National Orchid Day is observed annually on April 16th. According to Wikipedia, Orchidaceae is a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species.
Orchids are beautiful and extremely special. The creators of National Orchid Day, Mike and Faith Young, volunteered at an orchid reserve in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico in 2010 and the experience changed their lives forever, so much that they decided if they were to ever have a daughter they would name her Orchid- inspired by all the unique expressions and delicate beauty of the flowers. On April 16, 2014, sadly they lost their precious daughter during labor, her name is Orchid Faith. Since then, they have been desperately trying to find ways to honor her life.
After looking to see if there was an existing National Orchid Day they found there wasn’t. On the year anniversary of losing their precious little girl, they created a Kickstarter campaign offering pre-orders of their backyard honey (The Humble Bumbles Honey) with the goal of designating April 16 National Orchid Day through the Official National Day Registrar. Within the first day, they met their goal and the campaign brought in over $1,500. Thanks to the generosity and kindness of many friends, family, and supporters April 16 will now forever be National Orchid Day in honor of their daughter. For the rest of their lives, Mike and Faith say they will be caring for and spreading awareness about orchids. They feel that having a National Orchid Day dedicated to the beautiful life they lost, orchids will be appreciated a little bit more, and their little girl will feel the warmth of those that think of orchids that day. They feel as though all orchids are a representation of their little girl and hope that this special day will inspire those who come across orchids to possibly think of her too; it is within you and all of us that she is alive.
Also, for Mother’s Day 2015 Mike had a Cattleya orchid be designated and named the ‘Radiant Faith’ orchid through Chadwick and Son Orchids, Inc. and officially registered and recognized by the International Orchid Register of the Royal Horticultural Society in England. The name was inspired by the color company Pantone’s color of the year for 2014 (the year they lost their daughter) – Radiant Orchid.
Information on the Radiant Faith orchid can be found here: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticulturaldatabase/orchidregister/orchiddetails.asp?ID=982975
They have created an official website: www.nationalorchidday.com
A Facebook: www.facebook.com/nationalorchidday
A Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nat_Orchid_Day
If you’d like to know more about Orchid’s story, please go here:
http://www.mikeandfaith.blogspot.com
Also, check out the Humble Bumbles Honey Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/thehumblebumbleshoney
The orchid sanctuary that inspired it all- Orquideas Moxviquil:
Chadwick and Son Orchids Inc.
