There are about fifty orchids that are native to Britain. I confess I know very little about them.

In spite of being an enthusiastic gardener it is not a species that has much attracted my attention. This is strange since there is no denying that they are beautiful plants. But when you push a trolley round a garden centre there seems no provision for filling it up with orchids. The 'indoor section' will probably have some, however. Does this mean they're tender and will not survive the winter outdoors? That can't be true because I've seen large swathes of them in the countryside.

Another confession ... when I see them (in the garden centre), I wonder if they're real! They almost look too good to be true. Perfect specimens; no blemishes. I sometimes can't resist gently touching them to find out whether they're artificial or not.

Yet I have a reasonable collection of orchid photos, covering nearly 20 species. So something has drawn me to them. When I recently browsed them I was sure I couldn't have seen many of them in the UK: they're not that common, are they? How wrong I was. I discovered that I have photographed at least half of them in England, the rest in France or Spain.

Another perception I have of them is that when you find one, there are usually loads nearby. It seems that if the conditions are right, plenty of them will flourish. Does this mean that if you get the right habitat in the garden then it might be possible to make a success of them?

More questions than answers, but after spending some time editing this web-page, I now realise how lucky and privileged I've been to see some of these specimens. For example, Mueller's helleborine, narrow-leaved helleborine, red helleborine, monkey, lizard and lady orchids are all very rare in Britain (some may be extinct) but by chance I've come across these whilst on holiday abroad.

The table offers a selection of orchids (or just scroll down).