I got this orchid plant for my birthday (October) in 2007. They were gorgeous and they stayed in bloom for many many months. I had never had an orchid before, so I kept thinking they were a miracle plant. My grandmother passed in Feb of 2008 and for some reason I have associated these orchids with her. They had nothing to do with her, but yet I think of her every time I see them. So now, the orchids are my grandmothers flower whether she liked them or not!
The first part of the summer 2008 the blooms finally started to fall off of my beautiful orchid plant. After a few weeks, the plant was neekid. I had two sticks in a pot sitting on my windowsill.
Let me give you a little background. I kill houseplants. I had a table full of once lovely plants sitting in front of a gorgeous window and they were all dead plants. It was affectionately called "The Adams Family Garden." Now that my husband has had a liver transplant, we are not supposed to have plants in the house. It is the dirt that is the problem, so the orchid squeaked in by a technicality. It is planted in moss - no dirt. We haven't had any trouble with Tom and the plant, so we're still OK with it. We don't have any other plants in the house.
OK, so back to the orchid.
I had the two sticks in the window. I watered the sticks a few times in 4 months but had pretty much decided I had a dead plant. It was down to one leaf, too. I actually held the plant and gave it an ultimatum...Two weeks. I needed a sign that it was alive within two weeks.
The next week a shoot came up out of the totally dry moss (I hadn't watered it in ages) and grew amazingly fast! When it reached about 6" high another shoot came out from one of the sticks. A week or two later I could see blooms forming on the ends of both shoots.
The picture above was taken yesterday. My orchid bloomed! It has been blooming for many weeks now and now once again I think of my grandmother when I look at the blooms.
I am so very happy that this plant did not turn into an Adams family garden. I hope I'm past that phase.
Have a great week!
Kristin
4 comments:
Awww! I absolutely cannot keep a plant alive to save my life. Clearly I need to get an orchid if it doesn't require a ton of watering to survive. Your story made me laugh, and I think it is very sweet that it reminds you of your grandmother. I bought my husband's grandmother one for her anniversary several years ago, so I think of her whenever I see them.
very cool; I didn't know orchids did that!
Oh, can you send some bloomy love to my orchid? he hasn't had a bloom all winter!!
ooooo, so pretty and I love that you have associated them with your grandma. I tried to keep plants thru the winter but we just don't get enough sunshine.
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