Today is National Orchid Day

This past January I was able to enjoy an incredible Orchid Show at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park - so since today is National Orchid Day, I thought I'd share some interesting facts about these amazing and beautiful flowers. Did you know . . .

• Orchids are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species.
• With good care and regular maintenance, an orchid plant may live for a lifetime — 100 years, or more.
• Orchids thrive in the sunshine — especially indirect sunlight. So, one of the best places to keep your orchid is near a north/south- or east-facing window.
• Certain types of wild orchids are edible and can be used to make tea. 
• Orchids are one of the oldest families of flowering plants.
• Orchids can take up to seven years to bloom once they’ve been germinated.
• An orchid seed pod can contain up to three million seeds.
• The largest orchid weighs several hundred pounds, while the smallest is about the size of a U.S dime.

You will learn more about orchids at this link.

I was amazed and so delighted to see such a wide variety of orchids at the Orchid Show - from very tiny to quite large, and such a rainbow of colors - whites, pinks, purples, reds, oranges, greens, and black - they are all SO beautiful! And the patterns of some of them are very unique and just so lovely.

So, if you have the opportunity to go see orchids, go! You will be so glad you did!