Sunday 22 December 2013

THE ORCHID




I don't think I've even managed to keep an orchid alive and in bloom for this long, but the one in the countryside bathroom is still hanging in there and looking all nice. Sometimes when you look at flowers, like really look at them, it makes you rather quiet, thinking of how they are engineered and designed, so complex and so functional. Oh wow. (Once when I had a hangover I, for some reason, read about carrots and photosynthesis and it made me cry. I always try to avoid nature documentaries on lazy Sundays too because of the same reason.)

Have to confess that this is the second one in this room though, the first one got attacked by these small silvery evil white mini thingies and when I treated the orchid with pesticides all the flowers fell off. So this little baby gets sprayed with water and then I pat the flowers dry afterwards. Yes, I totally have the material to not only develop into crazy cat lady when older, but also become weird flower person. (There's a little way to go until Harold Smith though -for those of you who know your Twin Peaks. But really. I've never had an orchid drop it's flowers and then get new ones, what should one do in order for one to bloom again?)

And the light in the picture, which mostly is due to long exposure, reminds me that as from today we are going towards longer lighter times again! Something one never notices at this time of year since it is d-a-r-k (which is ok around Christmas I think, as there are lights and lanterns and glow everywhere anyway), but it is happening. The day today was calculated to last 5 hours and 49 minutes and tomorrow it will be 5:50 already. Part-ey.

5 comments:

chiara said...

Oh no! I have these white flies all over my rosemary, sage and hibiscus... You can try to spray with water containing mashed garlic, but I can assure you the smell is terrible. And you'd have to repeat the spraying every 2-3 days. It works, but it takes a looong time to show any results.

Yasmin said...

You are super funny. I mean it!

Miah said...

Light, light, light - orchids need lots of it, then they will bloom again. At least that's what my mom says, and she is almost on her way to becoming Harold Smith. :)

Deb said...

I don't know who Harold Smith is but I'm beginning to think I need to rent Twin Peaks.

Maureen said...

My daughter gave me a white orchid for Mother's Day and it lasted better when I discovered I shouldn't over water it.

When the last flower dropped off I cut the flower stem and put it in my bathroom window as I like the leaves as a plant. Then, I noticed a green shoot which over two months has turned into a spray of flowers better than the first! So when the flowers die, put your plant out of the way, run the roots under water and drain every week to ten days and see what happens.