An unusual Phalaenopsis orchid comes to stay.
As really loyal F&F readers know, I’ve always been a little terrified of orchids. But since moving to a second floor flat, I’ve found myself taking on more and more houseplants to make the place feel a bit more like a garden indoors. And this orchid turned up at just the right time. It was one of many pretty Phalaenopsis orchids on show at a recent family wedding, and I ended up taking one home with me once the party was over.
It is an unusual variety of moth orchid, too: so unusual that the mother of the bride spent months trawling the country trying to find someone who grew it after her daughter found one specimen in a shop. This is the stockist. Clearly it was worth the hunt.
It turns out that part of my fear of orchids, based on the sad death of one I bought from a market when I was a fresher at university, was rather unfounded. You see, the thing about orchids is that if you do buy a slightly puny one from a market stall for £5 and then sort of forget to water it and don’t give it enough light or warmth because you’re a skint student, then you’ll find the plant doesn’t see much point in sticking around. But these were considerably better quality plants than my market stall purchase, I have a perfect place for it in my kitchen which is bright but not too sunny, warm and, when I’m cooking, filled with just that little bit of condensation that orchids like. Which is why this has been flowering solidly ever since late September.
Impressive, no?
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Jean truffaut
I bought orchids for a girl once, I never did find out their eventual fate, perhaps had I given both of them a little more consideration I might have found out. Ah well…
Tim Royce
Orchids my favorite flower have spent hours looking for rare english orchids in fields and hedgerows over the years when i was studying at college