This is the first of my annual articles on gifts for the orchid enthusiast. I spend several weeks looking through what is available and searching for good products and prices. This year I decided to structure my articles on the basis of price so that you can limit your searching depending upon what you can spend this year, so here are some gifts that are easy on the wallet but still will make your orchid lover happy.

Far and away the best way to surprise your orchid lover is to give them a gift certificate to their favorite vendor. That way you are not guessing what they want or getting something that they don’t need.

As far as decorative items, one of my favorites is orchid switch plates at Miller Concepts. I worked with this vendor and they have put up a page with just orchids to make it easy for you. Something new and different for the year is an orchid wall sticker. Roommates.com has a sticker of a white Phalaenopsis orchid which would perk up any décor and the price is right, too!
One of my favorite vendors, Celebrate Orchids! has a very nice selection of orchid soaps which are truly delightful. Coffee cups from Art Fire are a nice touch to start out the day for only $12.99 each. Our sweepstakes vendor, 1888 Orchids has a nice selection of decorative items, some in this price range.

Orchid growers always like gadgets and supplies to help grow their plants. One of the best things they can use for growing indoors are humidity trays and a great source is Quarter Acre Orchids which has some very nicely priced ones under $25. Carsten’s Orchids has some very useful meters and testers all for under our target price. Check and see if your grower has all of these! One of the newest ways of growing orchids is semi-hydroponics and the first grower to do well with it now sells Semi-Hydroponic Kits for $12.00. This starter kit will get your grower ready with everything to get going. Floral Swirls are lovely decorative stakes to show off orchid flowers. They have only been around a couple of years and are very handy.

You can gift your orchid lover with a membership in many of the local orchid societies for a year for under our price limit, or one of the national groups such as the Orchid Conservation Alliance or Native Orchid Conservation Inc. (NOCI). The latter has an excellent field guide “Orchids of Manitoba” for sale through their site.