Sheena Patterson of Oxford Garden Design on the rise in popularity of the once exotic orchid

If you get flowers for Christmas this year, the chances are you’ll get an orchid.

I remember the days when poinsettias were as exotic as Christmas floral decorations got but recently have noticed a remarkable increase in the number of orchids around.

They seem compulsory in every florist, garden centre, and even DIY shop I visit. So why the sudden proliferation?

Once orchids were considered the most difficult of plants, requiring greenhouse conditions and green fingers to make them bloom again.

Collecting orchids was very popular in Victorian times and some varieties fetched a hundred times their current price.

These days the cost madness has gone, making them quite affordable for most people to own a graceful, elegant plant.

While it’s true that there are jungle orchids which require the steamy conditions of a warm greenhouse, there are about 30,000 species and 100,000 hybrid varieties of orchid.

These range from the Arctic to the equator, with flowers as small as a pinhead or as large as a dinner plate.

As you can imagine, they come from a wide range of habitats and each type of orchid has different care requirements. Their incredible diversity also means you can always find another interesting orchid type to grow.

There’s even one called the Christmas Orchid – Angraecum sesquipedale, also called Darwin’s Orchid, or Star of Bethlehem. It is the most magnificent of species and has accumulated so many common names for a reason: people pay attention to them, as the flowers are quite dramatic.

The Latin name sesquipedale means “a foot and a half”, and refers to the length of the flower’s nectar-containing spur. Of all the different varieties, there is one, the Moth, or Phalaenopsis orchid, that is responsible for the recent revolution in popularity.

The reason is its ability to thrive in a centrally heated room where it can flower for months.

The normal high street variety that you may receive as a present this Christmas is really very easy to grow. Daughter number one gave me one for my birthday in August and it’s still flowering at the time of writing.

Frankly, I put this down to neglect. For a plant to grow and bloom satisfactorily, it should have a drop in temperature of at least five degrees centigrade at night. If you pamper it and treat it like a sick invalid it will deteriorate quite quickly. The Moth orchids are capable of spending short periods of time without any water at all and overwatering is the main reason for the death of them.

In the wild they are epiphytes, which means they grow on trees in a constantly moist environment. The surface of the special compost used for orchids dries out very quickly so don’t use it as a guide.

In most cases the top half of the compost should dry out between waterings. If you want to ensure repeat flowers, feed your plant with a special orchid fertiliser every week and make sure it receives enough light.

In my experience, orchids are not the prima donnas of the plant world. Like most of us ladies, if you just give them their basic needs and a little attention now and then you will be rewarded.

Please take note all you men who leave your Christmas shopping until the last minute – an orchid makes a great present... hmmm, I wonder if my husband will read this?

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.