A Long-Awaited Reward

I bought my first orchid in 2009 after seeing my mom enjoy her modest collection for the couple years prior.  Instantly, I was hooked.  Since then, my collection has ballooned to between 35 and 40 plants, which are all kept on two sofa tables and some empty kitchen counter space.  My collection consists of a variety of types: phalaenopsis, doritis, paphiopedilum, phragmipedium, stanhopia, vanda, dendrobium, epidendrum, cattleya, epicattleya, among others.  It all started with a pure white phalaenopsis with the hybrid name "Funny Virgin".  In the following few months, I purchased a deep purple phal. and a green/white/purple paph., both of which which I kept for a while.  All three of these I'd found at some kind of big-box store, so they weren't anything fancy but I was impressed nonetheless.

Backstory: my husband and I started dating in college.  I graduated a year ahead of him and moved about four hours away.  Once he graduated, he luckily found a job in the same city and moved to a house about 15 minutes away from me.

About a year later, he took me to an orchid grower that he'd found online while doing some research.  He'd wanted to buy me an orchid as a gift but it was a very specific kind that you couldn't find at big-box stores.  When we arrived at the grower 40 minutes west of town, we were greeted by an older white-haired man, so friendly and happy to have customers.  He treated you like you were the only customer that had ever been there, like you were the most important.  I was immediately blown away by the enormous variety of orchids he grew at his greenhouse.  I'd heard of a few "non-standard" kinds because of my mom's collection (I say "non-standard" because you can't typically get them at big-box stores) but there were countless varieties that I had never heard of.  And they all looked so unique!  Large, small, frilly, smooth, leafy, stalky, white, purple, red, yellow, orange, pink, green, brown, spotted, solid.  The comparisons go on and on.

That first visit to the grower (first of many visits!), I think I bought six plants.  One was a phragmipedium fischeri x besseae.  Phragmipediums are a slipper orchid with a bulbous bottom petal while the rest of the petals are generally flat.  It is similar to paphilpedilums, another slipper orchid, except that they originate from different parts of the world (phrags from Latin America, paphs from Asia).  The species besseae is typically a red flower with golden yellow accents, particularly in the throat.  Fischeri is typically a pink or pink-and-white flower.  The flower in this cross I had purchased exhibits more of the coloring of the fischeri species.  It was flowering when I bought it, and in the harsh, dry Midwestern winter air (inside houses, not even considering the cold outside), the flower didn't last much more than a week, maybe two.  I figured "next year, it'll bloom again."  Next year became two years, then three years.  On a few occasions, I considered throwing the plant away.  But since it grew leaves so readily, I had a hard time giving up on it.  Eventually it had to bloom again, right?

When we moved west to our current location last spring, I trucked along all of my orchids in the back seat and trunk of my Honda Civic and drove across the country.  Most of my plants made it unscathed, which was better than I expected.  So I carried on as normal once I got them set up near a well-lit window.  And by that, I mean I proceeded to neglect them as I habitually do (I know, that's probably not the best, but it's better than over-watering!).  I was so lazy I didn't water any of my orchids for an entire month.  Then I started again.

And suddenly, a stem shot up seemingly overnight, and a bud peeked out.  It continued to grow and eventually bloomed.  I shrieked!  I could not believe that after all this time, and trying all kinds of tricks and adjustments to environment to no avail, and finally after neglecting for a month, it decided to bloom.  This is the kind of stuff that makes growing orchids so satisfying.  You put so much effort, care, and hope into the plants that they'll grow and be healthy and produce their beautiful flowers.  And when they finally do...... it's hard to put into words that feeling of triumph.

So here's a photo of my phrag in bloom.  It's a sequential bloomer, meaning it blooms one flower at a time and the existing flower drops before the next bud emerges.  Its second bloom has just opened in the other room, but this photo is of its first flower.

Phragmipedium fischeri x besseae

P.S. I probably don't use exactly correct technical terminology when I talk about orchids.  Please don't be too hard on me for that!  I still have lots to learn and will probably never sound like a plant expert (this is a hobby, not my profession), but I will try to be as clear as possible in my posts.  If you have any orchid questions, please don't hesitate to ask.  I'll do my best to answer.