Would you have a bumper sticker proclaiming your love for orchids? What would be the point? Someone obviously seems to think so. There is a Squidoo lens called Bumper Stickers for Orchid Lovers that is dedicated to bumper stickers and their history.

Well, we’ve all got to have a hobby, haven’t we? But this is verging on parody. I guess there is a site about someone’s passion for anything you can think of, no matter how mundane, but bumper stickers?

This leads browsers to another site advertising the guy’s photography. Alongside coffee mugs and aprons decorated with pictures of horses and wildlife, there is a set of orchid bumper stickers with trite messages such as ‘Phalaenopsis Phancier’ and ‘I’m an Orchid Nut’.

Maybe the mugs, aprons and orchid neckties, could possibly be of some use to someone, somewhere, but why advertise to everyone else in the parking lot that you grow orchids. It doesn’t really have the wow factor, does it?

Orchid growers aren’t generally the demonstrative, attention-seeking types. They like caring for orchids, they enjoy reading orchid care instructions in orchid books.

What they don’t do is go around wearing orchid T-shirts or baseball caps, or sit at the back of the movie theatre and scream: ”Hey! There’s an orchid,” whenever a specimen comes onto the screen.

Of course, anyone interested in growing orchids will be only too happy to pass on their expertise and experience if asked. But they would be the last people to try to force their passion on to an unsuspecting bystander.

Orchid growers spend time at their hobby with a calm concentration, learning as they go and from each other, attending shows to admire other growers’ exhibits. Growing orchids is all about dedication, to help to nurture something natural and beautiful; about as far away from a bumper sticker as you can get.

What do you think about this? Please submit a comment below. I’d love to hear your opinion!

For more information about what to ask an orchid grower before purchasing, here are 3 Key Questions to Ask.