The first hardy orchid to flower for us each late winter/early spring is the amazing Cymbidium goeringii ‘Early Riser’. The foliage looks similar to a liriope, until it’s topped with the fascinating flowers. This species is quite easy to grow in average to fairly dry shade.
Hopefully you will have these available again in the near future. Would love to try some of the other east asian cymbidums outdoors (seems a lot of work for some of the species indoors:
Cymbidium goeringii in the hardiest of the genus. You’d need to garden in Zone 8/9 to have luck with C. sinensis or C. ensifolium outdoors.