Not special at all.....just plain old phals :-)) This is just a marketing gimmick. And I'm not sure it has that much validity behind it anyway. The amount of water any plant needs will depend on its size, potting conditions and where/how it's being grown. It is typically foolhardy to water anything with a set amount of water (or ice cubes) and on a given schedule.

Thats what I figured.....Just kinda surprised me that the display and plants looked pretty good,especially at a chain store. I guess I make things too complicated with fertilizers and room temp water etc.

Phals are such undemanding orchids, they can look very good for a long time without virtually any attention at all. Store displays get reviewed and updated on a daily basis anyway.....they don't want to feature sickly looking plants :-)

I put this in the same category as the big push for 'blue' or other dyed and grossly unnatural looking orchids. They are just trying to sell more plants. And usually with a higher price tag than the undoctored ones.

This topic comes up every now and then. Many many past threads to be found by doing a search.

Oh, they don't water them with ice in the greenhouses they come from.

The ice thing is just a gimmick to give people the confidence that they can handle the care so they will buy them. Even if it does mean it'll wind up killing the plant in the long run: they already made their money, they don't care about the plants' long term success (or even survival).

Sigh! The market is someone who knows nothing about plants buying a cheap bunch of flowers and how to keep the plant alive till the blooms die.

Purchased large bloom white Phal. from Grocery Chain the day after mothers day. Blooms lasted three months and I watered the plant FOUR times.

There is one of those cheap Florist Phals on the Kitchen windowsill, I said I would repot and try and revive it for the owner. The little plastic pot with the interior roots and spag had turned into a swamp (She watered from the tap). Lucky there were a few aerial roots left.

Every time this comes up there is tut tuting about the ice. I would try it as experiment except that the fridge doesn't have an ice maker.