Ever buy an orchid just for its foliage?

[EMos]

Thanks Ron for the above pics, I particularly like D. manii which reminds me of some kind of fern.

As for myself, there are so many things that I like in orchids besides flowers, that it's hard to restrict myself to leaves. I'm particularly fascinated by roots as much as by pseudobulbs and the structure of the whole plant. Roots and pseudobulb are more of a fascination because they are characteristic of orchids, while the leaves add to the aesthetic of the plant. To stay on the leaf level, I like paphs with mottled foliage, and phals that have unusual leaf pattern or colouring, like phal. stuartiana and schileriana. I also like the hybrids that develop more red pigmentation or have a silvery sheen as opposed to plain green ones.

[Joyday]

I only would buy orchid that I do like even when it`s not in bloom, I just mentoned it in one thread, and then sow this poll. Example, I love Cymbidium flowers,but I don`t like their leaves, so I would keep it only if I hade a greenhouse, that way it wouldn`t be in my house all the time, only when it flowers.

[Orchidzrule]

I didn't see this thread until today. I picked "Not very often, but..."

I have a Cyclopogon that I absolutely had to have because of its foliage. It promptly put up a spike within a week of my bringing it home, then another & another and now there are 5 for sure. These flowers are nothing to write home about and probably would defeat my attempts at photographing them. With the possible exception of my increasing paph collection, none of my orchids were picked because I prized the foliage, but as some of you have already pointed out, a plant with really vigorous and vital looking foliage will definitely draw my attention.

Oh, I mentioned Paphs. If I were ever to buy a bellatulum, it would definitely be for the attractive foliage, as I hate the flower. (I like many bellatulum crosses, but not the species.) And unlike Susan, I love Maudiae type flowers! I agree they are all quite similar, but the slight individual variations definitely do it for me. And they have among the best foliage in orchids.

Cheers,
Rob

[Arkic]

I buy most of my orchids reduced in the local garden centre (they are rather expensive here otherwise) and often they're the ones that have already wilted, so I choose by how healthy I think the leaves and the roots are (in fact they usually are only reduced because they've stopped blooming and are resting - so I reckon it's a really good deal). so yeah, I buy them for their foliage all the time.

[tcatl]

Never been much of a flower fan. Became captivated when I saw baby phals in spag in an aquarium at the greenhouse at my school. Loved the round, thick, dark green leaves. Was told takes 7 years for them to flower, and wanted some right away! Finally broke down and bought some large ones with no flowers, and still love the look of the leaves. The blooms don't last all that long really, so I can feel proud when they are happy enough to bloom, and there are no hard feelings when the blossoms die off.

[cakedaddy]

I won't ever buy a plant simply because it has a beautiful flower. True, many orchids are "ugly" when not in bloom, but I tend to look past the superficial appearance of individual leaves and see the architecture in the plant itself...in that respect, most of them are astonishingly gorgeous.

[siaogu]

yeah i love some foliage too - Dendrobium leonis, Bulbophyllum reticulatum, Bulbophyllum becarrii, ludisia discolor....(can anyone find a Corybas?)
and of course some non-foliage - Chiloschista, Taeniophyllums,

[ajamarie]

my partner, who is not in too orchids, went with me to a show recently and bought not one but two Vans...while I was off looking at other things after he reminded me we were there for the show not to buy, because he fell in love with the wild roots...i do not grow them as I do not have enough light, he talked for 45 mins to the vendor, he has a corner office that also has a sky light...he is crazy about them...we go in one day a weekend to mist (on top of the care he does daily)...they and the office greyhound are the highlights of visitors to his work place they have yet to bloom, it has only been 3 months...and he i think could care less, the flowers are an after thought for him...though they are both in spike...and he called me almost giddy when he found them

[Bob]

My latest purchase - Pearcei 'Green Goddess' (x sib). Beautiful flower but lovely, long, thin, grass-like leaves to go with it. One of the prettiest Orchid plants I've ever seen.

[leafmite]

The interesting foliage is what started my orchid collecting. I can't imagine anyone buys Angraecum distichum for the flowers! There is so much variety!
Leafmite
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