The Orchid Mall was originally conceived in 1995 after continually reviewing search engines for orchid related web sites. Having a long list of bookmarks led to making a special page just for these links. Since everyone else was having to search also, I decided to place the orchid page on the web as a service to other orchid growers. The Orchid Mall went "live" on the internet April 15, 1995. The page was continually updated as more information became available on the web, becoming literally an orchid "yellow pages." As it grew, it was divided into the various categories to make finding specific information easier. After two years of operation, we went to our own domain.

       The Orchid Mall is operated as a web site for linking to all other orchid related web sites. There is no fee for listing a link or maintaining it. We do review all submitted sites for applicability and reserve the right to refuse to link any site we feel does not belong on The Orchid Mall, for whatever reason we decide.

       The Orchid Mall is not a commercial site and generates no revenue in and by itself. It is our contribution to those who share our interest in and love for orchids. There are no banners or secondary advertising mechanisms, except for the link to our counter and to our service provider on the homepage. We are an affiliate of some businesses, however, and these are indicated. We have attempted to keep graphics to a minimum for quicker retrieval of the pages.

       We believe you are more interested in content than "bells & whistles." The non-graphical plants page was developed to be stored on the local computer for those that wanted a way to quickly return to the page, without having to continually return to our server. We do think you like at least a little change in our look occasionally, so we initiated our "Design Contest." This contest is really just a means for talented graphic designers to design our pages and have their name appear on our credits. Since we do not have any income from The Orchid Mall, we do not have anything for prizes either. Several designs have been submitted over the years and we have been very pleased with them in general.

       The Orchid Mall does offer individual advertising opportunities in the "unClassified Ads" page. This is primarily for the individual wanting to find a plant or sell a few plants and provides the opportunity to reach a large audience. However, it may be used by anyone for orchid related materials. The individual ads run for two months.

        We continually get information on "broken" and inoperable links on The Orchid Mall and always appreciate them. It is not practical for us to check links on an ongoing basis.

       We also get some very nice comments and compliments on The Orchid Mall and they always make us feel good. We try hard to make The Orchid Mall as helpful and useful as we can. Space is available on The Orchid Mall domain server at a reasonable price and we do provide some basic web page services for those needing or wanting them.

       We at The Orchid Mall will continually strive to provide you with a functioning, up-to-date website for orchid information on the internet.

       We thank you for your patronage, and hope you will visit us often.