Garden Detective: Dud orchid blooms

DEAR TERUKO: Congratulations! What a wonderful surprise you received, and just as you were about to give up. I asked Richard Heeseler of the Long Island Orchid Society to identify your orchid, and he determined it's a Cattleya Crownfox 'Sweetheart.' That is a cross between Cattleya walkeriana and Cattleya Memoria 'Robert Strait.' Heeseler said it is not typical for your orchid to have gone years without blooming. Almost always, the way the orchid is cared for is to blame, he said. "Most often, it isn't exposed to enough light."

To ensure your Cattleya thrives, provide as much natural sunlight as possible during the winter, and keep it in a partly shady spot during summer, especially if outdoors. They prefer cool, moist air (60-70 degrees, with 40-70 percent humidity), and will grow successfully in fir bark, coconut husk chips, tree fern fiber, gravel, lava rock or sphagnum moss.

DEAR ROB:There really isn't anything to worry about. When warm winter weather tricks bulbs into sprouting early, there's little to no effect in spring. Prolonged warmth occasionally forces premature bud formation and sometimes those buds get killed by freezing weather later in the season, but often they survive just fine. If plants actually bloom early, however, they won't bloom again in spring. To help protect against this, cover bulb beds with three inches of mulch every year right after the first frost.