Keeping Grocery Store Orchids

All posts tagged Keeping Grocery Store Orchids

Tomato Can Orchid

Posted by James on April 25, 2014
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , . 6 Comments

Remember when orchids were rare?

……and expensive?

Now every grocery store in America has them. Luckily for all you kind readers, I have a few secrets to make them look like they came from a high-end, fancy floral shop.

“Sort of”

Phalaenopsis are the most popular orchids and come in almost every color under the rainbow. White are the norm……I prefer yellow.

2 Stemed Potted yellow Phalo Orchid

Always choose a plant with firm flowers, and a few buds that haven’t opened yet.

Always Choose an Orchid with Plenty of Unopened Blooms

Nabbed this beauty at Brumley Gardens here in Oak Cliff.

Pretty good price for a two-stemer.

Best Thing About This Orchid is the Price

Start by removing the plant from the store pot, and running it under cool water to throughly wet the roots.

Orchids like to be moist, but not sitting in water.

Before Potting Always Throughly Wet Your Orchid Plant

I then slide the plastic pot into a clean tomato can. I love the way the graphic label matches the flower colors.

Love the whole irreverence of the can too. Use whatever you have; Chinese take-out boxes, baskets, trophies, even paint cans. Anything works for orchids.

Slide the Plastic Pot into a Clean Tomato Can

These little clips are the bane of my existence, functional….but oooh so ugly.

Pull them off quickly….and discard.

Take These Little Clips Off

I also remove the overly dyed green bamboo and replace it with something fresher……like tan bamboo.

I have been known to use chop stix…or even number 2 pencils. You know, when I’m feeling whimsical.

Replace the Bamboo with Something More Interesting

I loosely tie the orchid stem to the bamboo with jute twine. Loosely…VERY loosly, you don’t want to choke the poor guy.

Use Just Twine To Loosely Attach Your Stems to the Bamboo

As a finishing touch, I cover the roots with wet moss. Run the moss under water, squeeze out the excess, and wrap it around the base of the plant….tucking it in.

Cover the Roots With Wet Moss

Here’s a great floral shop secret:

Gently push the flower petals outward. This makes the orchid flowers look…….happier. Careful not to tear the flower.

Gentley Push the Petals to Pop Forward

Now my orchid is ready to go in a nice sunny spot, but not direct sun.

Tomato Can Orchid on the Shelves in the Living Room

Tomato Can Orchids Collage

Way, More, Much Better than the way it arrived at the house……

Maybe once a week, I’ll pop the plant out of the can and run it through water again….moist, but not sitting in water.

You’re welcome……

Grocery Store Orchids

Posted by James on May 1, 2012
Posted in: New Home. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 Comments

I’ve had a lot of people ask me lately how we can afford to have beautiful live orchids in our house.

Simple answer, we buy them at the grocery store…then “Whomp” them up to look like they came from a high-end florist. All those years working for prissy,  I mean NICE, florists has paid off.

Now I have the chance to share a couple of florists secrets with you kind folks.

The big white orchids are Phalaenopsis, or “Moth Orchids”. They are by far the hardest to keep happy at home, and usually only last a few days…maybe a week. Keep them moist ( NOT wet ) and in a bright window to extend their lives. For some unknown reason, the darker the flowers are, the longer the blooms last. I’ve had purple ones that simply refuse to die. If you are buying yours at the grocery store, $15-$25 is a pretty good price, try to buy the ones that have no brown edges, firm – not limp – leaves, and plenty of unblossomed flowers. These will give you the most “bang”.

Just like these beauties that I picked up at Ikea for, get this, $9.99 each. I know, they were so cheap, cheap, cheap that I bought 2.

Keep them in the plastic pots they come in, just hide them in something more attractive. Orchids are really parasites that cling to trees, and do not like to be buried in dirt. Their roots need to breathe, and they will come in just the right mixture of bark and peat to keep the roots moist but not wet. It took some work, but I managed to shove both plastic pots into this lid-less sugar canister that we use for house plants.

Store bought orchids will have plastic buterfly clips or, even worse,  twist ties holding them up on unnaturally green bamboo skewers. Never keep these on….they do NOT look professional.

Instead, I replace the whole architecture with natural looking bamboo and jute twine. If I have 2 orchids in a pot, I build a little frame like this….

Then I stake it in the pot, carefull not to pierce any roots; and tie it together tightly with the jute twine. Just…like…. so…

Next I delicately tie the orchid stems to the framework with the jute. I do this pretty lightly so as not to damage or choke the poor orchid. Don’t touch the flowers, that will make them turn brown too.

I finish the pot off with some peat moss, or better yet…..shiney white pebbles, to hide all the plastic pots inside. I mist them with fresh water every week or so if they are in a bright window ( with indirect sun ), but the humidity of a bathroom will keep them happy for a while.

$20 investment, looks like $150 orchid…pretty simple.

Steal this idea…..