April 3 Column: Orchid Show

orchid show

I think orchids are absolutely gorgeous. If you live in the Inland Northwest, don’t miss the upcoming Orchid Show & Sale here in the Spokane. That’s the topic of this week’s video, which you can read in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Celebrate the beauty of orchids with the show and sale at SCC. Or you can read the text of my column underneath my video.

I have seen so many beautiful orchids at their annual shows and also saw some gorgeous ones at the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in Seattle this February. The Spokane Orchid Society’s show will be on April 9 and 10. It’s a great way to see a lot of different genera and species of orchids and also to talk to the members and vendors who can help you choose one that works best for the conditions in your home.

In this week’s video, I discuss the importance of hardening-off any seedlings that you’ve started indoors and explain how it works. Then you get to see how my early-planted lettuce seedlings are doing as well as the leek seedlings, which I’ll be planting in next week’s video. What a treat to actually be planting a few things, right?! I hope you’re enjoying some beautiful spring weather so far and that you’re making headway on your early gardening projects!

Here is my column about the Orchid Show & Sale:

by Susan Mulvihill

In February, I attended the Northwest Flower & Garden Festival in Seattle for the first time in 2 years. All of the show gardens, displays and exhibitors were a sight for this gardener’s sore eyes but it was the Northwest Orchid Society’s exhibit that I was particularly drawn to.

It didn’t hurt that the orchids were planted in and around a gorgeous Hartley Botanic greenhouse but it was the beauty of the flowers that called out to me. Let’s face it, orchids are amazing, exotic and so varied. They exist all over our planet – except in Antarctica and arid deserts – in a wide range of sizes, colors and forms.

Orchids will be celebrated locally at next weekend’s Orchid Show & Sale, which is sponsored by the Spokane Orchid Society. This event, which returns after a two-year absence, will provide the perfect opportunity for attendees to admire them up close and learn about their care. The modest admission fee of $3 is easy on the budget as well.

The show vendors are Botanica, Jolah Orchids, Emerald City Orchids, Ken’s Pottery and Courting Frogs Nursery. There will also be talks and demonstrations on orchid culture and repotting. The schedule will be posted on spokaneorchids.org. Attendees are welcome to bring in any of their plants that need to be repotted.

“The orchids entered into the show will be judged by American Orchid Society judges who have undergone in-depth training,” Spokane Orchid Society president Jim Pearce explained. “It’s really fun because members will tag along with the judges to see what they’re looking at and why one plant is better than another. I tell members that it’s the best training they’ll ever get.”

The orchid displays will be organized by their genera and grouped by similar plants. This allows the judges to compare the plants. It also helps show attendees look at several species within a single genus and see the differences between them.

With over 25,000 species of orchids, it can be challenging to choose one – or two or three – to bring home. Pearce offers sage advice so attendees make the right choice and are successful at growing them.

“First ask yourself what cultural conditions you have at home, then buy an orchid that meets those conditions,” he said. “We all have that tendency to buy the pretty one but it might only last a couple of months, then either die or not bloom again.

“Each orchid has certain cultural needs: they might require high or low light, warmer temperatures, higher humidity, or combinations of these conditions. If a person cannot meet the cultural needs of that orchid, it is doomed to fail. Members of the society and the vendors can match you with the appropriate orchid. All you have to do is ask.”

The Spokane Orchid Society meets in the Manito Park meeting room on the second Wednesday of each month, except in August and December, at 6 p.m. You can also ask questions on their website or on their Facebook group page listed under “Spokane Orchid Society Community.”

Susan Mulvihill is author of “The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook.” She can be reached at Susan@SusansintheGarden.com. Watch this week’s video at youtube.com/susansinthegarden.

ORCHID SHOW & SALE

When: Saturday [April 9] from noon to 6 p.m. and April 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: Spokane Community College Lair, 1810 N. Greene St. There is free parking in the campus lot off of Mission Ave. Parking lots off of Greene St. are inaccessible due to the North-South freeway construction project.

Admission: $3.

More information: spokaneorchids.org