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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Tell the Truth Tuesday - Orchids

On Tuesdays, Alison at Bonney Lassie invites us to share parts of our gardens that are less than perfect.  Today, instead of sharing photos of my incredibly messy winter garden, I'm posting a confession of sorts.

I've spent a lot of time resisting orchids.  The blooms are pretty enough but the plant itself doesn't thrill me.  Last May, I received a white cymbidium orchid in bloom as a teacher appreciation gift.  It lived on top of my file cabinet at work until the end of the school year at which time it came home and continued blooming for a couple more months.  The longevity of bloom was remarkable.  Since it didn't die, I repotted it recently and it's putting on growth.  Hmm.  Certainly this plant that's notoriously finicky would have died under my care but it seems to be thriving.  You know how success leads to further experimentation, right? 

At Lowe's picking up supplies for a class, I checked out the plant section.  The fragrance and form of this Cattleya caught my attention and somehow hopped into my cart.  When I think of orchids, this form is what comes to mind, perhaps because these were once very popular corsage flowers. 

This flower is beginning to fade a bit but they're only supposed to last for three or four weeks.

Another visit led to this one  hitching a ride in the cart.  Who could resist such a warm color in the winter.  It's softer, more subtle with more pronounced venation in real life, like a tropical sunset. 

Watson's indoor plant sale included their orchids.  This tiny one, stuffed into a 2" pot seemed innocent enough.  Now that it's home, a second flower spike is emerging. 
The last two are both cymbidiums and if they bloom as long as my first, there will be blooms until the end of the school year.    So, there you have it, the orchid collection now numbers four.  Plants grown exclusively for flowers with no foliar interest at all.  It's a slippery slope toward the world of flower flooziness.   They may end up as compost but even if they do, they will have provided cheerful flowers for a long period of time at a cost less than buying cut flowers every week for three months, right?  (Not that I often buy cut flowers, just saying is all.)

What's your Tuesday Truth? 


16 comments:

  1. Oh, Orchids. They are exotic, tantalizing and long lasting. I hope you succeed with repeat blooms. Did you say "a slippery slope"? The flower and garden show would have a few temptations lined up for you.

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    1. Wow, can you believe the show is only four weeks away? My goal is to not bring home another orchid until I know for sure that I can keep thse relatively inexpensive ones alive.

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  2. What's this? So much beauty in your Tell The Truth Tuesday post. I've felt the tug of orchids myself. The flowers do last a long time, but I too have killed them by trying to repot them to see if I could prompt more flowers. I hope you succeed with these luscious temptresses.

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    1. I watched a video about repotting them and the fellow demonstrating was brutal with getting rid of all the old bark and shoving the new stuff around the roots really hard using a chopstick. Said that you should be able to pick up the pot by the plant and if you can't, you need to pack the bark even tighter. Crazy but it seems to be working.

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  3. So that greenhouse visit I posted about yesterday? He's got a lot of very cool orchids, just sayin'...

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    1. Dear plant enabler, These are already crowding the tiny kitchen counter. Where would I put more? (Greenhouse gets too cold for most of them in the winter and I tend to get too much water on their leaves out there.

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  4. You are going to do just fine with Orchids. They really are not as finicky as people make them out to be. I mean if I can grow them anyone can. Mine are just putting on their buds. I put mine outside last summer and they didn't like it. I think this year they can just stay inside where they are more comfortable.

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  5. Oh dear, it looks like you've become addicted. I agree with you that most orchid foliage is at best ho-hum. I've stuck my orchids on shelves in my lath house and largely ignore them, until they bloom of course.

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  6. Orchids are lovely and the hybrids are mind-boggling in their crosses. It is hard to resist picking one up (rescuing, really, totally selfless ;) ), though a few years down the road, I end up killing them anyway through lack of attention to what they seem to need.

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  7. No orchids here, and no uglies, at least where I can see them from the house now that I have cleaned up the dead plants in the patio pots and I cleaned up the debris accumulating there. The next storm may alter that clean look.

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  8. They are beautiful, but it sounds as though you are hooked, no hope for you now!

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  9. Oh, they're so beautiful! It's refreshing to see these. We have snow.

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  10. Orchids do become a bit of an obsession. Your's are lovely. I think the last two photos are Phalanopsis, moth orchids. They are super easy to look after and, as I can attest, quite tolerant of neglect.

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  11. Orchids are lovely in winter, and the blooms last for ages. Your last two are Moth orchids, Phalaenopsis orchids. They flower twice a year and are much easier than cymbidiums which can be reluctant to rebloom.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.