I am new to Slippertalk, but not to orchids. I have been growing orchids for over 30 years, 22 years in southern California in an unheated greenhouse and for nearly 12 years here in Oregon. Presently all my orchids are either under fluorescent lights or on window sills.
When we moved here to Oregon I could only take the orchids that I could grow in the house since we moved to an apartment while we figured out which area of Oregon we wanted to live. That meant bringing primarily paphs, phals and some assorted other orchid species that I felt could be grown as houseplants. The learning curve here in Oregon was brutal, I lost most of the phals. That has an up-side as I was able to re-build my collection. The paphios did much better, lost only a few of those.
We have gone to the local orchid shows, I've picked up various orchids that caught my fancy. Also, I'm no stranger to mail order. But what kicked in my renewed passion for paphios was starting to go to the regional AOS judging center. At first the judging center was JUST far away from us to make attending the meetings difficult for us. At the beginning of this year the judging center was moved to Keizer, Oregon; not next door but much easier for us to get to.
We started attending the judging in January, I find the judging process fascinating. Also several months ago a Paph. Ho Chi Minh was brought in for judging, the photos of those do not do justice to the flowers - I had to have one. Paphios are popular up here and I kept seeing paphs that I wanted to grow.
My areas of interest are species, primaries and anything vini-colored. A new light stand was purchased for the paphs and "other" orchids were moved out of the prime east and south facing windows.
I look forward to being a participant in this orchid community.
When we moved here to Oregon I could only take the orchids that I could grow in the house since we moved to an apartment while we figured out which area of Oregon we wanted to live. That meant bringing primarily paphs, phals and some assorted other orchid species that I felt could be grown as houseplants. The learning curve here in Oregon was brutal, I lost most of the phals. That has an up-side as I was able to re-build my collection. The paphios did much better, lost only a few of those.
We have gone to the local orchid shows, I've picked up various orchids that caught my fancy. Also, I'm no stranger to mail order. But what kicked in my renewed passion for paphios was starting to go to the regional AOS judging center. At first the judging center was JUST far away from us to make attending the meetings difficult for us. At the beginning of this year the judging center was moved to Keizer, Oregon; not next door but much easier for us to get to.
We started attending the judging in January, I find the judging process fascinating. Also several months ago a Paph. Ho Chi Minh was brought in for judging, the photos of those do not do justice to the flowers - I had to have one. Paphios are popular up here and I kept seeing paphs that I wanted to grow.
My areas of interest are species, primaries and anything vini-colored. A new light stand was purchased for the paphs and "other" orchids were moved out of the prime east and south facing windows.
I look forward to being a participant in this orchid community.
