As a plant lover, you’ve probably noticed the blue orchid before. Perhaps you wondered then how you get blue orchids. You come across orchids in countless colors and patterns, but blue is a bit less common. The mysterious and rare shade makes the orchid’s flowers a striking sight. In this blog, we tell you how blue orchids get their color and whether they also grow in nature.
Do blue orchids also grow in nature?
Naturally, orchids grow in the wild as epiphytes, getting their nutrients from water, air, and light. When you go looking for blue orchids in nature, you won’t find them. This is because blue orchids do not grow in the wild. But how is it possible that you’ve spotted the blue orchid in the shop?
How to color orchids?
Now that we know blue orchids don’t grow naturally in the wild, we’ll tell you the techniques used to create this color. Orchid growers and breeders use a special and safe liquid to create a blue color in the orchid’s flowers. This is done in various ways, such as dyeing or injecting the orchid’s flower spike.
How do you get a blue orchid by dyeing?
How you get a blue orchid is by using an existing orchid with white flowers as a base. As a first technique, the orchid flowers were sprayed with a blue liquid. Because of this, the flowers that were still in the bud were not sprayed and came out as white flowers.
How do you get a blue orchid by injecting?
Because spraying the orchid flowers didn’t work perfectly, a new technique was sought to get all the orchid flowers blue, namely injecting. The (harmless) dye in the injection is injected through the flower spike, so that all flowers already in bloom or still in the buds turn blue.
After flowering, the dye or paint has worn off and the blue orchid will bloom again in its original flower color.
Do you want to buy a blue orchid? At Kolibri Company, we only grow orchids with their natural color. Our assortment manager selects beautiful varieties to add to our range, and we have numerous colors, patterns, and shapes in our nursery. Are you looking for our orchids? Then take a look at our special orchids or yellow orchids.