Question
I am taking a plant ecology class in college and need a simple reasearch topic I can really enjoy on orchids.I am a beginner collector and have 65 orchids of various species and would like to use my plants as a beginning for my reasearch topic. I just can't think of a simple reasearch topic for me, in my beginner level class about orchids. We are supposed to reasearch something we love and a majority of my class is doing out door trees and shrubs....yuck! Can you suggest a simple reasearch topic for me, that I might use in my Freshman level Plant Ecology class, using my love of orchids?

Answer
Holly, I recommend a topic on native orchid culture. Several possibilities are: 1) the artificial propagation of native orchids, 2) the types of orchids that grow in your state and where they can. found.  I might be able to give you a reference book if you let me know where you live because many are published by state or region.  Another possibility would be for you to look through the book "Orchid Fever" by Eric Hansen published in 2000 by Pantheeon Books.  You can google any of these topic and get references also.