Orchids in Perfumery: Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfume House

By: Elena Knezhevich

Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfume is an independent perfume house from the Pacific Northwest (USA). It was founded in 2010 by Ellen Covey, the owner of Olympic Orchids orchid nursery. Many fragrances created by Ellen are devoted to certain orchid species. We invited Ellen to share her knowledge about orchids with our readers.

Ellen Covey: Orchids have been around for at least 80 million years based on evidence from pollen stuck to the backs of bees found in amber, so were probably around in the time of the dinosaurs. The flowers are delicate to look at, but the plants are amazingly tough. Some orchids grow on the ground or on rocks, but most grow on tree trunks or branches, never touching the ground. They’re epiphytes, meaning they don’t hurt the trees in any way, they just use them as a surface to grow on. All they need is a little light, a little water, and trace amounts of nitrogen and minerals, and they’re off and growing. I grow many of my plants on pieces of cork bark or wood, not in pots. Orchids are distributed worldwide, and have co-evolved with their pollinators. (clique aqui para ler a entrevista completa)