It was at this time of year, a year or so before my friend Gloria died, that she and her husband Bill came up here for a visit. She and I had gone to the local grocery store where Gloria spied a beautiful, locally propagated orchid plant, in full bloom.
We admired it as we got in line to pay for our groceries. Then, as I was taking the bags out to the car, Gloria came out of the store with the orchid in her hand. "Here," she said in her no-nonsnese way, thrusting the pot at me, "Merry Christmas."
The orchid continued to bloom for a full month after that, making me smile and cry at the same time as I looked at it and thought of her and the fight that was ahead of her. She lost that battle a year and a half later.
My orchid only bloomed the one time, going dormant no matter what I did to keep it growing.
Told that these specific orchids do well outside in our rather temperate weather, I put it out on the front steps, watering it sporadically. It survived but didn't thrive. Then an orchid grower told me to spray it with water daily. Just a bit, but do it daily. I did.
A few years went by, then several weeks ago while weeding the front flower bed, I saw that the orchid had put out 5 flower stems with big, fat buds growing along each stem.
Elated, I brought it into the house, babied it, talked to it, put it outside again when there was a warm rain to wash its leaves, brought it back in and babied it some more.
Five days ago it began to bloom. Just in time for Christmas.
Told that these specific orchids do well outside in our rather temperate weather, I put it out on the front steps, watering it sporadically. It survived but didn't thrive. Then an orchid grower told me to spray it with water daily. Just a bit, but do it daily. I did.
A few years went by, then several weeks ago while weeding the front flower bed, I saw that the orchid had put out 5 flower stems with big, fat buds growing along each stem.
Elated, I brought it into the house, babied it, talked to it, put it outside again when there was a warm rain to wash its leaves, brought it back in and babied it some more.
Five days ago it began to bloom. Just in time for Christmas.
2 comments:
What a beautiful orchid and poignant story that comes with it. I was given an orchid when I left my last job earlier this year, I had also given my mother one last Christmas. One of my colleague's hobbies is growing orchids and she does shows etc. What I have is a symbidium (correct if I have spelt it wrong) apparently when the flower dies off you can the spike right back two notches and then feed with a weak tomato feed solution and they flower beautifully again mine has 16 blooms. I notice that yours is a slightly different type of orchid so whether this would work with yours I'm not sure mine put out a lot of air roots and also has thicker and wider roots. I don't imagine that tomato feed would hurt yours, I imagine after it has flowered. Hope I havent told you something you already know??
Anne
Hi Anne,
I've never heard of the tomato feeding for orchids. I'm not very good at getting them to re-bloom, so I'll try anything! Thanks for the tip.
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