Nice article Todd! Here in So. Cal. we usually grow the large , tropical types. If our summer isn't too hot, for too long, they do very well outside, but when we have a long, hot summer, they fail to bloom, even with the cold nights in the late fall. Three of my four bloomed this year, but after a few of those hot summers, they weren't spectacular. I grow mine in straight bark, and the problem is that it breaks down too fast, so they get repotted too often, and like most orchids, they prefer to be pot-bound. I live in an area where there is a concentration of Vietnamese, and they grow them in full calif. sun. I have even seen them sheared back to about 4 inches. I don't know how long they last that way, but it seems to work for them.
