Overpriced Orchids in Park Slope

A couple weeks ago, I bought a lovely red NOID Phal from the Home Depot in Gowanus or Red Hook or whatever you call that area. The other day when I was watering the orchid, I noticed that it had a strong scent, kind of rose-like. Bonus! I am a little surprised I didn’t notice the scent immediately, but I guess the industrial stink from Hamilton Avenue kind of overpowered the flowers’ fragrance. Anyhoo, this orchid is doing quite well so far:

Crappy iPhone pic

So just the other night, I was walking home and passed by a local small garden shop which shall remain nameless. Some red orchids on the counter near the front window caught my eye, and I realized that they were potted in the same white decorative pot as my HD orchid. I figured they must have gotten the orchids from the same grower as HD and was curious as to how much they are charging for them. This afternoon I took a walk and stopped in the store along the way.

The store is charging $75 for these orchids. You read that right: SEVENTY-FIVE EFFING BUCKAROOS. I paid $19.99 for mine at Home Depot. I don’t normally use those long internet abbreviation thingies that are all the rage with kids these days, but this calls for a big fat AYFKMWTS?!?

I don’t want to name the store, because 1) I feel bad talking shit about a nice local business, and 2) I can’t be 100% positive that the orchids are the exact same as the ones at HD. However, the orchids look the same, they smell the same, they are planted in the same decorative pots, and the “how to care for this orchid” tags on them are similar to, if not the same as, the one that mine came with (I’ve thrown my tag away, so I have nothing for comparison).

Okay, so maybe this store has some garden items at more reasonable prices, but their orchids are WAY, WAY, WAY overpriced. If you live in Park Slope, you can probably guess which store I’m talking about. More than three times the cost for the same orchid as Home Depot? Unless the orchids are like, blessed by a warlock with tiger blood or something, that’s just insanity. This video sums up my feelings on the matter:

Consider this your Park Slope Orchid Shopping PSA.

Expanding My Orchid Collection…Again

This morning when I was still in bed, my boyfriend texted me with this photo of mini oncidiums that he saw for $9 while running an errand at Lowe’s:

Mini oncidiums!

Well, that got me out of bed pretty quickly. I ate yogurt and cereal and gulped down some coffee, then went on the orchid hunt. Conveniently, this Lowe’s is only about a 10 minute walk from my house. And suddenly, I was in orchid heaven…

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