One of the nicer things about South Florida is how easy it is to grow just about anything that a Northerner would consider "Exotic".
I am too far south for northern fruit trees. No Apples, Pears, or Cranberries here, I grow Orange, Mango, Lemon, and Banana in my yard.
Too many Banana. They spread. I have three pots of that stuff and if you are nearby...
Anyway, here, just like anywhere, if you go into a big box "hardware" store and look around in their garden section, they have some oddball plants. They taunt you in their little packaging and implore you to take a chance.
And here, those sad little packages are typically Orchids. They hang from hooks on a display with a picture of the flower that they would love to become if you would just adopt them and bring them home.
It worked, we did. And it worked, they grew.
In fact, I have a bit too green of a thumb. I have baskets of orchids hanging all over the back yard from spots under a drip feed irrigation. One of those orchids was a gift from the real estate agent when we bought the house back in 2006.
Come to think of it, most of the plantings in this yard are from cuttings from other plants. I've mentioned before that I have a habit of doing that. My Podocarpus Hedge is all from cuttings, although they grow slowly. I have some hibiscus that the Iguanas actually avoid for some reason and I'm running with that.
Bloom where you are planted, besides nobody wants to live in a pot! (except these plants)
The reality of that is that an Orchid will live from the nutrients that are washed down by the rain into their roots. The soil is Orchid Bark, and the rain and mists that I use to water these beauties will rot the baskets that they live in. About once every six months, I have to remove those plants from their homes, and repot them. Most of the time I end up with more plants than I started with, so there's a constant supply of beauty to enjoy. Just like that little bug on the left bloom is doing there.
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