Gabriele - You don't need a book to learn about growing orchids. Most of us have grown them for years and will give you advice for free.

1. The best place to grow an orchid is in the crotch of a tree. This does two things, one it's a gathering place for rain (the best irrigation) and two, it's shady enough to prevent frying the plant.
2. If you "over-care" for your orchids, you will kill them. They need far less water and fertilizer than you think. Those orchids that I have on our lanai, get watered twice a week with a fine mist from a garden hose and nothing else.
3. Although I'm certain they exist, I've never seen an orchid grow well in full sun. Most like dappled shade, but they do need some sun to bloom.
4. Unless you want to be a true collector and have thousands of dollars to spend, continue buying orchids the way you are now - big box stores and local nurseries. The least expensive ones seem to be the most hardy. (Why else would you see them in HD and Lowes? Duh!)
5. You can tie an orchid to any tree with gnarly bark. The best choice for this task is Jute twine. It rarely lasts more than a year, plenty of time for the orchid to root into the grooves of the bark. When you do this, make sure the new growth is closest to the trunk or limb of the tree.

There's more, I'm sure of it, but nothing else comes to mind right now. By the way, I have over 100 orchids tied to trees and driftwood in our garden, most of them from the same sources as you.

Hi
Since there are over 30,000 different kinds of orchids growing on every continent except Antarctica there are hundreds of different culture methods.lol
Most people are interested in the tropical epiphytes(plants that grow on trees) as they have the biggest gaudiest flowers lol. Not to overlooked are some of the spectacular "ground" orchids those that grow in soil like regular plants . Obviously no place on earth would have an acceptable climate for all these different types.
I think if I were to start over I would select the types I'm most interested in. Tropical epiphytes are the easiest and most commonly available. So that's a good start.
I also think I would start out culturing them in pots. The most adaptable way .Yes they can be grown as garden plants but it can be tricky Stick to those species that live in low altitudes and are therefore heat tolerant. Generally heat is far more a problem than cold. I have found heat growers far more tolerant to cold than cool growers are to heat.
You picked a serious plant addiction lol along with the 30,000 or so species there are at least that many hybrids even genera that don't occur in nature at all!!
Do some internet research on families that particularly
interest you. Then select from those families that fit into your general culture method. Will save you a fortune over the years from buying species that are almost impossible in "natural" florida.lol
I would bet that people spend more money on orchids than all other plant families combined?? I know I have for sure lol gary

Fawnridge and GaryFla: What absolutely horrible replies you both provided. This means that orchids arent the finicky exotics I thought and that I, too, could grow an orchid or twoÂor three, etc. And LoweÂs and HD are SO close. Thank goodness Gabriele didnÂt ask this question before the Mt. Dora Plant Sale. In my ignorance, I was easily able to bypass the orchid booths at the time.

June

That is good advice about the matching the growing culture of orchids to what you can provide. I need to go out and look for driftwood now! Can you use regular hardwood like oak branches instead?

I am just getting started obsessing with orchids too. I've had a few for a couple of years and haven't really done much with them except repot lol. Some of them are expensive but many are reasonably priced..
From what I hear, you should buy from someone reputable if you buy the smaller ones because they take longer to bloom and hopefully that way they will turn out to be the right thing lol.

I just got started with orchid cactus as well. So far I now have about 32 diff ones..they are super addictive.

Gabriele, my advice will differ a bit...
My main plant addiction is orchids. I am an orchid collector, at this point, and always have a wish list of species and hybrids I want to add. I am way over 500 orchids now. They are addictive, and the variation and abundance of shape and colors is unbelievable

Do get yourself a book. It helps to know where the orchid you bought would want to grow: whether this is a plant from a shady humid forest (like a phal!), or whether it is usually found high on the trees (laelia, for example), basking in full sun. From the species natural habitat description, you can find a great deal about the medium the plants wants to grow in, the temperature range and the amount of light it needs to bloom...

