25 Types of Orchids for Your Home or Garden
Ready to start growing orchids? These are our favorites!
Yes, we do love our common flowering houseplants like Thanksgiving cactus and African violets! But if you're ready for something a little more interesting and exotic-looking, try your hand at raising orchids. They're typically not any more difficult to grow than other flowering houseplants.
Orchids are one of the largest famiy of flowering plants, with more than 35,000 uncultivated species. They grow on every continent except Antarctica. Their flowers are highly evolved and incredibly showy with blooms that lasts weeks to months.
They're typically divided into two types of orchids: epiphytic, which anchor themselves to other plants or tree limbs and take their nourishment from the air and rain; and terrestrial orchids, which grow in the ground on top of a layer of moss.
Orchids need varying degrees of light. Most prefer bright, indirect light because they grow in protected crooks on tree limbs or on the forest floor. If you don't have a bright east, west, or south-facing window, you may need to invest in an LED grow light.
Orchids also need warm-ish temperatures around 72 to 80 degrees during the day and slightly cooler at night in order to form flowers. Most prefer higher humidity levels (from 40 to 60 percent), which can be hard to achieve inside our heated and cooled homes. To boost humidity, group your orchids around other plants, which will transpire and release water vapor that will be mutually beneficial. Or you can run a small humidifier. No matter what you've read, misting plants doesn't boost humidity levels--that's a common myth.
One more thing to keep in mind is that orchids, like most houseplants, do not like being soggy. Give your orchid a good drink, then don't water again until it feels dry when you poke your finger into the planting medium. If it still feels wet, recheck in another day. For orchids mounted on bark or cork, you'll need to soak the entire slab for 15 minutes when it feels dry, which is usually a few times per week.
More Great Houseplant Ideas:
Arricca Elin SanSone is a freelance writer, editor, and digital content developer. She specializes in lifestyle and interior design content with a focus on gardening. Arricca earned dual bachelor’s degrees summa cum laude in English and classics from Hiram College, as well as an MBA cum laude from Georgia Southern University. Before writing full-time, Arricca studied in Rome, traveled in Europe, and taught school in Asia. With over a decade of experience, Arricca has pitched, researched, and crafted fresh story ideas and content to appeal to national audiences. She has written thousands of articles for print and digital publications such as Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Prevention, House Beautiful, and more. She’s passionate about gardening, baking, reading, and spending time with the people and dogs she loves.
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