Orchids for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day will be here shortly and I wanted to give some of you lovers out there a chance to brighten your lady's life, or maybe your own. Don't get me wrong, and I love roses, but sometimes it is more fun to change the rules just a bit or introduce a new tradition.
For those of you who want something new and different, try an orchid.
You really shouldn't be afraid of them, despite the decades of hype that have made us all believe only professional horticulturalists can grow them.
There are more than 25,000 kinds of orchids and they grow in climates as far-reaching as mountaintops and deserts. We always think of them as rain forest plants from exotic places where beautiful girls put them alluringly behind their ears. That is probably a big part of the fascination we have with them.


Orchids


Unlike many houseplants that bloom several times each year, orchids bloom only once, but their blooms last six to eight weeks. If you purchase the correct kind, which you can do if you buy it locally, they will do quite nicely in a south-facing window for the winter and an east window for the summer.Orchids are definitely out there to be purchased, brought home and enjoyed.