Orchids are not finicky exotics, but they do need the conditions they are used to ...Take peony and bearded iris - grow in Russia so well, no attention needed...Huge clumps, great flowers. Bearded iris can often be found growing around trash sites, where it survives being tossed to garbage and overwinters no problem. Try them here, and they wont grow. Not because they are difficult, but because they are not getting the conditions they want
Orchids are no different.

As you learn more about orchids, you will start getting interested in certain genera, and will concentrate more on that. I grow a bit of everything, most of my orchids are warm growers or intermediates - but concentrate on Cattleya genus.... These guys do well here!

I added a lot of great plants buying seedlings from Lowes/HD by Sunbulb...what a variety they offer! You can often find species, and the prices are very reasonable. Their plants are also very healthy and good growers...

There is so much to orchids. I would not say they are easy..Depending on the orchid, if you can provide the conditions it wants: growing medium, light - both quantity and duration, proper temperature range, and adequate watering, you will be rewarded with a very compliant and a happy plant.
One thing for sure: orchids are extremely rewarding - the flowers are so beautiful and long lasting, it is often well worth the effort to do some research and reading on how to grow that particular orchid.

Here are a few of my plants, just to show the variety one can have in Tampa backyard...

fawnridge,gary,olya

Thank you for sharing your knowledge to us, eager students of your expertise.
I'm so impressed, and what a beautiful backyard and pictures of orchids.

Willy

Olga,

Those orchids are great. Your cymbidium looks stunning. I was told by a vanda grower that cymbidiums don't do well in Florida. Obviously they do just fine.

What is the third from the top?

Wow! Thanks for all the great information. I knew that I could count on all of you.

Fawnridge & Olya, What beautiful orchids you have.

I think that I will keep most of mine in pots, for now at least. I get too much cold to keep them out all year long. So far I have - Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, Phalaenopsis, Cattleytonia and one Cymbidium.

Olya,
Is the 5th picture the Cymbidium? That is my newest orchid and I don't know much at all about growing them. Any suggestions? Also, are they hard to grow in Florida? I hope I did not make a mistake in getting it. I could not resist trying it since it was only $10 at Lowes.
Oh, and the lady slipper is very beautiful. You really have a green thumb. I used to live in Minnesota and the state flower is the wild lady slipper. I was fortunate to see some growing wild in a state park once.

I could still use a recomendation for some good books if any of you have a favorite. Also, where do you all get your orchid supplies? I have found that Walmart will not be carrying anymore. Lowes and Home Depot have a very limited supply. I have one more large pot of cattleyas to divide and need to find reasonable cost supplies. I think the pot will have about 15 to 20 divisions! The woman who gave them to my mother really packed them in.

Books. I looked thru my meager collection. I have the 'Fun' book. When I first started I found 'Your First Orchid, A Guide for Beginners' published by the American Orchid Society in West Palm, orchidweb.org, to be quite helpful though only 64 pages. It includes a 'Beginners Library'. But, I think your first stop should be at their website.
Also you should check out the Orchid Forum on GW.
ron

I picked up 6 orchids for $1.00 each off the Lowe's sale rack a month or so ago. They were in decent shape, just that they had quit blooming. One has already bloomed for me.

Thank you, Gabriele

'Your First Orchid, A Guide for Beginners' Ron recommended it pretty good. Any Beginners book is a good idea.
Orchid Encyclopedia is great to have - it is not as useful for culture notes, but great to learn about the diversity, different species and habitats

Online resources are pretty abundant. Often, I will google up images of an orchid I am interested in, to see how people grow it - if you see a lot of beautiful specimens mounted, you know it is a good idea to mount it...
Googling culture notes for specific species is very useful as well

Tampa has two orchid groups meeting. One is Tampa Orchid club (I believe more active) and another Tampabay Orchid Society. Lots of information and advice there!

I get my orchid supplies at local shows or online. Tampa Orchid Club has supply depot during their monthly meetings -great prices for baskets, mounting supplies and potting mediums.

