You can’t skirt round Paphiopedilum: a lady with royal allure and a seductive lip who attracts quite a few admirers in the wild. Flying insects are tempted with scents and the promise of nectar in the flower. As a houseplant this tropical beauty can cope very well without air-borne visitors. She is one of the easiest orchids to keep: you barely need to think about her.

Styling

Paphiopedilum looks excellent on her own in a pot which matches the leaf or the flower, but also does very well as a group act in terracotta. What looks particularly good with Paphiopedilum are simple earthenware, coarse linen or thick wool and rough wood.

Orchid of the month

Every month we present a new orchid of the month. Want to find out which orchid it will be next month? Take a look at the list.

90% of the orchids in the EU come from NL

90% of all the orchids in Europe come from Dutch greenhouses. A true mega-success.

Not many people realise that Dutch growers are the orchid champions of Europe. Yet that is the case, according to a report from ABN Amro about the plant sector. Every week the growers bring some 1.5 million mature orchids to market, which find their way to the consumer through auctions or contracts. There are now almost 500 football pitches worth of greenhouses filled with plants in the Netherlands.

Propagating orchids is hard work. It takes eight years before a new variety of orchid can be put into production. Most of the plants in the Netherlands are created using ‘meristem culture’. The aim of the propagation is ultimately to achieve the most beautiful high quality plant possible. With wild orchids that is virtually impossible. Their seedlings can contain viruses, and grow in all directions, as it were. You also get varying colours and heights, because the DNA of hundred or thousands of generations is contained within that seed. A lot of newly developed species never make it into large scale production. It really is survival of the fittest.

Why is the orchid plant such a success? It’s a plant which flowers for a long time, requires little care and is not at all expensive. It fits perfectly with the modern, demanding consumer.

Colour of the year for 2014!

On Thursday 5 December Pantone – the global authority in the field of colour – announced the colour for 2014: PANTONE 18-3224 Radiant Orchid, a compelling, magical and mysterious purple inspired by orchids.

A colour which is an invitation to innovation by enhancing creativity,” says Pantone executive director Leatrice Eiseman. “The colour also inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is therefore a great colour in which to live and work, or to wear.”

Every year Pantone identifies the colour of the year which will influence the creative disciplines such as interiors, design, fashion and graphic design for twelve months. The scouts thereby also look at less obvious trend indicators such as art, films which are still in production and popular travel destinations.

How can you use this eye-catching colour in your own interior? Obviously with the aid of a potted orchid, which come in many beautiful shades of purple. Radiant Orchid works wonderfully when used next to olive or darker shades of green, or when you combine it with turquoise, teal or light yellow. Naturally it will liven up a neutral space which contains mainly grey, beige and taupe. One thing is certain: the warm colour and the orchid provide fresh energy and will shine in any interior.

www.pantone.com

From birth to maturity

The search for perfection requires patience. Breeders produce thousands of new hybrids every year. The period from the initial selection to the inclusion of an orchid in the range covers some 8 to 10 years. So it takes a while before a particular orchid variety ends up in the living room!

This year we will follow the orchid from selection through to cultivation into a beautiful mature plant. We would like to use video images to show how the orchid is born and grows into a magnificent houseplant.

The first phase

We start the first phase with the selection, breeding and tissue culture of the small orchid plants before they arrive at the growers for cultivation.

Every year the breeders produce thousands of new plants which are grown to the stage where the plant produces seed. When these flower, a few thousand are chosen for further selection. Clones of each of the varieties are then tested in various locations and for various properties. Ultimately a few dozen of these varieties will be included in the breeder’s range.

The plants are bred into uniform progeny in plant tissue culture laboratories. During the process the plant material passes through various phases. The development of the plant material is monitored closely in the growth chambers. Following the final phase, when the orchid plants develop a tiny root, they are delivered to the nursery where they are potted.

The journey from orchid to skincare product

Cosmetics house Guerlain has its own orchidarium. They grow their own long lasting orchids in order to use their extracts in their Orchidée Impériale cosmetic line.

Orchids: beautiful inside and out
Orchids grow in the wild, in the rainforest, before they end up in your home in a vase. They can grow there to be eighty and still look fresh, due to their high resistance to damaging climate influences and anti-inflammatory characteristics. So, they thought at Guerlain, would that work for our skin as well?

Guerlain’s orchidarium
Guerlain grows in their own orchidarium in Geneve and a nature reserve in TianZi (China) special orchids, which they are studying in the laboratory. It appears after more than 10 years of research that indeed: in the orchid are elements which can reduce the effects of skin ageing and repair the moisture in the skin. What is really great is that Guerlain can take this extract out of the flower and add it to their cosmetics.

Skincare line Orchidée Impériale
The long life of the orchid is taken from the orchidarium, via the laboratory and ends up in your bathroom. The skincare line Orchidée Impériale promises you a skin which is full, firm, smooth and supple, reducing the appearance of wrinkles. You can read more about the Orchidarium on the Guerlain website.

www.guerlain.com

Foto credit: Guerlain.com

Be inspired

Beards have been gracing the male jawline for a while now. They come in many shapes and sizes: the stubble beard and the shadow beard, but also the full and longer beard. Retro barbershops are very popular again in order to care for the latter type. Men have their beards trimmed, washed and combed whilst enjoying a drink and a pampering beard oil.

