You won't need to know an orchid from a rose to appreciate the feast of color, shapes and scents at the annual South Central Washington Orchid Society show and sale in Kennewick on May 5-6.

The orchid show and sale will be at The Manor at Canyon Lakes, 2802 W. 35th Ave, off Ely Street, in Kennewick. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Admission is $2 per person and children under 12 are free.

The two-day event will provide several opportunities to learn about orchids. In the judged show, Orchid Society members will be exhibiting their prize plants hoping to take home an American Orchid Society First Class Certificate.

"This is a good chance to see some beautiful orchids in top shape," said Orchid Society member Betty Wise of Kennewick.

Five orchid vendors will have plants for sale at the show.

"Three of them will have plants for beginners, while the other two tend to grow more species-type orchids, which are harder to find and more difficult to grow," she said.

If you find one you just have to take home, be sure to ask Orchid Society members for one of their educational handouts.

"We'll have printouts available giving care instructions for many of the more common orchids," Wise said.

"So if you find a phalaneopsis (a.k.a. moth orchid) -- the one that everyone has on top of their television -- we can give you all the basic information you'll need to be able to get it to grow and bloom and stay alive," she said.

Don't feel you're shortchanging yourself, that you won't get a lovely orchid just because you buy one that's not fussy about growing conditions. Even within the easy-care group of phalaneopsis there's a lot of variation in flower type and color.

"I have a number of them and I get just as excited when they bloom as when some of my species orchids do," Wise said.

Orchid Society members will be happy to discuss how to care for orchids -- which types will happily grow outside in the Mid-Columbia and which need to be pampered indoors.

Or, if you already have an orchid at home but need more information on its care or want to know what it is, they can help with that too.

If you'd like, take your orchid to the show with you. But don't take it inside. Instead, ask one of the Orchid Society members for help.

"We'll happily go outside to see your plant," Wise said.

"If you bring your plant inside there's too much chance it could be infected with a disease, have a fungus or be infested with bugs. We want be sure it doesn't spread to the other plants at the show," she explained.

-- To join

Want to join the club? The South Central Washington Orchid Society meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at Edison Elementary School, 201 S. Dawes St., Kennewick.

For more information on the show or the club, call 628-8184 or 545-8070.

* Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com