We're a bit stuck in our ways with orchids. The moth orchid, the phalaenopsis, is a staunch and reliable house plant. Yes, it flowers for four or five months and, yes, it suits the modern, centrally heated way of life - but I'd urge you all to be a bit more adventurous. There are other cool-growing, equally easy, more beautiful and certainly more interesting orchids to grow, and they are becoming much easier to find. I've just walked out of McBean's Orchids in East Sussex with an incredible selection.
Cymbidiums
The first family I went for were the cymbidiums. I'd always thought these - with their vast bulbs, great strap-like leaves, and, in my view, rather rubbery, slightly coarse flowers - were too big for a house plant, but that's all changed. Recent breeding has produced miniature varieties and many of them are fantastic.
Miniature can mean twee, but not in this case. The flowers are spectacular, most of them about 5cm across, with a plant growing to no more than 45cm.
Cymbidiums
The first family I went for were the cymbidiums. I'd always thought these - with their vast bulbs, great strap-like leaves, and, in my view, rather rubbery, slightly coarse flowers - were too big for a house plant, but that's all changed. Recent breeding has produced miniature varieties and many of them are fantastic.
Miniature can mean twee, but not in this case. The flowers are spectacular, most of them about 5cm across, with a plant growing to no more than 45cm.
phalaenopsis, these will fit easily on a window ledge. And that's where Jim Durrant, head horticulturist at McBean's, recommends they grow, either on a cool windowsill (nowhere near a radiator), or in a cool greenhouse (see details overleaf).
As ever, the ones I liked were rich dark crimson or sharp acid green, but there are varieties in almost every pattern and colour except blue. As for named forms, that's not in the main how it works. Each and every nursery tends to breed and create its own seedlings, so unlike with cloned varieties, natural variation takes place. This means that you're buying not so much a named variety as a character and type.
Zygopetalums
The other family I went for were the zygopetalums. These are easy to look after - as easy, if not easier, than the phalaenopsis crew - and have lovely sweet scent, ranging from slightly camphory to gardenia-like, so sniff before you buy.
This group flowers from September onwards, right through the winter. The individual flower spikes don't last as long as a phalaenopsis but they will sometimes produce two flower crops in one year. I loved the flower form of these, which has a soft, less-waxy texture than the cymbidiums and lightly ruffled edges.
The colours were all my favourites - greens, crimson-blacks, deep purples with stipples and splotches on the lips in a strongly contrasting tone.
Slipper orchids
Paphiopedilums (slipper orchids), which have a flower form very similar to our native lady's slipper orchid, are the most exotic of the lot. These need good shading and a warm, humid spot. I've seen them do well in bathrooms.
They are very shy rooting, so little watering is the key. Slipper orchids divide into two groups, the plain-leaved, larger-flowered types and the fascinating mottled-leaved lot (see front), which have extraordinarily intricate flower shapes and colours.
Odontoglossums
The final group for the real plant enthusiast is the odontoglossums. They have a great depth and variation to them: "Real class," says Jim, "and a relaxed grace and beauty." They grow at 12,000ft in the Andes and need lots of shade and a slight chill in the air to thrive.
"Think of walking into a cathedral or a wet milking parlour and that's where they'd like to grow," says Jim. He also showed me a delicate, small-flowered Osmoglossum pulchellum, which you grow in much the same way. Like the zygopetalums, this variety has a lovely scent, which is why it is known as the lily of the valley orchid.
Only 35 years ago, a tropical orchid cost as much as the average weekly wage - "about £400 in current money". Those I bought ranged from £15 to £25, and each and every one will be in flower for at least a month or two.
A note on cymbidiums
It's important to put cymbidiums outside in the summer. They need a good contrast between day and night temperatures in June and July to initiate flower spike formation, which are then produced the following late winter and spring. Without this, your orchid won't bloom.
