Welcome to The Orchid Journal

The Lady Vanda Journal · Welcome

Ask any orchid grower how they got started and you'll usually hear about one plant. A gift. A grocery-store rescue. A bloom that stopped them mid-step. Then comes a second plant, and a third, and one day the windowsill simply isn't big enough.

That's more or less how Lady Vanda began. Welcome to our journal. We're glad you're here.

Who We Are

Lady Vanda Orchids is a family-owned orchid business in Florida, founded by Serena Roman and Ernesto Cabezas. What started as a personal collection kept growing until friends and fellow growers began asking where they could find plants like ours. The hobby became a business, and our mission stayed the same: grow healthy, mature orchids, and help the people who take them home keep them blooming.

Every question a customer has asked us, whether it came in at a plant sale, in an email, or over a box of new arrivals, has taught us something about what growers actually need to know. This journal grew out of those conversations.

Along the way, a few milestones have shaped who we are:

• A namesake hybrid. A Thai grower registered a Vanda hybrid in Serena's honor: Vanda Serena Roman. It's a reminder of how far a love of orchids can travel.
• A partnership with Jumbo Orchids. We're the exclusive U.S. selling agent for Jumbo Orchids of Taiwan, bringing their Catasetum-alliance plants, including Catasetum, Cycnoches, Mormodes, Clowesia, and their hybrids, to American growers.
• Lady Vanda Landscapes. Our landscape division brings the same care and plant knowledge outdoors, into Florida gardens and living spaces.

Want the full story? Meet Lady Vanda →

Why This Journal Exists

Orchids have a reputation for being fussy, expensive to keep alive, and meant only for experts. We don't think they deserve it. Most orchid trouble comes from vague advice, half-remembered rules, and myths passed along from pot to pot, not from the plants themselves.

This journal is here to change that. Our purpose is simple: to educate, to share what we've learned, and to make orchid growing accessible to growers at every level. Every article we publish follows three commitments:

• Plain language. No gatekeeping. When a technical term matters, we'll use it and explain it.
• Science, made simple. We won't just tell you what to do. We'll explain why, so you can read your own plants and make your own calls.
• Myths, retired. If a popular tip doesn't hold up, we'll say so and give you something better to do instead.

Accessible doesn't mean dumbed down. A beginner deserves the same accurate information as a seasoned collector. It just needs to arrive clearly, with the reasoning attached. Once you understand why a Vanda wants its roots to dry quickly between waterings, and why a Paphiopedilum never should, you stop memorizing rules and start reading your plants.

Who It's For

If you grow orchids, or want to, this is for you. We're writing for the beginner nursing a first Phalaenopsis, the intermediate grower ready to try a Vanda or a Catasetum, the advanced hobbyist chasing species and new hybrids, and the Florida gardener who wants orchids thriving outdoors in the landscape. Everyone starts somewhere, and every level has something left to learn.

What You'll Find Here

• Genus care guides: light, water, potting, and feeding, genus by genus.
• Troubleshooting: pests, disease, root problems, and the classic question, "Why won't it bloom?"
• Seasonal Florida growing: what to do through summer heat, afternoon thunderstorms, hurricane season, and the occasional winter cold snap.
• Science-backed deep dives: orchid nutrition, pest control, and new species discoveries, explained so they're useful at the bench.
• Behind the scenes: new arrivals, Jumbo Orchids imports, exciting hybrids, and life in a family orchid business.

Grow With Us

This journal works best as a conversation. Here's how to be part of it:

• Subscribe by email so new articles and seasonal care tips reach you first.
• Ask us anything. Leave a comment or send us your care questions. Your questions will shape future articles.
• Join the Care Club for in-depth genus courses, cultivation calendars, and member Q&A.
• Shop orchids and supplies, hand-selected and ready to grow.

Thank you for reading, and welcome to the Lady Vanda family. We can't wait to help your orchids bloom, not just survive.