Hi Debbie, May I say you have great taste - nothing better than an orchid to brighten up your winter! Anyways, sounds like you're on the right path. I would add to what Claire mentioned that putting stones and water in a container below your orchid will be minimally effective at raising humidity enough to do any good. I've found that humidity is especially important when the buds are forming and opening. Unless you're out in the desert, I wouldn't worry overmuch about it the rest of the time. If you are worried, grouping plants together is much more effective at creating a small, slightly more humid microclimate. Light is also very important - for now, it will tolerate lower light conditions, but you will eventually have to move it to a brighter location for good vegetative (leaves and roots) growth and flowering. I have my Phals in an Eastern window which gets direct morning light and, in the winter, I find they just don't get enough light, so I've added a bit of supplemental light to help things along. Supplemental light can be very simple (a lamp with a flexible arm and a compact fluorescent (twisty, energy saving) bulb) or complicated. This will make your plant that much healthier, vigorous and floriferous. Be sure whenever you do increase light to do it gradually to let your plant get used to it. I have also enclosed below a link to culture sheets produced by the Canaduian Orchid Congress, which I like as they are really aimed at those inside growers. Good luck, and enjoy the blooms. Julie Here is a link that might be useful: Canadian Orchid Congress Culture Sheets

Hi smithjm, Welcome to the world of orchids! What you have there is a Dendrobium orchid. These are sympodial orchids, which basically means that it grows laterally, putting out a new growth when the old one is mature. Each of those growths is called a pseudobulb and, in the case of Dendrobiums, a cane. Flowers generally emerge from the most recent cane, but the other canes are there as water and nutrient storage organs, so leave them together. Dendrobium is one of the largest families in the orchid world and has been separated into groups. Your Dendrobium belongs to the Phalaenopsis group, because its flowers look like Phalaenopsis (moth orchids). It needs bright light (some people in Florida put them outside), warmth and humidity to grow well and flower. From what I know about them, these orchids do not rebloom from old spikes, so you did the right thing to cut off the old one. Orchid flowers last a long time, but most orchids are not always in bloom. You will have to wait until the newest growth (looks like the growth on the right hand side of the picture is growing right now) has matured (gotten to the same size as the cane that has already flowered) to get more flowers. If you want to repot, now would probably be a good time. Be sure to use a pot that is just one small size up, since the larger a pot, the longer it takes to dry out, which can lead to root rot. To repot, remove the plant from its current pot, removing whatever is loose of the old media and cutting off dead roots (stringy, hollow -- good roots are firm to the touch). Clean it up in the sink. Keep all the growths together. Hold the oldest (smallest) growth at the edge of the pot and then fill in with orchid media. I'll let someone else give you a recommendation as to which media to use, since conditions in Florida are much different than they are up here in Canada. Clay is a good idea, as they are heavier than plastic, which is good as these plants do get top heavy when blooming. Clay does dry faster, though, so be sure to keep up on your watering. Have fun - as many of us here can attest, this is an addicting hobby, but oh so much fun. Julie

I like wooden blinds hung high flanked by drapery panels to make the windows appear both taller and wider.

I grow almost all of my orchids outdoors, but mine are mostly cold-hardy like epidendrums, dendrobiums, cattelayas, cymbidiums, etc, and people here plant cymbidiums and epidendrums in the ground, especially since they get too large to bring indoors. I keep phalaenopsis indoors during the winter because they are not cold hardy, but I put them in a very shady area outdoors from April through November. They seem to like having somewhat cooler temperatures at night, and this can stimulate blooming. They need very little fertilizer, but what I use most is 20-20-20 in very small amounts and only feed them about once a month. I've had more trouble getting phals to rebloom than any other orchids, and so perhaps I am not giving them enough humidity when I put them outdoors. One that I had bloomed for eight months, and I got bored with it before it stopped blooming. They do best in clear plastic pots that have slits in the sides so that the roots can get some light, but I put some of mine in the regular orchid pots that have small holes in the sides, as they are prettier. Don't repot until it is done flowering, and remove the flower stem as noted above. I use an orchid mix from Home Depot, and I add a bit of perlite to it. You can also put styrofoam packing peanuts in the bottom of the pot, but make sure they are white.