Hi, bio. I've read that orchid flowers die very soon after they're pollinated, so I always bring blooming orchids in the house a few days before they open up, just to make sure no enterprising fly or wasp gets at them.

Keep them away from any fruit is one thing you can do. Heredity is another -- the individual flowers of waxies and other phals with "good substance" last a long time -- some of them up to four months for an individual flower.

That's a lot longer than the flowers of the softer "standards" like pinks, whites, and stripes. Even so, the spike on one of the standards can keep blooming for 4-5 months.

Get some of the summer-bloomers that bloom sequentially (keep blooming on the same spike) -- doritis, P violacea and primary hybrids of these keep a spike going with a few flowers on for more than a year sometimes.

Grow them as well as you can, and they'll give you all they've got in the way of flowers.

I think that air that is too dry can contribute to the short life of a bloom. I know that misting is no longer in vogue, but I often mist the air above the blooms and just let the moisture drift down onto them. I think it extends the bloom life a few days.

Cooler temperatures and lower light will make fully open flowers last longer.