Cacti

Grevillea!

about the popular use in weddings and events, i think roses are easier to grow in such a quantity

just think about how much more it would cost to decorate with orchids only? even if they used common ones like dends or phals. then to decorate with the ones we really like, that would cost a fortune--unless that is someone is willing to lug their collection out and subject it to uncertain conditions

Not true! But perhaps only here where cut flowers are imported from South-East Asia.
When my son got married several years ago, the orchids on the guest tables and in the bridal party thing o's were a very minor part of the expense.
I think the original poster has fallen into the trap of thinking that Roses are easy to grow everywhere.
I've only got one rose, and that is the badly named Black Boy. It has survived 35 years in the back yard. Roses are fine in the right climate but are a pain here. Lots of spraying for this and that and forever fending off Aphis.
Besides that, I have a maudiae paph in bloom, grown in the kitchen windowsill. Can you imagine growing a Rose indoors? though i imagine some real gardeners do in far Northern Climates.

I grow both orchids and roses. Cattleya orchids and hyprid tea roses to be exact. Both have their unique qualities. But nothing beats a cattleya in it's exotic yet simple beauty. It has only 3 sepals, 2 petals and a lip. In a select hybrid or species, it shape is full and round. It's texture sparkling and substance delicate but thick. Nothing beats the beauty of a simple purple cattleya or a white one. they have an exotic fragrance. Spicey and floral. Some cattleyas have a strong citrus scent. Roses are a dime a dozen. They flower easily but they don't last long as a cut flower. Cattleyas don't last long either as a cut flower, but when kept on the plant and brought indoors from the greenhouse it makes a strong and captivating statement. In the early 18th century, orchid hunters scoured the tropics for rare orchids. Some beautiful varieties fetched thousands of dollars. A king's random back in those days. And even by today's standards. What flower can top that?

I grow both. By far, more orchids, as there is so much variation and temptation.

Roses - I do not think I would ever give them up, despite my obsession with orchids (400+ orchids, about 30-40 rose bushes - and it really is a matter of space)

They - orchids and roses - are just too different to compare. I love wondering through a rose garden and plan on building my own: filled with antique roses and perennials that attract butterflies.

As for easy - most orchids here are easier than roses. We have the humidity, the heat and the tropical rains that a lot of orchids appreciate, and most roses do not.

Variation is also there for roses - not too such a extend as orchids have it - while most think of phals and catts, and hybrid teas.

I will continue growing orchids...But having started growing OGRs, I now have a whole new appreciation for roses.

Olya

Exactly what Olya said (with the exception of 100+ 'kids & 15 rose bushes).

Happy growing :) Sheila

Roses are overated in my book. Being a floral designer for so many years, I have always found it ironic that the rose is our symbol of love. As it is a beautiful flower and sometimes fragrant but has awful nasty thorns. This always crossed my mind around Valentine's day when my hands were bloody and swollen from touching so many. I too agree that roses are aphid magnets.
In Victorian times here in the states folks were all about orchids, peonies, mums, and carnations far more than roses.
I just did my wedding last week with all orchids and it wasn't very expensive at all. A ton cheaper than many I have done with roses.

The post really wasn't about what's easier to grow, but on that note, here in Texas you can't kill a rose bush if you wanted to. They grow like weeds. We had one in the backyard of our old house for 15 years and my mom always hated it because it was usually spindly and tacky looking. The flowers were so delicate and thin that they looked beautiful when first opened, but if tampered with in any way they looked ratty and trashy. I wish it was easier to grow orchids in the yard here, but they would be fried to a crisp. Orchid nuggets. Orchid flambe. You get the idea, ha. My original post was simply in terms of popularity and beauty, however. I suppose they're not many peoples chosen flower because not many are native to the USA (all the better though, their foreign-ness gives them an edge to me).

I guess it kind of depends on what type of rose you're talking about. The hybrids teas do have those classic flowers, but the perfection is very short lived. Once they open beyond a certain point, they're butt ugly IMO. I've also thought the plants themselves are lacking in the beauty department. A perfect rose in a vase is lovely. A rose on the plant just looks odd to me. (talking about those hybrids)

On the other hand, I really like the old roses, the shrub and landscape roses, even most of the species. In my book they just "look right" - nothing pretentious, just well put together - both flower and bush go well together. On the other hand, the individual flowers are not all that spectacular.

Nope, the most beautiful flower is neither rose nor orchid. It's a peony.

Kevin

{{gwi:187301}}Orchids have lots of variety. You hold up a rose, and everybody and their uncle will say "nice rose".

You hold up any orchid except the corsage orchids or the standard Big Box orchid, and they say "that's an orchid?" And many people think orchids are hard to grow, so you get immediate "green thumb" status.

^ Exactly my point. Orchids are amazing...Nature has made them look like actual animals, rather than merely flowers as a defense mechanism and promotion of pollination. That alone makes them so fascinating.

It's like asking me to decide between lobster and shrimp. Why must I choose? I grow both. And I love them both. I can wax poetic about either one. Orchids, however, have an edge in that they give me a full growing year, whereas roses for only part of the year. There is nothing like having blooming orchids inside when there's snow on the ground outside.

I hate to say it, but I've never like roses. Really.

The most beautiful non-orchid flowers in my opinion are the Dahlias. (Though I do like peonies too.)

I'm a pansy enthusiast, other than orchids, though it does occur to me that pansies look more like orchids than most other flowers....

