FROM ALABAMA TO ALASKA 
Orchids can be grown in any city in the 
United States. If you live in the North and 
your home is heated in the winter you can grow 
Orchids. Generally speaking, Cattleya Orchids 
do well at temperatures comfortable to the 
human body, altho they can take lower or higher 
temperatures when necessary. In the winter I 
recommend a low of 60 in the home with a high 
of 75. In the summer, they can easily take the 
highest temperatures, since by heredity they are 
all jungle plants. 
It takes absolute freezing, 32 degrees, to 
kill an Orchid plant. I have exposed thousands 
of plants to 36 degrees without harm to the 
plants. If the plant is in bloom a temperature 
lower than 55 degrees may wither the flowers. 
At 45 degrees the tender buds will wither if the 
plant is getting ready to bloom. At low tem- 
peratures plants will go dormant, and as soon as 
heat is given they will begin to grow rapidly 
again. Orchids seem to like a short cool spell 
and chance to rest and do not appear the worse 
for it. They catch up quickly with speedier 
growth after a short rest. 
BANISH YOUR DOUBTS! 
Most people interested in growing Orchids 
approach it with too much anxiety and apprehen- 
sion. An Orchid is actually easier to grow than 
most house plants. It is simply that they grow 
under conditions that are not familiar to the 
average person. Once you learn the conditions 
that they grow under you will find them easier 
to grow than most things. 
Cattleya Orchids, for example, grow without 
soil. They are grown in a _ special fibrous 
material called Osmunda or Osmundine. This 
material is the root of a tropical fern found in 
the Florida Everglades, Australia, Hawaii, and 
a few other places. When this material was dis- 
covered the growing of Orchids on a large scale 
in a greenhouse or home became a_ practical 
reality. Heretofore, the potting medium had 
been the greatest problem. 
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