Orchid fever

J erry Weibel is a textbook example of how to catch orchid fever.

A gift of a single orchid a few years ago has morphed into a full-blown orchid-growing hobby for the Everett resident.

Jerry Weibel of Everett got hooked on orchids a few years ago when someone gave him one as a gift.

Attracted by their beauty, intrigued by the challenge of growing these exotic plants at home, Weibel began studying orchids, working as a volunteer with a grower, and going to orchid shows to learn more and to buy plants.

When his collection outgrew a spare bedroom, he built an 8-by-16-foot climate controlled greenhouse in the side yard, and created an orchid “nursery” with fluorescent lights and a skylight in the laundry room.

Today he has an estimated 300 to 400 plants, from some as tiny as a finger to plants as big as small shrubs.

“This is an obsession with him,” said his wife, Cheryl. “It’s really like an illness,” she said with a tolerant smile.

His only regret?

“I wish I would have started earlier,” said Weibel, a retired electrical engineer with an affable manner.

Frequently, it only takes that first plant to get a grower hooked.

For Weibel, the appeal was a combination of his love of plants and a scientific mind. Orchids are beautiful, and there’s an intellectual challenge in working out how to make them grow and bloom. His greenhouse operation includes two separate growing areas, a heater, fans (orchids like constant air movement) and a sink, among the accessories.

He’s knowledgeable about temperature variables, light requirements, growing mediums and fertilizers, and can spend several hours a day tending to plants, watering each by hand, checking for bugs (a constant battle), repotting plants and watching for spikes, the arching shoots from which the flowers emerge.

“It’s fun to see things happen,” Weibel said.

In all, Weibel says he has about $5,000 invested in the greenhouse operation, which he built from a kit and placed on a foundation to gain a 10-foot ceiling to make room for hanging orchids.

He’s not alone in his passion.

Orchid growing, once considered an elite hobby, has exploded as a gardening interest in recent years.

“They are not a novelty anymore, they are a daily experience,” said Mark Bamber, a commercial grower who has thousands of orchids at his vast greenhouse complex on Camano Island.

These days blooming orchids, most often the regal phalenopsis, are readily available at Costco, Trader Joe’s and other stores, where people can take them home, enjoy them, and throw them out once the flowers are spent.

Bamber is no fan of these plants, which are grown outside the Northwest and come with no operating instructions, he said.

“If you just want to see the white-bread variety, you have no clue about the world of miniatures, exotics, the things that grow in hanging baskets,” he said.

Grow an orchid with a purple flower the size of your hand and you’ve gone beyond the ordinary.

Variety is a major appeal of orchids. There are more than 30,000 species and countless more hybrids, growing in a rainbow of colors and a kaleidoscope of shapes and sizes.

Weibel grows miltonias, showy plants known as “pansy orchids” because of the distinctive shape and markings on the flower.

Masdevallias, which come in a variety of colors and are compact, are another favorite. “I like their color and shape,” Weibel said.

But the fragrant stanhopea ranks at the top of his list, and is proof that orchid growers need both patience and optimism.

“It takes a year to get them to bloom and the flowers last two days,” Weibel said. But the wait is worth it, he said. “They are such a unique and wonderful flower.”

One of the best opportunities to see the amazing variety of orchids is the Northwest Orchid Society’s annual show and sale this weekend’ at Seattle Center. The huge event will feature orchid vendors, orchid society displays and how-to programs.

You don’t need a fancy or expensive greenhouse operation to grow orchids; many will flourish on a windowsill or under a fluorescent light.

George Grantham, an orchid grower for about 25 years who lives in Shoreline, grows plants inside a large sun porch at his home. He took a tubular-frame structure made to garage cars and turned it into an outdoor growing area for about $400.

Like others, he encourages first-timers to read and ask a lot of questions in order to master the basics

“Some of it is trial and error,” he said.

But when an orchid bursts into bloom, it’s a thrill, he said.

Expect some disasters along the way, orchid growers caution. Too much water. Not enough water. Sunburn. Temperature too hot or too cold. Bugs. There’s always a threat.

“Killing an orchid is not a problem,” Weibel said with a laugh.

Reporter Mike Murray: 425-339-3424 or murray@ heraldnet.com.