The next most popular room in the house for growing plants is the kitchen. Since it is a working area in common use it is natural that the room should be at a comfortable temperature and the steam created by cooking provides a good supply of humidity. However where gas is installed for cooking, as with heating, there may be trouble from the fumes. Unfortunately, because it is a’ working area, space is often limited in the kitchen but a room divider in a combined kitchen/dining room can be turned into a real and interesting feature of the room with a little indoor gardening. Here orchids can be used successfully with other plants to great advantage. Read the rest of this entry »
For many years orchids were considered to be the elite of all greenhouse plants, requiring specially built glasshouses and carefully controlled conditions. This was certainly true in the earliest days of orchid cultivation when knowledge of them was limited and the plants obtained were those which had been imported from the wild. However, several decades of selective breeding have produced a wide variety of hybrids for the potential grower which not only produce larger and more colourful flowers, but will bloom more freely, and, most important of all, will grow happily in a variety of surroundings. These plants have an extremely wide tolerance with requirements which are simple and easy to reproduce almost anywhere. While there can be no doubt that the finest specimens will be achieved in greenhouse conditions where the light, temperature and humidity can be exactly balanced to satisfy their individual needs, the same plants will produce a brave show given similar conditions indoors, although their growth may be slower. Read the rest of this entry »
