Orchid tales

I don't know about any of you, but right now is the time of year that my orchid is usually dormant. I have special patience when it comes to orchids, however, because I attribute my interest in gardening to them. About 4 years ago, I worked in an office where it was perfectly chic to give and receive an orchid as a gift, but as soon as the flowers would die, the orchid plants (pot and all!) would end up in the garbage. I didn't know anything about them, but I just knew that couldn't be right.

So began my orchid rescue mission. I became an expert trash picker, which was slightly awkward since everyone else there thought they were dead. I think there was a time when I had five rescued orchids at home! I happened to live above a very cool gardening shop, and took one of them down to find out if it was still alive. The lovely girl who worked there showed me how to look at the roots to see if they are healthy, how to re-pot it and how to take care of it. I've had pretty good luck with orchids ever since. I say pretty good because I had a few shrivel up and die on me (I wasn't that great at remembering to water back then!) but I still have one happy little one, who you've seen here before, and I get a flower about twice a year.

Here's some orchid advice on Shelterrific, a favorite blog of mine.