Buying orchids for Mom

When selecting flowers for Mother's Day, going with fresh cut or a live plant is a frequent quandary. Orchids are so lovely, readily available and affordable in South Florida that buying one of those is usually the better ch

oice. After all, fresh cut flowers die in a week or less, while a blooming orchid can look beautiful for weeks with little care. After the blooms die, however, it’s another story.

I'm still of the opinion that orchids are a better buy even if Mom kills it in a few months. If she has a green thumb, that plant may bring her joy for many years to come. But orchids are no ordinary house plants. They need the right light and shade that may differ depending on its variety, special potting material and vessels that allow for plenty of aeration. In fact, some grow best tied to a tree with no potting material at all. As one plant nursery employee reminded me once, “orchids are really just air plants.”

That's why buying them in those pretty pots full of moss without drainage is the kiss of death. Growers pack them in moss to keep them moist in transit so they make it to their destination alive and look pretty in the store. If you don't know any better, you keep watering it regularly, the roots rot and the plant dies.

Transplanting an orchid while it's blooming is not advisable, so Mom should water lightly, wait for the blooms to drop and then transplant using the proper potting material, consisting of predominantly fir bark and a proper orchid vessel (a ceramic or clay pot or a wooden basket) with plenty of holes to promote drainage. Vandas hang with long flowing roots and no potting material, but I've never had a

vanda flower twice for me. I've not had good luck with Paphiopedilums either (known as “lady slippers”). That's just me. There's something I'm certainly doing wrong.

I've had much more luck with cattleya, cymbidium, dendrobium, brassia, epidendrum, oncid

ium and Phalaenopsis varieties. And my outdoor orchids do better than my indoor ones. Of course, one year my husband said, “you should fertilize them so they bloom more often.” That was actually good advice, except I became too enthusiastic, overfertilized the indoor orchids and killed a whole slew of them. It was the great orchid massacre.

Another mistake I made was keeping them too close together. As with people, disease can spread quickly from plant to plant. If one develops black spots or fungus, it can spread like the wind. If you clip a diseased leaf and don't sterilize your tool before using it on another plant, you'll spread disease that way, too. And you know how they tell you watering your lawn and flowerbeds at night helps retain water? That grows fungus in orchids, so only water those pretty babies during the day.

I've had orchids last anywhere from three weeks to nearly 30 years. You never know. One cattleya I have that survived two hurricanes and significant neglect outside is now succumbing to fungus. While I'm sad to see her go, the memories of watching her spike and bloom year after year puts a smile on my face.

So don't be afraid to buy Mom an orchid this Mother's Day. When making your selection, stay away from anything with a black spot or a discolored leaf no matter how beautiful the bloom. Just inform Mom of how to care for it and if it doesn't survive, c'est la vie. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!