I've seen a bit of phal-bashing on this forum. It's clear some people think of them as orchids-for-the-unwashed-masses.
But I want you to know that I do wash, but I've gotten to really appreciate phals. Leaving beauty aside, they really are easier to care for and bloom than catts, and I've decided to shift my energy more to growing them.
They are just far more rewarding per unit of time/effort than most of what I have grown. I don't really mind the work, but I grow for the flowers not for the snob appeal, and phals are a 100% win game.
It is relatively easy to bloom a mature phal. (Compared to trying to fry a catt without burning it to death). Out of 12 mature phals I had last fall, I have gotten spikes or blooms on 11 of them so far this year.
It's also fairly quick to grow a tiny seedling to a respectable size. Of the seedlings I started last summer, most are quite respectable size-- only a couple that didn't seem able to keep roots stayed small.
Despite all my efforts, some catts and encyclias haven't said "boo" yet, and I'm beginning to think they aren't going to. (Tho to be honest, some have bloomed, and I find a new spike starting every day or two)
Now, about beauty. Have you *looked* at the newer ones-- the waxies, the shiny-silkies, the deep purple, the "reds" with shiny blackish leaves, the ones with bars in a regular and fetching pattern, the ones whose flowers last-- a single flower lasting 4 months, the ones with graceful branching spikes?
If you haven't, check out the photos at Bedford Orchids. If there isn't at least one there you think is fabulous, that you'd buy in a second if you had the chance, I would really like to hear from you.
Okay, that's it. I just thought it was time someone spoke out *for* phals.
watergal
clintdawley
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