Orchid

Since moving to Washington, I have had horrible luck with my orchids. The move overall was a hard adjustment gardening wise. I am finally getting used to the fact nurseries are not open year round, you can only buy whatever flower is in season, just about everything dies back to the ground in the winter, our veggie season is incredibly short and plants that were full shade in California tend to be full sun in Washington. But anyways, back to the orchids.

I had two and ever since we moved, they have gotten sadder looking by the day. Finally, I got tired of looking at them, but didn't want to toss them, so put them in the corner of my office. It's like having an old pet, I didn't want to put them to sleep, so I just tried to make them as comfortable as possible in a sunny window to live out their last days. I figured death was inevitable.

Yesterday, I was doing some rearranging in my office and I remembered I had orchids. They hadn't been watered for a LONG time, so it wasn't surprising one was barely holding on to its last green leaf. I brought it over to the sink to give it some water in hopes that maybe it will come back to life. I figured the other orchid would be in the same dehydrated, deathly state, however, I was wrong. As I picked up my second orchid to water, I noticed there is a small stalk of new growth. Amazing! I knew they always did better with a little neglect, but I would never have guessed the thing was actually alive enough to produce new growth. I gave it a little water yesterday and will try to keep it neglected for a few months in hopes of the growth ending with a flower. It is back in the same corner as before, however now, I have hopes that it may come back to life and that I won't have to put it to sleep for a long time.