Orchids have been known to bring out strong emotions among those with green thumbs, and Erin Murphy is no exception.

Murphy, a teacher who works with the horticulture program at Poulsbo Junior High, recently walked among 250-plus orchids that were donated to the horticulture program a few days before, searching for blooms. One plant had unfurled its white, delicate flowers; another had grown brilliantly purple blooms, and Murphy leaned in for a closer look.

“They’re such unique flowers,” Murphy had said earlier. “They’re a flower of love. You take care of them, give them what they need, and once or twice a year, they’ll bloom for you.”

The horticulture program received an unexpected bonus when John Slaughter, who lives in Poulsbo, donated 250 to 300 of the popular plants to the high school program.

Slaughter donated them in memory of his partner Justin Brabham, an avid collector of orchids, who died.

Slaughter kept some of Brabham’s collection, and sold others; but he said he donated the plants to where Brabham would have wanted them to go.

“I knew it was something he would feel good about,” Slaughter said. “he was always concerned about education, and not just reading, writing, and other things.”

Donating the plants to a college wouldn’t have felt right, Slaughter said; their horticulture programs seem to have plenty of money. But smaller high school and junior high programs, like the one in North Kitsap, seemed more in need.

“I gave them to a good cause, where I knew people would learn and the kids would get to enjoy them,” Slaughter said.

It took several trailer-loads to move the flowers over to the horticulture site, where they now take up several tables and overhead wires.

“You can tell he (Brabham) loved these flowers,” Murphy said, “even by the way they were placed in the pots.”

While many of the flowers will be kept and studied, Murphy said, the school does not have the room to keep them all.

So some of the orchids will be sold to community members at relatively low cost — between $10 and $15 per plant — to benefit the horticulture program.

The sale will be held from 2:30 to 6 p.m. Feb. 1, and between 9 a.m. and noon Feb. 2. The sale will be at the horticulture site at PJH both days.

The collection includes both orchids and orchid cactuses.

Students will also be displaying some of them for the upcoming Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle, Murphy said.

The plants, most of which haven’t yet bloomed, are kept in everything from four-inch pots to five-gallon pots, Murphy said.

“They’re just beautiful,” she said.