You were taken in by one of those e-bay scammers. There's no such thing as a blue orchid of any kind, and especially not a phalenopsis. Orchids don't have the genes for blue, most plants don't. I'm sure it will be white, since a lot of different kinds of white flowers are dyed, and I've seen those dyed phals at Home Depot, too. The seeds are just about microscopic, as someone else said. You'd think they were dust, and they need to be be grown in sterile conditions, on a medium such as agar. Without a hood (used in chemistry to keep air clean) and sterilized flasks and medium, your chance of growing orchids from seed are zero, even if these were really orchid seeds, and I'm sure they aren't. It can take 7-10 years for an orchid to bloom if it's grown from seed, and they are very susceptible to dying from bacteria or mold when young, and need to be flasked for a year or longer in a sterile medium. See why you didn't really get orchid seeds? Don't fall for that black rose scam, either, or the rainbow rose, or blue rose; there's no such thing.

Hey, Tuezday, in case it would be helpful, I constructed a lathe house that folds flat for winter storage in the garage. It's about 75"L x 26"W x 75"H and cuts light by 50%. I built a "double wide," but it would be easy - and less expensive - to make it half the length. You could also make it 36" longer easily. W/ the plexiglass weighted by bricks on the top, you can have overhead rain or not. Whole thing cost about $250 w/ everything from HD. Mine faced E/SE, and the orchids loved it. Caveat: Plants needed intermediate light or low light, not high light. So, that's the summer setting. Inside for winter - Orchid room, intermediate conditions: Living room, cooler temps: Dormant Cycs and Ctsae in cooler living room: Unknown is if the plants in the cooler LR will like the setting. For most of them, this is their first winter there. Last winter, the Ctsae and Cycs made it fine, but the others may turn up their noses. As always, "it will become known." Whitecat8

Various species of orchids are among the most common native plants in some of our local ecosystems. Calypsos by the billions (not millions) and various cypripediums as far as the eye can see. I applaud a posting above that dismisses the hyseria about 'orchids' as endangered, etc. there are 'specific' plants protected in some regions but not 'orchids' everywhere. Some lady slippers are among the easiest of native plants to grow. Some are more difficult. This however is often dependent on the ecology of where one lives...no different than trying to grow any plant. I can transplant a yellow slipper from one area of the garden to another and it doesn't even hiccup. If I try the same with a non native (to our area) slipper such as Cypripedium regina it will take a year to recover....if ever.

I have studied growing in containers quite a bit...and there is a lot of info available under the "container" section, and elsewhere. Some of the contributions from certain gardeners is very good. One of the primary downfalls of many container mixes is: they do not drain well because of the size of medium used in the mix (over-simplification). Have you ever noticed the bottom 2 inches of your pots loads up with "muck"? There are a couple of reasons for that. I actually "custom" mix to eliminate/reduce this common problem (in addition to using a wick). As stated above...you can really empty your bank account buying supplies if you are not careful. Oftentimes, I buy inexpensive (larger quantity) bags of cactus mix to supplement my other ingredients. I am not sure what your ideas/purposes are...but it is a good thing to pay attention to what you are using for a soil mix. It can make or break your whole planting experience. Some folks plant in crap...and then they spend a small fortune on seeds, plants, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, etc....and still fail. I do not mean to rant...but rather help some folks avoid trouble and disappointment. With good intentions...I see people put rocks in the bottom of their containers, use "moisture control" mixes, add native soil to the mix, and do all kinds of stuff that shoot themselves in the foot. Kind of sad. goodluck, and keep asking... PS If you are just temporarily re-potting to a larger pot prior to garden plantout...just save yourself some money/time and use "regular" MG potting mix or like product. Not sure what your plan is. haha