Plants in New York: an orchid, a cactus and eight months of steam heat
Plants in New York fall under a legal heating rule from 1 October to 31 May. A landlord must keep a flat at least 68 °F by day, whenever the street outside drops below 55 °F, and at least 62 °F through the night. Both figures sit inside the range the Royal Horticultural Society gives for a moth orchid, which is happiest at 19–30 °C by day and 16–19 °C at night. A plant given in autumn spends its first eight months indoors in a heated room, so the choice between a flowering orchid, a cactus and an open florarium really comes down to which windowsill it will stand on.
68 °F by law: why a moth orchid copes with a heated flat
The law sets only a floor. From 1 October to 31 May, on any day the outdoor temperature falls below 55 °F, a flat must hold at least 68 °F during daylight hours and 62 °F overnight. The RHS range for phalaenopsis, 19–30 °C by day and 16–19 °C at night, comfortably covers that minimum. What the law does not fix is the ceiling, and plenty of prewar walk-ups with steam radiators run hotter and drier than required, because those systems were built for windows that opened to let the excess out. A pot kept a step back from the radiator, rather than on top of it, has an easier winter.
A clear pot earns its keep here too. Through the sides you can see whether the bark inside is still damp, and whether the roots look firm and silvery-white: that is how healthy phalaenopsis roots are supposed to look. Roots gone soft or brown mean the plant has been sitting in water too long. Across the heating season the orchid wants less water than once a week, and whatever collects in the saucer after watering should be tipped out rather than left for the roots to stand in. Given as a gift, an orchid arrives already potted and boxed this way, needing nothing more than a sill, and one listing, 7 Orchids in a Box, offers that same gift on a larger scale.
Central Park averages close to 29 °C on a typical July afternoon, dropping to around 21 °C after dark, and August humidity sits near 70 per cent. Neither number is the problem for a phalaenopsis; direct sun through glass is stronger than either figure suggests. The RHS warns that full summer sun scorches moth orchid leaves, leaving them pale and papery, so a street-facing window that catches hard afternoon light is worth stepping the plant back from once the days lengthen. A spot a little further into the room, bright but out of direct rays, keeps the leaves dark green through the summer. Once the last flower on a spike drops, cutting the spike back just above its second node often prompts a side shoot, and a second round of blooms without buying a new plant.
Cacti and stone-rose florariums for dry winter air
Succulents meet the same dry heat from the other direction. A stone rose, a sedum or a haworthia stores water in its own fleshy leaves, sometimes close to nine-tenths of its own weight, a habit built for long stretches without rain rather than for any particular climate. The parched, overheated air of a flat deep in the heating season is an ordinary condition for a plant built that way, not a hardship. That makes this kind of plant a sound choice among plants in New York for anyone who travels for work or simply forgets to water.
An open florarium, glass with no lid, is built for exactly these plants rather than for ferns or moss, since the air inside has to stay dry and moving. One version sets a stone-rose succulent inside a many-sided glass shape, geometric rather than round, and waters with a pipette or a light spray, a few drops at a time rather than a pour. A plain glass cactus arrangement works the same way for anyone who wants spines rather than rosettes. Choosing between these plants in New York is really a choice about who is watering, not about which looks better on a shelf.
Plant delivery in New York is free in the city centre, most orders arrive the day they are placed, and the florist sends a photo of the finished plant before the courier leaves; timing for a given address shows on the product card itself. Rules for hospital wards, hotel guests and orders from abroad are gathered in the flowers guide for the city.
