Orchids: An Appreciation

 

My Window Garden

Breakfast: six-grain toast with mango/jalapeno hummus and a white nectarine.

And what is probably the last bloom of the amaryllis Claui's folks gave us which has been blooming since Christmas.

 

Orchids in the Sun

 

Table Garden

                                                                                   

                                                                                  

                                                                              

Blooming at My Window

 

On Sundays She Tends Her Orchids

I have eight of them on our dining table -- a location that seems to agree with them as seven of them are in bloom right now and one is covered with buds.

And every Sunday I water and fertilize them, do a search and destroy for scale (it is always lurking,) and appreciate anew their exotic beauty.

Orchids, Eight Ladybugs, and an Angel

Meditation

I try to make time every Sunday for my little collection of orchids. I sit at the dining table in the morning with the sun pouring in and give each one a dose of water with a little orchid fertilizer. 

I also examine them closely for the insidious scale that I can't seem to get rid of and scrape off each little turtle-backed invader. Occasionally a stink bug will be trying to hide between the petals and I become a ruthless exterminator.

Spending time looking closely at something is like a soothing meditation. 

And the orchids reward me by re-blooming. Two of the small orchids were gifts from Ethan and Justin when I was incarcerated in the nursing home/rehab facility over a year ago and they're on their third bloom cycle. The yellow orchid is one I took to Claui in the hospital when Josie was born (it's spending the winter up here as their house is too chilly) and it's on its second cycle.

Of course, the sunny east-facing window, away from drafts and direct heat is a big factor in the orchid's thriving. As is the routine use of fertilizer (weekly, weakly.)

Still, I like to think it's at least partly due to our quiet and focused time together.

I suspect we would all bloom with similar attention. 

In the Bleak Midwinter . . .

... it's cheering to tend plants and watch them bloom.