Here are two Massachusetts growers: http://www.aandporchids.com/ http://www.historicnewengland.org/visit/homes/lyman_estate_greenhouses.htm Both of these are in Massachusetts. A&P is south of Boston. The Lyman Estate is an interesting visit and is only about a 30 minute ride west of Boston in Waltham. They have an interesting display of orchids that are for sale. Everthing I've purchased there has grown magnificently. Good Luck.

Unfortunately you've got several hurdles to contend with to grow Cattleyas in the home up there. The species tend to be pickier about specific conditions, some more than others, but even among the hybrids, you'll have to be pretty selective to find ones that will grow well without herculean efforts. Mini-catts, which are targeted in no small part to home/windowsill growers, are probably your safest bet in that family. 55-60F is OK-good for a night time minimum for many Cattleyas, but much too cool a daytime temperature. Orchids generally require a pretty big day/night differential to grow well and in some cases, flower at all. Cattleyas as an over-generalized group tend, unfortunately, to fall into this category. I do think you'll need some kind of supplemental lighting, especially for the several months per year when you'll have barely any daylight at all, and what there is, will be weak. As for the kind of lighting you'd need, I tend to think you'd need an HID for full-sized plants, but you could grow compact/miniatures under fluorescents. You'll probably also need to do something about raising the humidity around your plants - with cool indoor and frigid outdoor temps, I'm guessing it gets awfully dry indoors up there during the winter.

Hello cutterpup, It sounds like the tropical sundews are about right for the height and non-dormancy requirements. Drosera spatulata, Drosera adelae, Drosera prolifera, and Drosera alicia are some of the sundews that are easy growers and about 3-4 inches in rosette or height at the most. Some of the Butterworts might be worth a try as most grow low rosettes and some, like the Mexican species, grow year round and produce beautiful flowers. Cephalotus follicularis might be worth a try even though it is considered a semi-temperate as it would enjoy the temperatures you can provide and will only rest for a short time in winder, not go completely dormant. If you can get more space, a Nepenthes would eventually be worth a try as they are large beautiful plants, some liking a drop in night temperatures as well. Nepenthes can be slow growing, so if you get one that is only a few inches tall, it might take a couple of years to grow too large for your setup. They eventually vine out and some species have been reported growing out to 20-30 feet across the ground or up trees in the wild though you can clip and trim them, producing cuttings to make more plants. My Nepenthes sanguinea was about 3 inches tall when I received it, producing 2 1/2 inch pitchers. Now, only 4 months later, it is still only about 4 inches tall and producing 4 inch pitchers.

Try a posting again for more comments. Also look into Wisconin and Minnesota based growers. I assisted many people get started growing in 80's there and so it might be experiences there. As my work required me to focus on other R&D projects, Shiitake was taking off via Ag Extension Agents across the USA. Our lab used to send out 50 to hundreds of copies of a Forest Products Journal paper articke that we had on hand to help supply handout materials for workshops. By the time I switched projects we had fielded > 50,000 reprint requests. Humbling! I think there is now a free link posted for it now, along with the starting US Ag Agent contacts at that time, listed by state. I'm also seeing warm climate Hawaiian extension newspaper clippings over the last decade talking about similar cultivation workshops there. Shiitake Cultivation keeps being "rediscovered" in ever new locations. Why not? Tasty, valuable, has a local skills barrier helping protect from new competitors, snd healthy. Fungi Perfecti near Olympia and Shelton, WA is a great source of experience for Shiitake and other non-compost (direct converter) mushrooms. I've now migrated back from WI to WA now, using recruiting to finally get back home. But would much enjoy the chance to get back into the practical lab end of fungal cultivation. Know anyone in the greater Seattle/Tacoma area looking to scale up ANY commercially viable fungus? With my micobial, plant, and (bio)chemical training and hobby experience, large hydroponics, orchid seed and plant tissue culture labs are other viable options.