Proletariat Orchids October 15, 2011

Back in the states, I had a large garden of NC native plants.  Despite regular neglect on my part, the garden did pretty well and I got a lot of joy out of it.  However, I have always had mixed results with indoor plants.  They don’t do so well when you neglect them.  Because of this, I had always been hesitant to get any orchids, though Chris loved them.  They are pricey and I hate to spend that kind of money on something that may not last.

In February our good pal Melanie came to visit.  Melanie is a plant guru: she has a PhD in plants, works in plants, and loves to geek out about plants the way I love to geek out about birds.   When she came here, we went together to the Flower Market and spent hours checking out bulbs, discussing plants, and having fun.  We noticed one of the vendors had a special on orchids.  I told Melanie that Chris loves orchids, I fear orchids and she bought us two. They were so inexpensive, she said, that this way if they died I should not feel bad.  We immediately dubbed them the “Proletariat Orchids”  (due to their cheap nature) and brought them home.

I put one orchid, the pink one, in the bathroom (according to another pal, Paul, orchids love the humidity of bathrooms) and the other one, the white one, in the dining room.  Time passed.  Pinky produced bloom after bloom after bloom.  We have now had them since February and pinky still is covered with blooms.  It is a total overachiever.

White stayed completely the same, and then lost its two white blooms after about a month.  I know orchids go through a dormant period, so I moved white to the bathroom, hoping the humidity might work better for it than the drafty dining room.  I am happy to report that a few weeks ago, we noticed that white had a new stem!  And now, a new leaf!  It’s quite exciting.  No blooms yet but maybe soon.

I do worry a bit as the bathroom can get cold in the winter, plus I tend to forget about both plants and all of a sudden panic and water them, but they really have brought us 6+ months of joy.  Melanie, thanks for helping me get over my fear of orchids.  Maybe I will even buy more.

Fall Garden Update October 19, 2008

I really like fall.  I love the changing colors and the cooler weather, and of course the state fair (which is going on right now, and I plan to attend on Thursday!).   Fall is also the season for planting perennials and trees and shrubs so I have been very busy.  I bought a bunch of neat native perennials from the NC Botanical Garden annual plant sale including:  Spreading Jacob’s Ladder, White wood Aster, King Solomon’s Seal (I already have one of these but its very small and needs company), and Pink Turtle head.

I am particularly excited because the west side of our house has been chronically overrun by an invasive called Periwinkle.  Pretty, but bossy!  Despite my best attempts to clean it up the fact that our neighbor had it everywhere in his yard made my annual periwinkle pullings totally moot. This summer our neighbor got all fancy and hired someone who cleaned all his periwinkle up, and I pulled mine up a month ago and so now there is not much left at all.  So now I have a whole new side of the house to landscape.  OK, I guess what I do is not really landscaping but more like: I put plants in and then stress over them, occasionally water them, and act neurotic until they bloom and then subsequently neglect them.

Of course, I also love fall food, and it goes without saying that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but there will be posts on that, I am sure,  later.