As ever, the ones I liked were rich dark crimson or sharp acid green, but there are varieties in almost every pattern and colour except blue. As for named forms, that's not in the main how it works. Each and every nursery tends to breed and create its own seedlings, so unlike with cloned varieties, natural variation takes place. This means that you're buying not so much a named variety as a character and type.
Zygopetalums
The other family I went for were the zygopetalums. These are easy to look after - as easy, if not easier, than the phalaenopsis crew - and have lovely sweet scent, ranging from slightly camphory to gardenia-like, so sniff before you buy.
This group flowers from September onwards, right through the winter. The individual flower spikes don't last as long as a phalaenopsis but they will sometimes produce two flower crops in one year. I loved the flower form of these, which has a soft, less-waxy texture than the cymbidiums and lightly ruffled edges.
The colours were all my favourites - greens, crimson-blacks, deep purples with stipples and splotches on the lips in a strongly contrasting tone.
Slipper orchids
Paphiopedilums (slipper orchids), which have a flower form very similar to our native lady's slipper orchid, are the most exotic of the lot. These need good shading and a warm, humid spot. I've seen them do well in bathrooms.
They are very shy rooting, so little watering is the key. Slipper orchids divide into two groups, the plain-leaved, larger-flowered types and the fascinating mottled-leaved lot (see front), which have extraordinarily intricate flower shapes and colours.
Odontoglossums
The final group for the real plant enthusiast is the odontoglossums. They have a great depth and variation to them: "Real class," says Jim, "and a relaxed grace and beauty." They grow at 12,000ft in the Andes and need lots of shade and a slight chill in the air to thrive.
"Think of walking into a cathedral or a wet milking parlour and that's where they'd like to grow," says Jim. He also showed me a delicate, small-flowered Osmoglossum pulchellum, which you grow in much the same way. Like the zygopetalums, this variety has a lovely scent, which is why it is known as the lily of the valley orchid.
Only 35 years ago, a tropical orchid cost as much as the average weekly wage - "about £400 in current money". Those I bought ranged from £15 to £25, and each and every one will be in flower for at least a month or two.
A note on cymbidiums
It's important to put cymbidiums outside in the summer. They need a good contrast between day and night temperatures in June and July to initiate flower spike formation, which are then produced the following late winter and spring. Without this, your orchid won't bloom.
How to grow
Water only when the pots are properly dried out and give them very little food.
Water with rain water. Tap water is too salty.
Their ideal temperature is 14C in the day and 10C at night.
To increase humidity, fill a saucer with pebbles and water, then put an upturned saucer on the pebbles and stand the orchid pot on top.
Cymbidiums, zygopetalums and most other cool-climate orchids prefer dappled light to bright sun.
Reader offer
Telegraph Gardening readers can buy one slipper orchid for only £19.99 or one cymbidium for £20.99. Plants are supplied in 11cm and 12cm pots respectively. Dispatched from February 2008. All orders acknowledged, advising dispatch date.
Send orders to: Telegraph Garden, Dept. TE665, PO Box 99, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2SN. Make cheques/postal orders out to Telegraph Garden, or phone 0844 573 6015 for credit/debit-card orders, quoting ref. TE665. Delivery to all UK addresses.
Water only when the pots are properly dried out and give them very little food.
Water with rain water. Tap water is too salty.
Their ideal temperature is 14C in the day and 10C at night.
To increase humidity, fill a saucer with pebbles and water, then put an upturned saucer on the pebbles and stand the orchid pot on top.
Cymbidiums, zygopetalums and most other cool-climate orchids prefer dappled light to bright sun.
Reader offer
Telegraph Gardening readers can buy one slipper orchid for only £19.99 or one cymbidium for £20.99. Plants are supplied in 11cm and 12cm pots respectively. Dispatched from February 2008. All orders acknowledged, advising dispatch date.
Send orders to: Telegraph Garden, Dept. TE665, PO Box 99, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 2SN. Make cheques/postal orders out to Telegraph Garden, or phone 0844 573 6015 for credit/debit-card orders, quoting ref. TE665. Delivery to all UK addresses.
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