Question
Wayne,

I have moved my orchids to my pool area and have built a home-made shading area to that they don't get that much direct sun. The shading area faces EAST thus the plants get the morning sunrise rays which is shaded by my pool screen; the shading area makes sure the noon time and afternoon sun rays don't get to my plants due to protection from my pool enclosure, shaded area and also some bushes in the outside.
I built the shading area with PVC and some "garden shade" I picked up at Home Depot which blocks 75% of the sun rays. I have to still finish it up with some grommets and other little things.
They seem to have taken to the move quite nicely and I have seen some growth on a couple of them ... albeit, they've only been there for about 3 weeks.
I have also noticed that the back of some of the leaves has turned a bit purple which I believe is an indication that it is getting more sun than previously.
Question: Am I correct in thinking that it is OK for the leaves' back side to be purple?
As always, I have uploaded some pictures for your reference to give you a better idea of what I am talking about; they were taken at about 10 a.m.. In some of them I have circle the purple area.
You can see them at the following links,
http://www.caripito.com/images/orchids/orchidpurple1.jpg
http://www.caripito.com/images/orchids/orchidpurple2.jpg
http://www.caripito.com/images/orchids/orchidshed1.jpg
http://www.caripito.com/images/orchids/orchidshed2.jpg
http://www.caripito.com/images/orchids/orchidshed3.jpg

Thanks as always for your thoughts,
Angelo

Answer
Good to hear from you again Andelo.  Sounds like you are doing a great job in caring for your plants. Plants receiving good light will have the purple pigment on the underside of their leaves. When this appears on the side of the leaf exposed directly to the light, that would be a sign to be watchful that this not lead to leaf burn