We may be scaring Donna away, folks! But it IS a difficult question because everyone's growing situation is different, and it's hard to know what will work for you. Also an orchid that happily grows inside your house won't necessarily grow well if it's suddenly put outside for the summer months. Where it always had temperatures in the 60's at night and 70's day, suddenly it's exposed to wind and bugs, 80's or 90's in the daytime and as cool as 50 at night. That's a big change for an orchid and they can be very sensitive.
My method of trial and error involved trying a few different kinds of orchids and waiting patiently to see what "worked" for me. In order to not invest too much money in plants that might die, I sourced orchids as cheaply as I could - Trader Joe's has been a favorite source and they almost always have a selection that includes types other than Phals for around $13 each.
The one situation that's close to yours is my daughter's. She lives in Utah and for years I've been telling her that orchids really won't grow there because of the dry air. Well, I finally broke down and bought her a little Oncidium called 'Sharry Baby' that has an amazing chocolate/vanilla fragrance. I didn't expect it to survive long but she really loves it, and is growing it in a large, deep glass vase in her bathroom. So
you never know until you try but that's one I'd try.
