DeVona,

Thank you for all these good reasons to not dread the too large collection.
Since I am an orchid addict, as already mentioned, I probably couldn't stop
or slow down anyway, but it's good to now have more reasons for why that's a
good thing. :-)

A few reactions to your points:

Since I have not had a single orchid die on me yet, I know that I am likely
to be heartbroken (or at least pretty sad) when one does. I still remember
being extremely disturbed over the first broken Phal spike, and now when a
spike breaks I am just a bit annoyed.

I have two plants that should have bloomed for me but did not, but I don't
mind so much since they are not my favorites anyway (although come to think
of it, maybe they are not among my favorites because they haven't
rebloomed -- whatever is in bloom or spike and is doing better than expected
tends to be a favorite).

I already have enough plants to have "something" in bloom at all times,
though if I had not acquired more plants I would have had only one orchid in
bloom in June and July -- and surely one blooming orchid wouldn't be enough
for me any more.

Ah yes, the trading would be fun for me, although I am already actively
promoting the habit in others by buying orchids as presents a lot, and
introducing others to the hobby. It's fun, and none of the orchids that I
buy for others "count", and still I get the enjoyment of acquiring the
plant, and maybe having it around for at least a few hours or a few days
before handing it over to the gift recipient.

By the way I really liked your idea of the jungle home office in your Who We
Are post. Sounds great!

Joanna



"dd" wrote in message
...
When I had 30 plants, I knew each plant and its history without having
to read the tag or consult my database. Now I have more than 100
plants, and for most plants, I need to consult the tag. One
out-of-bloom Phal looks pretty much like another, unless it's a
Schilleriana.

There are, however, some good things about having a lot of plants: (1)
You aren't heartbroken when one dies because there are so many other
left to fuss over. (2) If a plant doesn't bloom, it's not a big deal,
and you don't feel like a failure--you can just put it aside and hope
it does something next season. For example, my Bl. Yellow Bird didn't
bloom at all last year, but right now, she has 15 blooms open, so I got
all the delight without much of the "Why aren't you blooming?" anguish.
(3) If you have a lot of plants, you ALWAYS have something in bloom
that you can set on the dinner table or show off to guests. (4) If you
have a lot of plants, you can trade plants with other orchid addicts
and expand your collection, and during the process, you might find what
orchid species or family is most ideally suited to your growing
environment--and get rid of those that are not so ideally suited
without guilt.

I've thought about how wonderful it would be to have a greenhouse, but
I'm not sure that I'd actually *enjoy* having 1000 plants any more than
I enjoy having 130 plants. In summer, when I do a LOT of outdoor
gardening, I'd probably feel stressed. So, time is a factor as well as
joy.

So, how many plants are enough? I think I probably have too many plants
now, especially considering that the ones I have are getting larger and
taking up more real estate. I'd like to cut back to about 80 plants,
eliminating those plants that don't absolutely make my heart sing or
that are not flourishing. Most of the Dedrobiums and Oncidiums could
go, and about a third of the Phals--how many white phals does a person
need?


In article 43Xwd.308$1U6.157@trnddc09, J Fortuna
wrote:

This post was inspired by Dave Gillingham's moving story in the Who We
Are
thread (which by the way I continue to enjoy immensely, and am very glad
to
read each new post there).

Dave's story makes me wonder what the cutoff point is for when a
collection
becomes to large to rejoice over every individual plant's new leaf, new
root, and new spike. My collection currently consists of 31 orchids, and
I
still watch every one carefully and rejoice over each activity of each
plant.

I know that Claude also does that, and I have the impression that
Claude's
collection is somewhat larger than mine, though I'm not sure about that.
I
checked Claude's post in Who We Are as well as Claude's Web site, but I
did
not see the total number of plants in your collection, Claude?

Anyway, it appears that somewhere between 31 plants (my current number)
and
about 200 (Dave's current number) one can no longer keep track of each
as an
individual and rejoice in each one. I wonder what the cutoff number is?
Of
course, I know that this cutoff will vary somewhat based on the
individual's
determination and the amount of time available to spend with plants and
maybe some other variables, but: What is the largest number of orchids
in a
collection that a single human being can report keeping track of in an
individualized way, rejoicing over each one's activity?

This is not just a rhetorical question. I really want to know. And then
I
will try not to exceed that number if at all possible. Well, probably it
will not be possible since I am an orchid addict and I feel the craving
for
new orchids at most a month after the last orchid was bought. But I
might
try to postpone the inevitable if I know that exceeding x amount will
lead
to a dire consequence such as the de-indivualization of individual
orchids.

Joanna