Three or four times a year I am invited to speak about orchids at local garden clubs. When I take my blooming plants to show, I hear the inevitable oooh's and aaah's. And then there come the equally inevitable comments: "I've tried and tried to grow orchids, but I just kill them." "I have an orchid that grows and grows but never blooms." For the most part, the members of these clubs are eager to learn about orchid culture. Many of them have been to our local society shows and have bought plants fromthe vendors - only to have them die after the blooms fade. Therefore, I have developed a simple "system" for teaching them about basic orchid culture that I think is worth sharing for HGA members who may be new to the hobby. In olden times it was thought that all things consisted of four basic elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. So I took these four elements and applied them to orchid culture as outlined below.
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