Orchids & Bromeliads in Southwest Florida Homes
Here’s an insider secret: I have a pretty bad track history with orchids. I also leave the bromeliads to the others. There are some wild ones growing out back which I admire and do not touch. My touch usually is the kiss of death or at the very least extreme sickness.
The only orchid I have ever successfully had a hand in growing was a fluke. I sold an Oakmont model in San Remo at Palmira a few years ago and one of the articles the home owner couldn’t fit in their car when they moved was an orchid plant. I picked it up and took it to my ailing mother. She owned several orchids in various states of dying. A few weeks after delivery it was peppered with blossoms. Apparently, two plant killers are like a mathematical equation and cancel each other out.
That was as close as I came to trying to help an orchid. I now admire them from afar, usually in garden departments across Bonita Springs and Estero. Most of the orchids in this article are from The Home Depot in Bonita Springs on Bonita Beach Road.
It was fall and I was looking for some annuals for my front flower beds … curb appeal, you know. I was taking pictures of my usual focus; Hibiscus. A lovely woman at the counter said, “You should go back by the orchids, they’re rather stunning today.” Apparently, she didn’t see the poster with my likeness that read “keep away from orchids”. At any rate, she was right. There really is a great collection of orchids at the Home Depot right now. I promise to stay away from them from now on.
