ORCHIDS are truly amazing. The only places in the entire world where they are totally absent are Antarctica and some desert regions of Eurasia. Some Australian species even spend their entire life cycles underground.

Years ago I in the Colombian Andes I came across two delicate yellow orchids growing in the cleft of a tree at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres. It was an instant I never forgot.

Perhaps it was the surprise element that made such an impression; the contrast between the fragile, scented beauty of these exotic flowers and the harsh, grey, miserably cold and rainy surroundings. Whatever it was, this encounter marked the beginning of a fascination with the wildly versatile Orchidaceae family which may have as many as 25,000 species.

The yellow flowers I saw did not grow out of the tree itself. Most orchids are epiphytes which means that they grow on another plant or tree on which they depend for mechanical support, something to cling to. Epiphytes are companion plants whose nourishment comes through water from rotting leaves or bark caught, as with these, in the cleft of a tree where a branch grows out of the trunk.

Other orchids grow in soil, but nowhere do they generally flourish as they do in the tropics. Of amazing complexity and variety, the flowers of some species resemble female insects to such an extent that the male insect will try to mate with them, and in this way carry pollen between the flowers.

In total contrast to the high Andes, the best place in the world to see them is tropical Singapore's Mandai Orchid Gardens. Here, in a profusion of sizes, colours, scents and shapes are hundreds of varieties of orchid hybrids that the previous owners, John and Amy Ede and their helpers, had created.

Amy Ede, whose father in the 1920's had predicted that there would be a future in hybridizing and selling orchids, was rightly proud of their creation and contribution to Singapore's attractions. No longer in the business, Amy Ede reminisced: "Everyone had a museum and a zoo.

"Singapore has very little truly indigenous to offer so this was something very unique."

Every day flower enthusiasts from all over the world quietly roam the Mandai Orchid Gardens, admiring, marvelling, smelling the flowering tropical orchids displayed in the open. Japanese, Dutch, French, Arabs, Indonesians, Americans, Spaniards – the setting and the beauty of the flowers make people smile and talk to strangers, proof that flowers do nice things to people.

And the visitors buy – by the plant, by the box, by the thousands for shipment to Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Dubai, Tokyo or Madrid. Millions upon millions of photos are taken by the visitors, eliminating any need for publicity campaigns or advertising. Very carefully, plants have been trimmed to about shoulder height – just right for pictures.

Singapore Orchids Pty. Ltd., as the company is now called, was indeed the creator of the original "Singapore Orchids" that are sold in flower shops the world over.

"Now others have jumped on the bandwagon," I was told.

"Some totally commercial companies will produce thousands of one single kind as it is more economical."

Amy Ede said: "When we first got going husband John and I went to Frankfurt and took a box of orchids. We asked the hotel which was the biggest florist in town. They gave us the name and we went there with the box.

"The owner looked at them and was so impressed he kept the flowers and found they had an incredibly long shelf life. He took a box every week for the next ten years and that's how we got started."

Now, under new and more commercial management, the company exports cut flowers and plants six days per week throughout the year to more than 30 countries around the world.

After learning the hard way by "killing a lot of orchids during the early years", a gardener told me that eventually they got the hang of breeding and hybridising them – a very tricky task. It requires an excellent eye for colour as well as form and a surgeon's skilful, delicate touch in order to drop the minuscule pollen of one orchid into the column of another.

After fertilisation the column shuts and starts to swell and ripen. This can take as much as four months. The seeds themselves are like dust and one pod can release a million.

Some of the seeds are gathered up and cultivated in a jelly-like substance in glass flasks till they germinate. Fed on a mixture of coconut water, peptone and banana, the seedlings are removed when about three inches high and planted in pots.

"They contain broken brick and charcoal," explained the gardener. "What they need is just a holding media. We then feed them with liquid fertiliser and water."

Another ingredient required in orchid-growing is patience.

"From the seed to flowering can take months - about 20 months for Arachnis, Vanda and Dendrobium," I was told.

"Some can take five or six years to flower. And during this whole time the plants have to be fed and watered. What we usually strive for are plants with three yearly flowerings."

Besides the fascinating variety of shapes and sizes of the orchids, it is the colours and shades of colouring that are truly mind-boggling.

"Look at this range of colours," said an admiring, talkative visitor from France.

"They are sooo difficult to describe. When someone says 'yellow rose' you know what they are talking about. If you try to describe these," she waves her hands, "how can you do it?

The colour of one part blends into another on the same flower – and becomes a completely different colour."

Bronze, pale green, deep apricot, purple, white – words truly pale in comparison with reality here.

A word of advice should this inspire the reader to rush out and buy Singapore orchids: These flowers are shipped as dry as possible with only a bit of damp cotton wool at the stems in order to prevent any kind of rot. But they get thirsty.

This is the advice I got: "Immerse the flowers completely in warm water as soon as they arrive. This will freshen them up.

"Also, change the water frequently and cut the stems as you would on roses to keep bacteria from penetrating through the stem to the flowers."

This way you can keep a bit of exotic Singapore alive for up to three weeks.

Even better, go to Singapore!

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Mandai Orchid Garden is open daily from 8. 30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. A small fee is charged for admission. There is easy access from the city and restaurants serve excellent food.

Singapore Orchids Pte Ltd

Mandai Orchid Garden

200 Mandai Lake Road

Singapore 729827

Tel: +65 6269 1036

Fax: +65 6366 1918

E-mail: enquirymandai.com.sg or salesmandai.com.sg

Web site: www.mandai.com.sg