In two decades, Rick and Alexa Noel have gone from buying and killing orchids to maintaining a greenhouse with 750 healthy exotic plants.

        “I've always loved orchids,” Mrs. Noel says. “It's like they speak to my soul.”

        When she was a child, her father occasionally brought home orchids. As young adults, the Noels would bring orchid plants home from Florida vacations and then quickly kill them.

        “When we decided to stop killing, we went to the Krohn Conservatory,” Mrs. Noel said.

        People at the conservatory referred the couple to Joe Deifel, a Springdale man who owned an orchid shop and was active in the local orchid society. Mr. Deifel, now deceased, helped the Noels.

        “He said, "If you really want to know how to do it you need to come to the orchid society and talk to people,”' Mr. Noel said.

        They did. When orchids outgrew their window space, the Noels began growing them under lights in their Roselawn garage. After moving to Symmes Township three years ago, the Noels built a 12-by-18-foot greenhouse in their back yard.

        The greenhouse is under trees because most of the orchids they grow like fairly low light. The greenhouse allows them to control the temperature and the gravel on the floor helps provide a humid environment. They often spray water on the gravel. But when that's not enough humidity, they turn on the misting system.

        “If you are comfortable, the orchids are comfortable,” Mr. Noel says. “They really don't like it to be hot.”

        The Noels also collect rain water in tanks so they can limit the use of tap water because orchids don't like salt. Their system collects rain from the house's downspouts and runs it through a filter. The Noels can store about 400 gallons of water, says Mr. Noel, a chemical engineer.

        Even during the dry summer, the Noels only needed tap water once or twice.

        Benches in the greenhouse hold their ever-growing collection. In the summer and early fall, the Noels also grow orchids on benches in the backyard.

        “Rick basically loves the lady's slippers,” says Mrs. Noel, a teacher. “I love the lady's slippers, too, but I also like catasetums.”

        She describes catasetums as looking like upside down swans in greens, yellows, whites and browns.

        From December through May, the family's orchids put on a colorful show in the greenhouse. The lady's slippers are full of blossoms in February and March.

        But something is almost always blooming. The Noels will display some of their plants at a show this weekend at Krohn Conservatory>.

Orchid advice
        Orchids have varying requirements; it helps to decide what types of orchids you want to grow. “There are 30,000 species and hundreds of thousands of hybrids,“ Rick Noel says. “You're not going to grow all of them, so pick what you want.“

        Learn from others. The Greater Cincinnati Orchid Society meets 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month, except July and August, at the Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati, 2715 Reading Road, Avondale.

        Thousands of orchids will be on display 10 a.m.-5 p.m. today and Sunday at the Krohn Conservatory. Judging is 10 a.m.-noon today, so only the vendor area will be open at that time. There is no admission charge, but donations will be accepted.

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