I feel like making a post about my orchids. I guess I am becoming an orchid hobbyist, although this was not what I thought would happen when I started. I originally decided to get a few orchids because Opal is a chewer, and I wanted to have houseplants that were safe for her to chew, and can handle the lower light in my house. The internet told me that orchids would fit the bill. The internet lied, as it turns out: orchids aren't really as "low light" as people tell you they are; many tropicals can handle lower light. But by the time I knew that, I had already fallen in love with orchids. There's something about them so interesting; it's similar to the way I love succulents. Mainly I like phalaenopsis and oncidium alliance orchids.
I buy my orchids at grocery stores and Ikea. The downside of this is that it means most of the orchids I buy aren't in perfect shape. Most orchids grown for the mass market trade aren't intended to survive long past blooming; they are intended to be like living flower arrangements, and to be discarded after they die or cease blooming. I have bought a few orchids that weren't in bad shape, but most of them were pretty bad. This is the trade-off; I could buy high-quality orchids direct from a nursery, but they would cost quite a bit more than the $10-$15 I typically pay.
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