Blooming Things

I'm not obsessive about house plants.  But I do enjoy living things in the house - besides people that is.  And I have a particular fondness for blooming things.  There's just something about fresh flowers....

The Husband and I have an interesting dynamic when it comes to plants.  I fly by the seat of my pants - just do what feels right.  The Husband's approach (as it is to lots of things in life) is to educate himself then do what the experts recommend.  A worthy approach to anything.

So we've had a minor tug-of-war going on with one of my orchids.  To be truthful (and when am I not?) it is kind of a sorry looking plant.  The ends of the leaves turn brown and it gets a bit wrinkly.  He's sort of taken the plant over a time or two - put it in the bathroom where there is more humidity, tried different watering approaches (and there I agree, I think it does need more water than the others).

Then I recently stole it back.  It now resides with its friends, my other orchids.

Yesterday during my regular watering I found myself squealing with delight.  Here's what I saw.

If you look closely (or click on the image to enlarge) you'll see a tall spike heading off on the left side of the plant.  This appeared nearly overnight.  And it will be - yes, you guessed it - orchid blooms!!

That means that this year every single orchid that I have has bloomed.  One of the pluses of orchids is that the blooms last for months.  Just this week one of the plants lost the last of its blooms from the early spring.  And I still have an orchid that has about 20 flowers still on it.

So...sometimes it just works out.  Whether by design (educating and following the general wisdom) or accident (flying by the seat of your pants), good things are often the result.  (And in my head I'm jumping up and down and whisper-shouting, "YAY, YAY, YAY!")