On Orchids: Musings by a non-expert
I am not an expert in orchids. Nor do I want to be. My husband, Tom, started buying orchids many years ago, mostly from the garden center at the home improvement supply store. He would bring these green friends home, and we would enjoy their company for a while. But neither one of us would do much to care for them. When we left for summer travels, we put the orchids out in the trees and wished them luck. Almost all of them died. Then we moved to a different house, in a different neighborhood. I discovered that the pool cage at the new place is ideal for orchids. This discovery was accidental, since I am not an expert in orchids. Although they look good at first, the orchids from the home improvement store are poorly potted. In the pool cage, the pots collected rainwater because they had no drain holes! The orchids were drowning after every rain. Inside the drainless pots, the orchids were crammed into cheap plastic pots that did have drain holes but were ugly and sur