I bought several Vanda family orchids from Bill Asia's ' Royal Orchid Club'. There has been some controversy as some people have very negative feelings about them. This seems to be related to plants other than vandaceous ones. Also they ship about twice a month so if you order at the wrong time you'll wait 2 weeks before you see your plants. The plants are shipped bare-root, requiring immediate attention something else some people don't like. I have gotten a number of blooming sized vanda types from them and would recommend them for that only. Right now they have over 80 different vandaceous offerings. I would buy from them again. Nick

The easiest and logical way is for her to contact a local orchid society and find out a source for them. The other way is to purchase it and send it around Xmas as a 'low value gift'. Nick

BlueBirdGreenhouses normally run a tight ship. The only issue they had as I know - was when they used all their time to put together the AV Convention in Raleigh in 2010... and there is just so many hours in a day - and organizing a Convention is a time pit...So - their plants went to pot. I was there saw their plants - not their usual quality... I am sure since then they cleaned up. if your purchase was around that time - there is no surprise... I presume that I am paying money for the variety - and they carry a lot of oldies and rarities - and if it comes with the suckers - I just make more good plants out of them.. So - despite the issues - I brought the big suitcase of their plants from Raleigh - and they all cleaned up real well eventually. But I agree with UV - buy leaves - and taking care of the bugs becomes not a big deal. The issue with INS virus is still there - so dealing with plant material - dip the razor blade in alcohol between different leaves - and chuck the suspicious ones. If the babies come stunted - the new plantlets do have spots and stripes on the leaves - you need to chuck them. And I side with Linda - Witch Doctor has a pretty foliage, miserable flowers and is not worth the space. Golden Plume - similar case - it is overly variegated - makes the plant grow super slow and takes the vigor down to nothing. It is 80-90% white - with green specks - looks very attractive - but at a cost. Blooms - what blooms - it barely holds itself alive. i.

haha. yeah. well... i've been buying them here in NJ at big box stores (HD and Lowe's... they've been healthy and only $9-$25) But I like to look when I travel in order to expand my collection. I'll look at that website. Thanks!