Much of the story takes place in, or revolves around, the swamps of south Florida, which symbolize the difficulties inherent in pursuing an obsession. Laroche’s theft, of course, takes place in the swampland of the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, so that becomes central to the story. Orlean visits the swamp several times to look for orchids and to try to see the elusive ghost orchid.

The swamp is the natural habitat of orchids in Florida, providing a home to the flowers since its existence. Orlean disliked it, noting that her time there was “probably the most miserable I have spent in my entire life” (35). It spooked and disgusted her: “Spooky places are usually full of death,” she writes, “but the Fakahatchee is crazy with living things” (36). This is its signature quality. It is teeming with life, fertile and febrile, full of strange characters, and rather mysterious. In the Fakahatchee, for example, a person the rangers call “the Ghost Grader” shows up occasionally with equipment to clear the roads of vines. He is anonymous, however, as no one has ever seen him; they only see the results of his work.