A luminescent lilac glow radiates upon them. Humidity clings to the air while the six fans hum in a whir. Day and night, the orchids thrive.

Orchid fanatic John Edwards started his collection of these stunning plants more than 25 years ago, after his wife Winsome gave him an orchid for his birthday.

'I loved it so much that I thought I better have a look on the internet and work out how to look after this plant, and I did and eventually I got some more and different kinds and it grew like that.”

Creative growing
And his passion for this plants certainly has grown, having about 270 orchids to his name.

'You catch this disease where you can't resist gathering more plants, so before long you've got quite a big collection.”

Moreover John's creativity for growing orchids has certainly thrived alongside his collection. Somewhat of a handy man, John has made his own hot cabinet for his tropical orchids.

'It was originally a shop display cabinet that's got two sliding doors on it.”

John says he first saw the idea for having a hot cabinet in an English book he read.

'I thought ‘I'll give it a go here' so it's been evolving over the years. I've done a lot of research on it, on the type of light that you have in there.”

It's well decked out too.

'I've got a humidity maker and its controlled automatically…it's got six computer fans in it that go 24/7.”

The store cabinet made hot cabinet is definitely an eye-catcher.

At night, John opens the cabinet doors so the plants get a bit of a chill, which he says is important.

'Some orchids won't flower unless they have quite a difference between day and night temperatures – maybe five and 10 degrees Celsius differential. Many of them need that drop in temperature too appreciate the flowers to come out.”

In bloom

Waiting for flowers can be a game of patience and threats too, says John.

For two of his orchids of the Bulbophyllum species, John says: 'It took 11 years to get a first flower and then another one in the same genre took nine years to flower – so you need a lot of patience”.

John admits he was over the moon when these orchids finally bloomed.

'The thrill and the joy of finally getting a flower after threatening to give it away or to sell it, or get rid of it, not doing anything…make a few threats – maybe that's what works.”

John is part of Tauranga Orchid Society and recommends other people get into orchids.

'They've got a bit of a reputation for being hard to grow…but I'm looking on Google all the time, researching them and tweaking my culture…if you do that you're going to have good success.”

For more information about Tauranga Orchid Society, visit: https://taurangaorchids.wordpress.com/