Orchid special

Welcome to the contrary and fascinating world of one of the biggest plant families on Earth. 'Orchids are plants of great contradiction but always astonishing beauty' - says James Armitage, botanist and Editor of The Orchid Review magazine, who shares insight into what draws people to these strange and wonderful plants. 

Historian Abra Lee tells the tale of a young enslaved man in Reunion who solved the riddle of how to pollinate vanilla - the only orchid out of 25,000-plus species that's commercially grown as a food crop. Did you know you can grow orchids as garden plants? Jeff Hutchings of Laneside Hardy Orchids gives tips on how to grow them outdoors - why not make an orchid meadow in your garden this year?

Colin Newlands tells the tortuous tale of our rarest native orchid, the lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus). Thought extinct in the early 20th century: a chance encounter in the 1930s on an isolated hillside led to decades of botanical intrigue - and even personal protection for the plant. We discover how this exquisite wildflower is faring almost a century after its assumed disappearance.

Useful links

• The Orchid Review
• Tips for growing orchids indoors 
• RHS Orchids (book) 
• Laneside Hardy Orchids 
• Orchid Show at RHS Garden Wisley 
• The Wildlife Trusts 
• BSBI maps (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) (for discovering your local native orchid species)

Selected plants mentioned

Hardy orchids: Bletilla, Calanthe, Dactylorhiza, Cypripedium, Pleione

Indoor orchids: Phalaenopsis (moth orchids), Cattleya