Orchids in Alaska

I have six orchids which I’ve collected over the past three years, some of them bought and some of them obtained through plant trades. I almost killed two of them, one last year and one the year before, but brought those two back and have otherwise managed to keep all six plants generally healthy. Last summer one of them bloomed, twice, an event about which I was quite excited since I never really thought I’d ever be able to get a tropical orchid to bloom in the Aleutian’s sub-Arctic conditions. Well, this winter a second plant, one of my paphs, has bloomed. I actually thought it was simply new leaf growth at first, since the plant’s leaves have a touch of purple when they’re young, but it turned out to be a single, large, voluptuous flower.