As for rose vs orchid, orchids win hands-down! Much more variety in color, shape, and difficulty. And yeah, when people hear you grow orchids you are automatically a Gardening God ;)

OH...
i did not realize/i totally forgot that roses are not easy to grow everywhere. cuz here they are all over the place. EVERYONE is growing roses in their yards
so to me, they are cheap

on the other hand, in the hot, dry Oakland weather, orchids have to be grown indoors or in a green house. i guess cymbodiums can be grown outside... but i dont like them

but there are those darned people in San Francisco that can just stick their masdes, dracs, neos, and other cloud forest cool grows outside
i've heard that the humidity in those parts of SF are so bad that it makes arthritis pain worsen

Orchidaceae vs Rosa. Not a fair fight.
Orchidaceae vs Rosaceae? Orchids are nice but my stomach is wise enough not to offend Rosaceae.

It's not either/or. It depends on the occasion. The "wild" roses just do it for me, even if the flowers don't last long.

Gotta admit, though, if the SO sent me a dozen almost-unscented roses from a florist, my heart would beat faster than if he sent 3 dozen orchids of any kind. It's that association w/ the romantic thing.

Kermit, are you saying you just got married??? If so, does your spouse like orchids? Tolerate your addiction? C'mon, give!

Whitecat8

I love both and have both.
The ones that I really love are all natives.
My pastures are full of Rosa californica bushes.
{{gwi:187303}}
In bloom, they're overwhelmingly intoxicating! Even the foliage has the same fragrance.
I make incredible rosehip preserves out of them after the first frosts. So, they're multifunctional! ;~)
Everyone would recognise them as a rose.
They'd just call the others pretty flowers, if they even saw them.
My local species are in my favorites category for orchids.
The delicate beauty of the Cyp. californicum.
{{gwi:187305}}
The more exotic and ephemeral Calypso bulbosa.
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And even the Epipactis gigantea.
{{gwi:184458}}
A lot of it is "The grass is always greener..." or I want what I don't have! ;~)
When my mom was in Asia, she had armfulls of orchids delivered a few times a week. They were cheap and common.
You'd have to be listed in Forbes to have that done here!

I can, now, go out and gather wild roses by the hundreds.
If I don't bleed to death first! ;~)
I've never seen so many and such viscious thorns on anything!
When I pick the hips, I have buckets worth of them.

It's like the people in hot/tropical zones wishing that they could easily grow Pleurothalids,
while their Bulbos, Catts and Dends are covered in flowers outside most of the year.
Or the rest of us frantically hauling our orchids in before a freeze.
Something that the roses and other common overlooked plants need.

Whitecat, The rose was sacred to both Aphrodite and Venus.
So, I guess that you're in good company.

If I could have a backyard full of orchids and palm trees I wouldn't ask for anything else in regards to plants. :P It is, unfortunately, not meant to be here in Texas. Down by the coast the weather is probably tropical enough, but not here in central Texas.

Aphrodite and Venus are the same God, by the way hehe Just Roman and Greek names.

For me it's a question of context. To my mind, many orchids are spectacular enough to stand alone. When I walk into a room and see a blooming orchid plant, I'll either ignore it, or walk right up to it and look at it - the surroundings are generally superfluous, if not downright distracting. The exception to this would be a beautifully arranged glass case that is successful in mimicking an orchid's wild setting.

On the other hand, roses show themselves best within the context of their surroundings. A beautifully furnished room and a vase or two of roses are mutually complimentary. Best of all, there are enough varieties, styles and colors of roses to suit any room to perfection.

Given a gorgeous rose in its perfect element considered beside an orchid in its perfect element, I say, "Why worry about it?" Both lend exquisite aethetic experiences.

John :>)

Hi
Well here's my two cents lol I grow all types of flowers and though some might be considered prettier than others none are downright "ugly" lol Okay Gynura which looks like an abused dustmop ,a pale crappy tan color and smells like rotted meat comes very close.lol When it first flowered I thought it was a disease . love both orchids and roses for different reasons but my favorite is Water lily particularly the tropical types. A flower 18 inches in diameter standinding 24 inches out of the water ,a sky blue
with perfect petals overlapping in perfect circles. Opens before your eyes in full sun releasing an indescribable aroma that can be detected from the street lol. At 4 o clock the show is over and it closes in front of your eyes.
next day the show is repeated but much paler blue,third day a very soft gray fourth day pulls itself under the water
Almost as if to not distract from the new buds.
Only other flower that even comes close to dramatic presentation is a Tacca,bat flower. The black being most striking because of the color while the white or green has the most parts to the flowers as well as the longest whiskers. looks much like an overgrown insect .
Though for "presentation" a 6 foot bearded iris is hard to beat. particularly the first flower.in a pale blue or deep purple. Of the orchids C,violacea opens all flowers at once in a semi circle looks almost arranged Of couse what is more dramatic than a Paph ??? gary

We got rid of all of the roses in our back yard (and most in the front yard) when we bought our house in Los Angeles and replaced them with South African succulents, bromeliads, and orchids. We can grow cymbidiums in the ground here, but I keep them in large pots anyway to help protect them from slugs.

A lot of orchid flowers last so much longer than roses, and I'm also particularly fond of bromeliad flowers. I do bring a few orchids indoors in December and January, but the rest stay outdoors throughout the winter here, as we do not get extreme temperatures.

Roses are hard to maintain, and I hate the thorns, but then some bromeliads had saw-like leaves. The bromeliads have beautiful leaves, and so they are attract all of the time.