Every Saturday at the Berkeley Farmers Market on Center Street, the orchid man sits with his huge stand of lovely orchids.  He has large ones and small ones, most for only $10.

Orchids are a wonderful plant to have as a floral arrangement.  They are simple, sophisticated, and colorful all at the same time.  What is even better is the blooms can last for up to two months, and you only have to really water them well every two weeks!

Here is one way to take 2 of those orchid plants and really make a statement:

Find a bowl, pot, or other container that you will use for your arrangement.  Mine is an old brass pedestal bowl that is about 12” in diameter.

Take an old plastic newspaper or grocery bag and trace a circle slightly larger than the opening of your container/bowl. Cut this out and place this piece of plastic inside your bowl as a liner.

Cut the top of the clear plastic orchid container down so that it is at the very top of the roots.

Place enough Orchid Bark at the bottom of your container making a level surface to stand both of your orchids on.  Make sure the top of your orchid roots are at the same level as the top of your bowl. Shift the two pots so that both orchid flowers are leaning in a similar direction without getting tangled in each others stems. Orchid Bark can be found at either Longs/CVS or your local nursery (approx. $3. a bag).

  

Once you are satisfied with the placement of your orchids in the bowl, fill the bowl in between and surrounding each of the orchid plants with the bark until the bark comes to within ½ inch of the top of your bowl. Your orchids should be fairly stable in your pot now.

Now you will need 2 of your old cherry blossom branches or any other branches that you might find in your yard or blown off a tree on the sidewalk.

Carefully undo the twist ties that are holding your blossom stem up. Remove the existing green bamboo stick that is used, and replace that bamboo stick with one of your branches. The branch should have a few side branches as well to give your arrangement more weight and interest. Do the same with your second orchid.

Once this step is complete, you can tie your orchid stems to the branches (instead of the bamboo sticks). You should only need one tie on each stem.  In my case, one of my branches propped up one of my stems and I only used a tie on my second stem. I just used a piece of extra green ribbon I happened to have.  But you can use either ribbon, string, raffia, or straw. If you have ribbon but it is too wide, just cut it into a thinner strip.

The last thing you need to do is dress the top of your bowl with green moss (covering all the bark).You can purchase the “Green Moss” at the same place you get your “Orchid Bark”. They are usually sitting right next to each other.  Just pull large fluffy clumps of the green moss out of the bag and place around your orchids, under the leaves, and to the edge of your bowl. It should puff slightly up above your bowl and you are done!  You now have a $150. arrangement looking quite elegant in the middle of your table!