The vanilla bean comes from an orchid, not sure which variety. Do you just want to have the beans to use? I just buy mine at the Bulk Food store. If there is an orchid nursery near you perhaps they could steer you in the right direction. Good luck.

Well now... never thought of the bulk food store, duh me. Great idea! Thank you.

The vanilla 'bean' are actually seed pods filled with very fine seeds that are typical of orchids. The seeds lack the food reserves seen in most other plant seeds and require an external source of sugar. In the wild, this is provided by symbiotic fungi. In cultivation, growing an orchid from seed is a task usually reserved for experts and consists of sterile sealed flask flasks and agar jelly.

Grocery store vanilla 'beans' are highly unlikely to have a single viable seed left.

You'll be better off finding someone who will give you a cutting (they are a climbing orchid). Not easy to grow unless you have a warm greenhouse....good luck.

this posting really caught my eye
I am a Canadian from Ontario but have a home 12 years now down in southern Florida.

At one time I had a small plant given to me by a neigbhour of the vanilla plant. I managed to keep it two no I think three years in one of my garden beds.
It was beginning to really grow and I thought maybe I will get bloom and even seeds The growth is quite attractive and although I know it is a vine I had let it grow, on the ground, as did my neigbhour
One year when I came back down, the man who takes care of the yard, when I am back in Canada, had chopped every bit out thinking it a weed.
I was ever so sad about it but nothing to be done
The neigbhour who had the plant naturalized even in her garden moved away and the new people chopped out the entire bed the plants where growing in. So could not get further
I have seen it in nurserys down here and I know a couple of people in Ft Myers, Florida, where I live have it growing But i have never actually made contact with them.

I think if I recall correctly I did see it growing in the greenhouse tropical building of the Montreal Botanical gardens. that was maybe four years ago.
Would be nice to give it a try And I enjoyed reading the comments

The pods sold for cooking will not have any viable seeds because of the way the beans are processed. Growing orchids from seed is not impossible at home, in fact I know several people who do. However, it requires sterile technique and a relatively long time to grow to a blooming plant. The vanilla beans most often comes from Vanilla planifolia.

This species is relatively common in the orchid trade as a novelty (not meant for home bean production) so they are quite readily available from many orchid vendors or mail order sources.

The word 'cutting' intrigued me as most orchids don't work that way. But the website of the Montreal Botanical Gardens says that one arrived there as a "cutting" (une bouture), so I learned something.

Jewel Orchids can be propagated as cuttings too

"The word 'cutting' intrigued me as most orchids don't work that way. But the website of the Montreal Botanical Gardens says that one arrived there as a "cutting" (une bouture), so I learned something."

As a climbing orchid, it puts out lots of roots at each node making it an easy one to propagate by cuttings.

While on vacation in Florida, I found a place to purchase ' vanilla bean orchid' and 'dragon fruit cuttings'!! I was so excited. He lives in Inverness. He had an awesome setup of several green houses for growing both of these plants. If anyone wants contact information, feel free to email me!!

re; "The word 'cutting' intrigued me as most orchids don't work that way. But the website of the Montreal Botanical Gardens says that one arrived there as a "cutting" (une bouture), so I learned something."

Having grown up in tropical Asia and seen and visited many orchid productions, I can at least explain that many orchids are mass produced from tiny cuttings placed in flasks containing agar & growth hormones. There are special solutions to stimulate growth. Obviously not something that occurs in the wild. There procedures are done under very sterile conditions (think laboratories). Hope that clarifies this part of the vanilla bean plant production.