Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Together Growing Orchids

When I first moved to Colorado I had 3 other roommates. Then one by one they all left and it was just myself and this orchid. It was one of my previous roommates and she was unable to take it with her. So I moved it out of her room and placed it in a south facing window. All I knew about orchids at this point was that DD always had one in her bathroom when I was growing up and eventually it would disappear. I am not one for houseplants and I never questioned where they all went because they died. Orchids are stubborn little plants! They need just the right amount of sun and water or they die. At first this particular plant had limp leaves and no flowers. And then within a week of me watering and moving it around the apartment it grew firm leaves and began to bud and flower. Now that I have brought this plant back to life I feel that I have to take care of it. It has been growing so rapidly this past month that it grew right out of its pot! Literally the roots were coming out of the pot. So I finally decided that this orchid needed a new pot and some decent soil. So DD sent me a book on orchids, which I read twice because now I'm afraid I might kill this little guy and today I have successful cleaned its root system, replaced its soil and put it in a new pot. One of my new roommates asked if I was going to name it...we decided to wait a week and make sure it lives the re-pot. Darn it...I'm starting to like this little guy!

3 comments:

Debra Denton said...

She looks lovely! How about calling her, Grace? Grace most often means "the power of salvation." And you have certainly brought her back to life through your tender loving care (heart)!

Anne said...

that's an amazing orchid story i was hoping to hear it.
i've given orchids to my mom before, they've always died.
i know they take unique care.
there's an annual orchid festival at Sonnenburg each early March - I usually go, I missed it this year tho' - if you are ever back here early March we shoudl go and take DD!

Anne said...

that's an amazing orchid story i was hoping to hear it.
i've given orchids to my mom before, they've always died.
i know they take unique care.
there's an annual orchid festival at Sonnenburg each early March - I usually go, I missed it this year tho' - if you are ever back here early March we shoudl go and take DD!

and I love DD's idea on the name Grace - she is so right!