Tampa does get cold and you will have to bring orchids in a few times during the winter. I have a shadehouse covered with plastic during the winter. Last year, when temps dipped below 0 once (32F), a few of my orchids got freeze burn, in a covered shadehouse
Otherwise, orchids are pretty resilient and can withstand low temps. Easily down to 43-45. Anything below that, and I am bringing more cold sensitive in (vandaceous, phal species)

The picture is of a cymbidium, you are right. Cymbidiums are not straightforward in Florida: some with rebloom, while others will never get enough chill hours to initiate the spike (I hear two theories: one is - chill hours during the cooler months, another - temp difference between night and day in summer)
So, with cymbidiums, you need to buy those that are considered "warm growing" or "warm tolerant". If the cymbidium was grown in Florida, it is a good chance it will be a good addition. If the cymbidium was brought in from California, it might never rebloom again (usually, very tall, with huge flowers, sold in Sams club or Publix are from CA)
From my experience, Lowes brings cymbidiums from local growers and they rebloom next year no problem
10 dollars is a great price

I grow my cyms in clay pots. I believe (maybe it is in my head) that plastic pots are too hot for them in summer, and they do not rebloom because of that sometimes.
Good drainage is a must in Florida, due to our rain season

I love cymbidiums. Huge flowers, lots of spikes - what a display!

Minibim,

Wow! Just a $1! I thought I did good when I found them at 1/2 price. I will have to keep checking back.

Olya your photos are gorgeous! I will have to try cymbidiums, they are very showy and have lots of blooms at once..I like that. Are there any good online Florida orchid sellers? Many of the ones I've seen are in Calif.

Does anyone know where there are some good places in FL to buy wood for orchid mounting. It seems like the postage would be high via mail order if they were large pieces.. and are regular hardwoods branches that I let dry out okay to use instead? I've mounted some other epiphytes (staghorns and such) on hard wood boards but not orchids.

I am mainly asking because I want to make a 'tree' of sorts with some type of large branch/es (to mount stuff on) and cement/or plaster it into a large pot to keep on the screened porch most of the year and I could move it inside if I needed to.

Local orchid shows are the best place to get orchids - often, you can find sellers offering bareroot seedlings at a lower price, and many will be good for mounting

Online cymbidiums...I bought a few from a vendor in Hawaii - but the shipping is now making it expensive. I bought a few cyms from Lowes and from Redlands Orchids Show and Sale

Redlands Orchid Show is the best sale event ever. Too many vendors - 40+, fantastic prices, and what a selection. I went once and was overwhelmed!

For a tree, make sure you have all orchids grouped by their light preference. A good idea would be phal species - so they bloom all at different times, but all like lower light. Or encyclias - they are good mounting candidates and prefer stronger light.

For mounting, I like oak limbs or treefern chunks.

From online vendors, I like Oak Hill Gardens - lots of seedlings, will have to wait for blooms, but the selection is great and the prices are right

http://www.oakhillgardens.com/

Exotic Orchids of Maui is great - mainly for their once a year free shipping sale. You buy 50 dollars worth of orchids and the shipping is free. Their orchids are healthy and strong plants

Olya

Olya you are a wealth of information. Thanks for taking the time to answer all that. Oh goody there's lots of oak trees around here to get pieces from. I found one place on ebay that had some smaller to med, grapewood reasonable priced.

I'm glad phals will work. I have a few out in that screenroom now that seem to like it out there. They are what I am most familiar with right now anyways lol.

I will check out the website you listed. The orchid shows sound good, I will def. go to one next spring. I am still learning where things are here in FL .

Gabrielle,
There are usually lots of orchid books at the libraries too. I have been checking out a few diff ones ea time I go. The library here doesn't seem to have all that much stuff but they do have lots of plant books. Yours might be better.

