Exploring Nature: Orchids

I was given a beautiful purple orchid plant in a plastic pot some 8 years ago. It is still blooming on a regular basis.

In fact, since orchids can grow to be 100, it could easily outlive me. I had no idea such a dainty looking plant could be so tenacious. It’s on a window ledge in my living room and gets the full sunlight through a large 24-paned glass window.

Orchids are one of the most popular houseplants of all time. They are also the largest family of flowering plants, with more than 25,000 documented species in the world — some 200 in the U.S. and 54 in Texas. Most of those in Texas are found in the wet East Texas woodlands, bogs and savannas, but a few also thrive in our Central Texas area.