Orchids, orchids, everywhere – even on my coffee cup!

Thirteen years ago, my sister gave my husband an orchid as a Christmas present. He’d always enjoyed gardening outside until his knees and back called a halt to it, so she thought an indoor bloom might appeal to him.

Oh man, did it ever.

 

A wonderland of beautiful blooms

Today, I see a greenhouse with almost 700 orchids in it, sitting in my backyard. My husband raises dendrobiums, cattleyas, phaleonopsis, angraecum and a whole lot more types of orchids. The greenhouse fan runs in sync with the humidity registers and a filtered water system feeds a wet wall. My husband follows a strict regimen of watering the orchids on a systematic basis, depending on their natural habitat requirements. He tests them for disease and feeds them nutrients when needed.

The result? Breath-taking displays of blooms almost year-round, and an endless supply of gorgeous orchids for my home.

Who knew that a single orchid could grow into a beautiful obsession?

I didn’t.

 

My new hobby

But now, I’ve caught the bug, too, except that my interest involves photographing the orchids. In fact, I love the virtually infinite variety of shapes and colors of the orchids so much, I want to surround myself with them in the house, as well as the greenhouse. I even uploaded a bunch of photos to FineArtAmerica so I could get coffee mugs made with my orchid photos on them.

Hi, I’m Jan. I’m an orchid addict.

Certainly, there are worse obsessions. Unlike chocolate, orchids don’t ruin my diet. Unlike psychological thrillers, which only depress me (really, how many more books does anyone need to read about serial killers, cheating spouses and twisted evil?), orchids awe me with beauty and God’s divine artistry. The delicate blooms, the floral scents, the sheer robustness of life evidenced by plants thriving and producing flowers…this is faith and hope made manifest.

If you ask me, the world could use a lot more orchids.

What do you think?

 

 

 

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