I have to second what Olya has stated. She has the same "Addiction" I have - orchids. I've taken my addiction a step further and started a small business here in south tampa with a website southtampaorchidprofessor.com. Orchids are not necessarily "harder", they are just "different". Join one of the local societies and pick their brains - most will share their knowledge and experience. Go to the orchid nurseries and just walk around and experience the joy. All of the local growers are addicted to orchids as well, they have PASSION for it. Olya has passion, I have passion and now YOU have the passion. Best of luck and enjoy. Here's a few pictures of some of mine too:
TampaArt
Steve

Thanks so much everyone! I am getting lots of information. This is definately feeding my addiction. It is funny how you change the way you look at things. I used to look at orchids as this great mystery plant. Also, I thought they were kind of plain to look at when not in flower. Now I see the potential in a healthy and beautiful plant even when it is not in flower.

Steve,
Thanks for the information. Your site is very helpfull. What is the first picture? It looks kind of like the orchid that I splurged on at the USF Fall Plant Sale - Ctna. Why Not. It is so different I could not resist. I did find that the flowers are not lasting very long. Do you think that I did something wrong? It was in spike when I bought it and only lasted about 2 weeks. They did have it crammed into a 3" pot and it looks like they had to cut roots off to get it in. There is hardly any room for any growing medium. I know that orchids like small pots but this seems extreme. I have planned to repot when it stops blooming. I tried to make sure and be carefull not to over water or under water. Thanks for any help.

Sultry,
Thanks for the reminder about the Library. I used to go often but have not been there for a while. I will check it out.

Olya,
Great information. I have saved the web sites.

Smiling, you've already started to get the "eye" - well done. The orchid in question is partially a "why not".
It is Stlma. Florida Sunset (B. Maria del Carmen X Ctna. Why Not) This is an awesome cross. I've had it a few years and it will not stop blooming, ever! I've wanted to repot this pretty for the past two years but everytime I start thinking of doing it - out comes 10-20 more blooms so... it's happy so I'm happy. I don't think you did anything wrong, it may have been a multitude of reasons it didn't last long - traveling to the show, exposure to different heat/cool ranges, recently repotted (as you have surmised), etc. Take the approach/attitude that it is external and not something "you did wrong". We all do "wrong" but orchid growing is a learning process. I've been exposed to them for over 40+ years (I'm 51 now) and I still have MUCH MUCH more to learn (smiling). Welcome to the Addicted Orchid Society (AOS). Here's another view of Florida sunset.

Steve, beautiful orchids! I still remember the picture of your C bowringiana you posted on the orchid forum - what a specimen!
Olya

Great pics of great plants Olya and Tampaart. Just what I needed tonight. Thanks.

Anna

Steve,

I want it, I want it! Drooling...... It is definately an improvement on the Why Not. I will have to put it on my must have list. The colors are beautiful and it keeps on blooming! Can't ask for more. I had no idea that orchids came in such a variety. Thanks agian for the education.

PS. Do you think you could tell me where I might find it?

Here are few from our garden, all naturalized into various trees:

Gabriele,

I've seen it advertised on Ebay and I'm sure depending upon your location, it's just about anywhere here in Florida. Buy the biggest one you can afford and let it grow - woohooo. One of the things I love about it is the changing color of the flowers; from a beautiful magenta to a cool yellow in three distinct color changes. It's a wonderful orchid (one of my 1000 favorites).

Good luck,

TampaArt
Steve

Here's another EASY one to grow and lasts for months on end. Any guesses (and don't you answer Olya - grinning)

Thanks, I will check out Ebay. The different colors is what I noticed also.

My guess might be some type of Oncidium. Thats the best I can do by the photos in my book. I am sure someone else will know. That is stretching my poor uneducated brain as far as it will go.

Encyclia cochleata, of course.

Anna

This is First Class Enabling with all the Eye Candy here LOL! Tampaart, that Fl Sunset is a beauty-will add that to the 'gotta-have-list'. Enjoyed your website :)

Fawnridge, I love how your orchids look so natural, that first pic is really gorgeous!
~Lenette