Very nice! Thanks, Hetty.

Jim

Just amazing to see those specimens. Some days I wouldn't mind living in FL!!

Aha! So that's what orchids are supposed to look like! I'm tempted to toss mine after seeing this. Lord knows I'll never come anywhere close to that.
Thanks Hetty!

Like Eye Candy!

I honestly walked around with my mouth open the entire time.... everything was just SO perfect. And it's not like he has a large crew working there. A lot of love has gone into that garden!

Hetty, I tried to look up Fuchs Nursery to see where it was located in Fl. I kept getting Fuchs Nursery in Clarkston, Wa.! Now I came to Ca. from Clarkston, Wa. and I knew that couldn't be right. I finally found what I was looking for under RF Orchids.

Oh my!! This is just gorgeous!! Wish my orchids would look like that! Thanks so much for posting these!

Hetty, did any Orchid follow you home?

Ursula, none did...the atmosphere at that place is somehow intimidating, I knew mine would never live up to their heritage! I'm sticking with foundling Dendrobiums and re-blooming Phals...

I hear you. A large Orchid like that might be tough to keep if your conditions are considerably different from those at the Nursery. But a smaller plant might be just fine....

Dutchlady1 said:I ....... A lot of love has gone into that garden!

And I'd bet..." some blood, sweat, and tears!"

Hetty, thanks for the 'heads up'! The orchids are gorgeous! Carol, you had me laughing out loud!
Marianne

extranjera said: more pictures!

I always wonder if I could ever get my orchids to bloom like that. I feel doubly bad since I have the climate for them, I don't need to build a greenhouse or anything but I can't seem to keep them as healthy as I would like.

Jonna, you have the same problems we have here. You have to be selective which orchids you try to grow. A lot of orchids on the market need a cooler climate than what we can provide. The "best" orchid growing climate in this country (and arguably in the world) is northern New South Wales and south east Queensland because of their more moderate temperatures and higher relative humidity. They have a greater range of plants that will do well. But get into the tropics and the story changes. Of course it's not only orchids but a lot of other plants as well. Check out what's really suited to lowland tropics and try those.

Well, these people seem to be able to grow almost any kind of orchids spectacularly!

It's the cooler climate that helps, like with northern New South Wales and south east Queensland. Then you get people in warmer climates getting frustrated because they don't grow well for them. But it is the climate, not them. That's why they need to pick the species.

I don't get the blooms I should even on our native species. I'm still working at finding them the right spot, with enough sun, not too much sun, safe from cats climbing trees, and remembering to spray them with some fert occasionally.

I do think they have it a bit easier in some ways in Florida because they have cooler winters and it is easier to protect from occasional cold than to prevent overheating. Mostly though, I think it is attention. I get distracted by life and don't give my plants the daily attention that I should. It's funny because if you asked me what I like the most it is pottering around in the garden. Yet, I agree to all these other activities that keep me from it. I need to work on that.

I'd love to try vandas in my garden, I think they would do well. I just haven't been able to find any for sale here. Dendrobians do well here, Encyclias, Myrmecophilias, Oncidiums. I have done a lot of moving things around lately in the garden that hopefully will make it easier for me to take better care of the orchids. I just got a beautiful long piece of ribbon wood (at least I think that is what it is) and it has lots of places to put orchids. I'm trying to decide whether to hang it at the entrance to the terrace or attach it to the wall and what kind of orchids to put on it.

I keep trying to equal the lush, beautiful garden I have in my mind but I'm not always very successful.

Jonna, we all keep striving for the unattainable goal, but at least we're striving!

Drooling all over my keyboard, thanks Hetty

Lovely lovely photos Hetty! Many thanks for sharing it to us!

Always fun to see nature's art very well taken cared for!

I was given a phil for Christmas which has a nice purple bloom(s). Just recently a friend gave me a very small young phil which is not in bloom. It is a little yellow at the very edge of the leaves one leaf I think is about 2 to 2.5 inches long and the other 2 are maybe .5 inches long. It is in a fern root mix of medium. My larger phil is in a wood chip kind of mix medium. If anyone has any suggestions about how I can know how the small plant especially and the larger plant are doing so that if there arise any issues, I can take care of them properly.

Dogpack
this sounds suspiciously like the question I answered on the Orchid forum? I would think you meant Phal?
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
http://garden.org/thread/view_...