HiveGarden: My Indoor Garden #2, The Orchids
In my last garden post, I featured my very oldest plant. Today, I'm featuring a younger group and I have a funny story to tell you about how I got my first real orchid. Isn't it a beauty? I took the photo this morning.
Here they are on my kitchen table with my Christmas cactus for a group photo. This nook in my kitchen has a big window facing the South-Southwest and a sliding glass door to the side. Sheer curtains cover the windows, making this light just perfect for orchids.
A few months ago, the yellow orchid was covered with flowers. It seems one or the other always has flowers.
Now for my story... I was on a holiday three years ago and I had left a friend to water my house plants. At some point, he texted me and asked how I managed to get my orchid, above, to bloom when its soil - or whatever we should call it -- was so dry.
I texted back, IT'S PLASTIC!!!
He was so disgusted that he had been watering a plastic orchid. (That's it, above. Does it look real to you? Very easy to care for but it requires dusting.)
One day after I had returned, my doorbell rang and he was standing there holding a potted orchid. He handed it to me, saying how I deserved a real one. I think... he was buying my silence!
So this is my first real orchid in full bloom. I have had it for three years. Gorgeous!
The next orchid was also given to me. When I returned from my Australian adventure in the autumn of 2020, my tenant, who had been taking care of my plants, asked me if I would keep his orchid. He didn't really want it and had... um, noticed that I like plants. I didn't tell him how much I had pared back my collection before going on my trip!
That's how I got my second real orchid. It just happened to work out that its colours are different than the first one.
You can see by all of the roots that it's a little older than the white one.
It's funny but I had resisted getting an orchid for years because I thought they required special care, but even in our dry winter, these two (and the plastic one!) are doing just fine.
Several weeks ago.
The last bud on the yellow orchid while the white one is just getting started.
Images
Photos from my iPad and Canon SX620 HS by @kansuze in Kanata (Ottawa), Canada.
Enjoy!
@kansuze
0
0
0.000
I'm wondering if your friend managed to get anything else growing in the pot after he began watering it. 😆 Good to read they're all doing well. I wouldn't have imagined orchids thriving so easily in such a cold climate as Canada. At least, not the living ones.
We have very good heating systems in our homes. The only problem in the winter is dryness.
Hahaha, good story.
My orchids don't bloom much, I think I need to change the medium to something that holds water a little longer
One of these pots (plastic) sits inside another close fitting and deeper pot (plastic). Once a week, I put the inner pot in the sink and run water through. I let it sit for a minute and then put the pot back inside the other. The outer pot just catches water and, as it is deeper, the orchid never sits in water.
I love this orchid flower, they look so delicate.
Me too.
Hello, I am fascinated by anyone who grows orchids. I have never tried it so I have a collection of plastic orchids that look real so I'm not surprised haha, so hilarious.
I still couldn't get over the jade plant you propagated in your previous post. When I spot one during a trip to the city, I'll finally buy one.
I remember seeing someone's orchids and she had them sitting on pebbles over water in a plastic greenhouse in her home. I thought they were difficult, and I'm sure some are. That was before my grocery store started selling this variety, but I doubt I ever would have bought one myself.
When I see friends spraying them delicately with water sprays and each orchid is tied to a wooden trunk, I couldn't help feeling impressed. Maybe one day I'll try a real one. :)