does anyone know which species of orchids are hardy and resilient?

Answer 1

The orchids which are easy to grow are the Phalaenopsis, Paphiopedilum, Dendrobium, Oncidium, Vanda and Epidendrum

Answer 2

Do you mean indoors or outside? If you mean
outside it, of course, depends on the climate where you live. Most of the answers others have
given seem to refer to indoor cultivation. Also
do you mean in a greenhouse or just in the rooms
of your home? This will also make a considerable
difference.

The main problems with growing them in an ordinary house are providing the right amount of
light and keeping the humidity level high enough.
Phalaenopsis is one of the easier kinds because
it doesn't need bright light and is fairly tolerant of
low humidity. Ludisia, one of the jewel orchids,
with red leaves is also an easy one, but is grown
more for the foliage than the flowers, which are
small. There are many kinds of orchids and each
one has its own requirements. Some are easy,
others are very difficult to grow in a house. A
common mistake is to think that they all require a
high temperature if they come from the tropics.
Many of the tropical orchids grow in the mountains
and prefer cool temperatures and very high
humidity.

Answer 3

I've found a species of orchid in the Goodyera genus, the Rattlesnake Plantains or Jewel Orchids, specifically Goodyera repens to be very hardy. They grow like little weeds on some forested property my family owns north of Anchorage, Alaska. These orchids don't have any trouble being repeatedly frozen solid and resume growth as soon as thawed. When I was taking some home, I placed a few rhizomes in a glass of water for a couple days and was able to watch them grow in this manner without any rot issues. G. repens is small, with shallow creeping rhizomes, white/green patterned evergreen leaves, and a raceme of small white flowers. They're not very showy except, for the leaves, so would probably look good in a terrarium or somewhere that they could be seen up close.
If you're looking for orchids to grow in your garden/outside, you should buy a plant guide relevant to the region you live in, and get ready to do a thorough online search for specialty nurseries which supply orchids suitable to your climate/growing zone.

Answer 4

I've had really good luck with phalaenopsis at home - the blooms last quite a long time (I've had some bloom close to three months!) and I've had some decent luck getting them to bloom again.

A lot of stores will also sell the dendrobium orchid plants. I think they're prettier, but they seem to be a lot weaker plants and I can't get them to live nearly as long.

Answer 5

Cymbidiums are fairly easy to grow.

Answer 6

I've had pretty good luck with Paphiopedilum