orchids? “Because they last so long,” Enstab said. “A healthy orchid
properly cared for will bloom for one to three months. Plus, they’re architectural. It would take a whole lot of flowers to make that kind of statement.” How do you pick a good one? “Start with the source,” she said. “Search online to find a good quality local orchid grower. One reason her orchids last is because she picks the plants directly from the greenhouse and drives them straight to the store. “They are not sitting on a hot truck.”
What do you look for? You can tell a healthy orchid by its leaves. They should be firm not limp, and solid green. Look for undamaged stems that have half flowers and half buds, so they look good now and keep blooming. Avoid stems that have dark shriveled buds, a sign the plant has been stressed.
How can you help them last? The less you do, the happier they are. Overwatering is the biggest mistake orchid owners make. These are air plants. They can survive hanging from a tree with no moist soil around their roots. Water them only when they’re completely dry. And don’t water them with an ice cube, she said, dismissing a popular urban myth. Put them in a room with light but not direct sun, and keep them away from air vents, burning candles or fireplaces, and bowls of fresh fruit, which emits ethylene as it ripens, which will cause flowers to ripen quickly, too.
More for your money. Once the orchids are done blooming, trim their stems back, put them outside (in warm climates) out of direct sun and look forward to another round of blossoms.
Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of three home and lifestyle books, including Downsizing the Family Home — What to Save, What to Let Go.You may reach her at www.marnijameson.com.