How to Choose the Perfect Orchid for You

Hi, John Mueller Paradise Palm on the behalf of ExpertVillage.com. Just want to briefly mention how you might want to choose picking out an orchid fresh for a gift or for yourself. We have a lot of orchids here. You want to make sure that whether you're buying an orchid from a grocery store or from a plant store, such as ours, that you pick the orchid correctly. Outside of getting in to very specific detail on which orchid or what specific variety. One thing you want to look for without looking at any specific variety is when you pick out the plant. Ideally it's in a well kept location with bright filtered light. But also, that the plant, such as this phalien opus here, has closed buds still on the spike. It has active spiking and it's still not completely open. We purposely purchase our orchids not open fully so they have greater shelf life here at the store. But also greater shelf life at home. If you buy an orchid for example, that is and we're not finding many in our store here. But if all the flowers are opened, there is no closed bud and it doesn't have an active spike, that's an indication that the plant is going to take or its going to peter out or shorten it's flowering period. It's very critical that, for one it looks healthy, you don't have a tremendous amount of yellow. But also that there is closed bud on the spike. If you do have that, you're going to have a much longer shelf life at home. Whether it's for you or a gift. It'll last a lot longer, up to three months given proper care.