In the April edition of my Garden Ramble I introduced you to my cousin Patrick Lindsay who lives in Hexham and is well known in the orchid world for his growing and breeding of Phalaenopsis.

I am pleased to say that I have persuaded him to impart some of his knowledge and experiences by writing for this May edition of the Garden Ramble. I am sure you will know quite a bit more about orchids after you have read it.

I have three greenhouses because two are for warm growing orchids like phalaenopsis, while the far one on the photo is for a range of plants mostly belonging to my wife.

I do have a collection of haworthias, a type of succulent grown for the shape and colour of the foliage, also 28 masdevallias, a cool growing orchid. As a specialist phalaenopsis grower, the greenhouse has to be adapted to their specific needs. Heating is provided by a gas boiler and radiators, just like a house. Triple insulation prevents heat loss and provides shade, a thermostat controls the day and night temperature, with an alarm which goes off in the house if the temperature drops below 56 Fahrenheit. However all this is totally unnecessary in the house where 'phals' as they are referred to, can be grown very successfully on a windowsill not in direct sun, or the bathroom. In fact many orchids can be grown this way, and there are plenty of books on the subject, for example, Growing Windowsill Orchids by Philip Seaton. This booklet names many orchids which are only available through specialist dealers, which only the enthusiast will go to the trouble and expense to obtain. However the phalaenopsis can be obtained at supermarkets and garden centres often at a very reasonable price, sometimes bargains down to 3 pounds but on average 12 pounds or so. These plants with spikes of flowers lasting several months are easy to grow and if looked after will last for years. Only incorrect watering and cold will kill them prematurely, so a night temperature of 60 Fahrenheit is ideal, 55 Fahrenheit is tolerable, but not for days at a time. It is also not wise to leave them on the windowsill in winter then draw the curtains !

As I have made several crosses using stud plants obtained by my friend Ron Leong, who sows the pod and raises the seedlings in flasks for me to grow on, once these grow into plants and flower, which takes several years, if the cross has not been done by anyone else, it can be registered by the RHS and given a name of my choice. According to the registrar, only six people in the UK have registered their own crosses, which are published in the various orchid magazines. The RHS also judges plants submitted for an award, and I was pleasantly surprised when a plant of mine was awarded an AM {photo} I had bought the plant from a dealer in previous years and had grown it up to eventually produce the outstanding spike of flowers as in the photo. There was a similar plant of the same cross awarded in America. For people who get hooked on phals, and would like to delve further into orchids, I advise joining an orchid society in your area, which is Cheshire and North Wales Orchid Society which meet at St Mary's Church Hall, Handbridge, Chester. Not at the at the time I am writing this though due to the lockdown.

Chris who runs the Darlington Orchid Society, whose meetings I do not go to as it is too far, comes and collects plants for shows. He saw the Super Idol plant, and insisted I put it in for an award. He did all the donkey work! It got an Award of Merit which is rare for a hybrid phal, as they are pretty mean with hybrid phals. I think it was 9 for and 3 against, or 8 and 4, I forget. Anyway, all Award of Merit plant flowers, are recorded with a life size painting by Deborah Lambkin, any other flower of the same type of cross has to be better to get an award. For a fee anyone can have a painting of their award, and gets a painting of a single flower, not the whole plant. My daughter Katherine and my wife Jean said they would buy a painting for my birthday. So Chris told Deborah to do it, and she forgot. I kept asking Chris about it, and in the end he approached Deborah, explaining it was in remembrance for daughter Heather. Deborah was so sorry that she had forgotten, she did the whole plant with a flower and had it framed, and would not charge me for it. I could not have that, so I sent her some turnings which she was overjoyed with.

Some crosses are not worth registering as they may turn out rubbish. Even some good crosses may not be registered, like Dou-Dii Rose X Brother Pirate King.
One of my crosses had this anomaly, Julian the registrar named it for the record as Surprising Peacock. So Surprising Peacock X Shia Ching Focus = Indigo Rose Fletcher.
It's only a tenner to register, and a certificate is issued which of course can be framed.

Also of course the cross is printed in the various orchid magazines. Taiwan usually has loads. There is a register on the Internet, so possible to check if a plant supplied by a dealer is registered, or just a made up name for the sale. It's usually a made up name !

Plants in the garden centres are not named correctly or not at all, however I can recognise various clones, and can say, well that's definitely a so and so. As you can imagine plants are all meristems. If a special breeding plant has been stem propagated by the owner, the only way to get a perfect duplicate of a hybrid, then the cost can be hundreds. You also have to be well in the know, as a business can then meristem that plant and flood the market. On Ron's website - Millennium Orchids, the dark one on the front is Nancy Newcombe, many people wanted to buy it ! Also Ron's pillar box reds, but he won't part with any, I grew most of them up from seedlings, as he says in the article.

To sum up, I advise starting with a garden or supermarket phal plant. If you succeed with that and fancy trying other orchids suitable for windowsill growing, don't hesitate, orchids are far more resilient than people realise, and they can adapt to conditions presented to them within reason. So have a go, and good luck.