A ritual has now been added to this in America: full beards are being furnished with magnificent floral creations. Flower power is back! Obviously the Orchid is perfect for this. The wonderful shapes and colours result in surprising creative looks.

Be inspired by the photos below.

From birth to maturity

The search for perfection requires patience. Breeders produce thousands of new hybrids every year. The period from the initial selection to the inclusion of an orchid in the range covers some 8 to 10 years. So it takes a while before a particular orchid variety ends up in the living room!

This year we will follow the orchid from selection through to cultivation into a beautiful mature plant. We would like to use video images to show how the orchid is born and grows into a magnificent houseplant.

Phase 2: potting up and selection in the nursery

After around 25 weeks on average, the baby orchid has grown into a sturdy toddler. The shoots which were a few centimetres long have developed considerably at the nursery. It’s high time to ‘pot them up’ so that they can grow further in a more spacious pot.

The woodchips in the pot are referred to as ‘bark’. They’re chunks of tree bark – preferably hardwood, since the potting medium needs to last a long time. First for nearly eighteen months in the greenhouse, and then longer in the customer’s home.

These pieces of bark are carefully inserted into the pot, and are never pressed down, because an airy medium is important.

This film also shows how the plants appear on a monitor. Every plant passes in front of the camera, which not only looks at the size of the plant, but also the amount of foliage. Plants which are not large or green enough yet need to wait another week or two. Only then will they move to the next greenhouse to grow into an adult plant.

From birth to maturity

The search for perfection requires patience. Breeders produce thousands of new hybrids every year. The period from the initial selection to the inclusion of an orchid in the range covers some 8 to 10 years. So it takes a while before a particular orchid variety ends up in the living room!

This year we will follow the orchid from selection through to cultivation into a beautiful mature plant. We would like to use video images to show how the orchid is born and grows into a magnificent houseplant.

Phase 3: leaf and bud formation

Up to now the orchid has been pampered at a temperature of around 28 degrees centigrade and high humidity up to 90%.

But in order to encourage the formation of buds, the temperature now drops to around nineteen degrees. And the food supply is also adjusted – there’s less of it.

This punishing regime has a clear goal. The plant notices that it’s not doing as well, and nature kicks in. The plant makes sure it has progeny. The young branches – on which the flowers will appear later – shoot upwards. Experts call those ‘pokers’. After about eight weeks they are between 10 and 15 centimetres long.

The men who appear midway through this film are there for a reason. Every crop is slightly different. More or less water? Temperature up or down a tad? Every grower is focused on getting more and larger flowers on a branch.

From birth to maturity

The search for perfection requires patience. Breeders produce thousands of new hybrids every year. The period from the initial selection to the inclusion of an orchid in the range covers some 8 to 10 years. So it takes a while before a particular orchid variety ends up in the living room!

This year we will follow the orchid from selection through to cultivation into a beautiful mature plant. We would like to use video images to show how the orchid is born and grows into a magnificent houseplant.

Phase 4: staking and selection

As the orchids grow, they become top-heavy – which means a greater risk that they will topple over. That is why at this stage they are placed in the ‘cups’, pot and all. This provides extra stability during the remainder of the process.

‘Staking’ is particularly done to protect the branches during shipping. The stakes also ensure that all the flowers grow towards the light in the same direction.

There is no reason why you shouldn’t remove the stakes when you get the plant home if you want to, incidentally.

At this stage the plants go in front of the camera again. This counts the number of branches, buds and flowers. And another strict selection takes place. Towards the end of the film you can see how the plants that have not yet grown enough get a soaking. They are given a refreshing shower of pure rainwater before going back to the growing phase for another week or two.

From birth to maturity

The search for perfection requires patience. Breeders produce thousands of new hybrids every year. The period from the initial selection to the inclusion of an orchid in the range covers some 8 to 10 years. So it takes a while before a particular orchid variety ends up in the living room!

This year we will follow the orchid from selection through to cultivation into a beautiful mature plant. We would like to use video images to show how the orchid is born and grows into a magnificent houseplant.

Phase 5: flowering phase

It seems a bit unfair. The people at the nursery have done their best for more than two years to produce an attractive, sturdy and colourful orchid. And just when the time finally comes, they are sent on their way …

The plants do one more lap of honour on the conveyor belt. It’s a very colourful parade, whereby technology helps to ensure that the right orchid ends up with the right seller.

The plants that are found to be ready for sale can be classified according to all sorts of criteria. By height, for example. They come in 50 cm, but also in 60 and 70 cm.

There is also a classification into five main colours. Then there are the single-branched, the double-branched and even the four-branched. And you can also differentiate according to the number of flowers per branch. One has 3 to 5, another 6 to 8 and you even have the extreme category with 9 flowers or more. All in all, there are nearly 200 variants. But don’t worry. There’s a sorting machine that can tackle the job. As you can see in this film, this results in fascinating pictures of a system that directs every orchid to the right conveyor belt with steely precision. The time for farewell is approaching, but it is a farewell with style and colour!