David Bird is living under a rock, literally.

You’ll find Bird deep underground, where the light of day can’t reach and the weather conditions never falter, in his subterranean orchid lair in Kansas City, Mo. Under hundreds of feet of solid rock, burrowed into an elaborate maze of caves, Bird has created a haven that’s neither dank nor depressing, but rather aromatic and alive.

Welcome to Bird’s Botanicals.

Here in this cavernous space, thousands of orchids are in various stages of maturity, and those in bloom are performing quite a spectacular show. Solid, striped, dotted, ruffled, tentacled and bowl-shaped blossoms emit an array of aromas. There’s chocolate; or maybe it’s vanilla? Then there’s lemon, lilac, lily-of-the-valley … I wasn’t aware the orchid family could produce such a wealth of scents.

But I had much to learn. Luckily, I was in the presence of an expert on the subject. Such an expert, in fact, that Bird was leaving in a few days to speak to the Hawaiian Hilo Orchid Society about his life’s passion.

More to discover

That’s quite an achievement for anyone, much less a Midwesterner, considering orchids comprise the largest plant family on Earth, with up to 30,000 species. They are grown everywhere on the planet except Antarctica. Ecuador alone has 4,000 species, Costa Rica has thousands as well, and Kansas and Missouri actually boast more varieties of native orchids (20) than Hawaii (12).

The bevy of orchid species is exhausting, from a 20-foot-tall behemoth to orchids with blooms no bigger than a pinhead. Bird has traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Hawaii just to purchase orchids, but he frequents Costa Rica and Ecuador to collect orchid species.

“Many orchids are still being discovered in Ecuador, but the rain forest is being cut down so fast in order to grow grass for cattle that many orchids will be lost before they are ever discovered,” Bird says.

Knowing the enormity of the genus, you would think plant enthusiasts would get over the commonly held notion that orchids are just too challenging. The largest flora family in the world surely can’t be that strenuous to master, right?

Bird says no.

“Orchids are not difficult, just different,” he says. “First of all, growing a plant that is not in soil is a mystery. Many places that sell orchids do not provide a good set of cultural instructions. Basically, water and feed the orchid once a week, give it the right light and lots of humidity, and it will bloom and grow just fine.”

Orchids are epiphytes, or tree dwellers, for the most part, although there are also lithophytes (rock dwellers) and terrestrial (ground dwellers). In fact the bletilla orchid, which looks like a smaller version of a cattleya, can be planted amid the hostas in a garden and will bloom annually.

Sharing the unexpected

Bird’s obsession began at 16, when his parents took him to Hawaii. There he stumbled into a flower shop and fell in love. He bought four orchids, and that seemingly insignificant moment has led him on a more than 30-year journey in the world of orchids.

Bird’s Botanicals consists of four basic rooms: the gift shop, the cool room, the hot room, and the research and development room. In the gift shop, there are a plethora of blue ribbons touting achievements like “Best in Show” and “First Place” from floral shows in a slew of cities – no doubt honors bestowed for breeds Bird himself has crossed.

The species he has created have been named for the women in his life: the Linda Bird for his wife and Vashti for his oldest daughter. His two youngest girls, Savanna and Cheyenne, are still awaiting their crosses. Keep in mind, it takes a decade to create a new cross of orchid.

As you move from the gift shop to the cool room, you’re suddenly enveloped in all things orchid. This is where the flowers are brought once they begin to bloom, or to slow down the blooming process. Bird uses only fans and the natural temperatures of the cave to regulate the room, which fluctuates just 6 degrees, regardless of blizzard or heat wave.

Orchids in every color of the rainbow stare back at visitors, from lady slippers to cymbidiums, oncidiums to dendrobiums. Each variety is as fascinating and totally different as the next. Bird explains why they vary so greatly, from the shape of the bloom to the texture of the leaf.

“The reason the orchids have such strange blooms is to attract a certain insect,” he says. “With the hundreds of thousands of insects there are, there are also that many ways to lure them. I enjoy the unusual orchids; it’s great fun to share the unexpected with others. I mean there are only so many white phalaenopsis you can look at.”

Feeling hot, hot, hot

We leave the cool room and enter the hot room. This is the growing room, and at present time it is crammed with more than 1,500 phalaenopsis awaiting the Valentine’s Day rush, an enormous begonia collection that Bird has been cultivating, a wide assortment of elephant ear varieties that no one else in the neighborhood will have, as well as a mixture of caladiums, ferns, anthurium and bromeliads.

There is a leafless vanilla orchid that resembles a cactus. Did you know the vanilla orchid brings us the vanilla we cook with? I admire the sea shell orchid, which is the national flower of Belize. Gazing down at the jewel orchid, Bird points out the tiny frog perched next to it.

“That’s Bubbles,” he says. “He is one of the last frogs left in the cave. My daughter, Cheyenne, keeps catching them and lugging them home.”

I can see how easy it is to get addicted to orchids. Obviously, Bird sees the allure as well.

“For most people, blooming an orchid themselves is enough to get them hooked,” he says. “The only way to satisfy the addiction is to get more orchids. There are certainly worse addictions to have.”

– Jennifer Oldridge, a Kansas University graduate, is an avid gardener who previously operated a landscaping business.

Bird’s Botanicals

Where: 8201 E. 23rd St., Kansas City, Mo., in the Interstate Underground Storage Building

Contact: (816) 228-1044

Hours: Open to the public 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesdays

¢ David Bird also lectures to groups, teaches classes on orchids and is a regular at the City Market and Overland Park Farmers Market.