I added a new plant to my ever growing indoor plant family! The newest addition has always been a bit of an Achilles heel of mine. What is life without a challenge though right!? I will figure out how to keep this finicky little show stopper alive come hell or high water! Why put so much effort into one silly plant that can’t even manage to survive in Indiana? Simple! This weeks Plant of the Week has beautiful delicate blooms that will knock your socks off. Let’s talk about what plant has me so excited this week, the Orchid!

The Orchid is an incredible species of flora, with over 25,000 separate species found around the world. With so many species, you are guaranteed to find an orchid of any size, shape and color combination you can think up! Their size can range from that of your thumbnail to a few hundred pounds. They are extremely adaptable, leading to orchids with wildly varying appearance, some don’t even have leaves! Amazingly not all orchids grow on top of the ground, some choose to instead live high up in a tree or rather simply live underground and not bother with sunlight. Some Orchids can not produce sugars on their own, and instead feed off of other plants like a diabetic vampire! We even use orchids to make products we use in our every day lives like, perfumes and vanilla flavoring!

Now, I am sitting here giving you all these cool tid bits of information, but you are thinking to yourself…”Hey Eagleson, I can’t enjoy Orchids if you don’t tell me how to take care of it!” Well, I have you covered.  Orchids in practice are very easy to grow. (Unless you are me it seems) Provide your orchid with bright indirect sunlight.  This is very important!  Your Orchid will never bloom if it does not receive enough sunlight to build up the energy.  Watering should happen ever 5-10 days, depending on the time of year.  The simplest way to think about the watering practice is to water the Orchid thoroughly and then allow the soil to completely dry out before watering again.  Special Orchid fertilizer can and should be applied about once a month, BUT this varies depending on the fertilizer you use.  Make sure to read the fertilizer label!  This is an important tip when applying fertilizers to any plant!  Last, but not least, make sure to keep your room temperature between 60-80 degrees.  Like all things plant care comes with practice, so do not be discouraged if your first few Orchids are a bust!

An incredible plant that has graced plant Earth for 100 million years! I highly encourage you to please read this article here to get some additional information as well as some more very cool photos of orchids, like the Naked Guy and Monkey Orchids. I hope you fall in love with Orchids and encourage you to look for some crazy looking Orchids on your own! I always love discovering new amazing plants, so send any finds my way!  Also, feel free to post any Orchids you have of your own!  It is fun to see what kind of indoor garden you have!