Can't Be Domesticated

Check out my article in the Idaho Statesman about Idaho’s native orchids! Most folks don’t realize there are 27 orchid species growing wild in Idaho – more than in Hawaii.

For the raffle at the Treasure Valley Orchid Society Show & Sale (Apr. 14-15), I’ve been putting together some gift baskets. Of course, the “Wild Orchids” theme creates the ultimate challenge – it’s not permissible to poach the wild plants and in some cases, even illegal.

What to do? Online, I found some sources of commercially-grown specimens and sent away for them. Some are Western rattlesnake plaintains; others are packets of ladyslipper seeds.

The next challenge is for the winners of these gift baskets: Can they get these wild plants to grow in a domesticated setting?

Good luck with that. After reading the details for growing orchids from seed on orchidseed.com, I see why it's something I’ve never attempted. Preparing and sterilizing nutrient media? Disinfecting the seeds? Gelling agents and replate flasks? A process of 12 to 18 months?

If nothing else, it helped explain why orchid plants can sometimes be expensive to purchase. It might also explain why I’ll include some commercially-grown, already-blooming plants in the baskets, so as not to discourage the “lucky” winners. We all have to start somewhere.