Blooms

My mom always said I had a green thumb. I don't really think it's a green thumb - it's just the desire to have pretty, blooming things around me - and the willingness to plant whatever I choose and see what happens. Many things I've planted have not done well and I just replace them with other plants. So it's not really that I have a skill to grow things. I'm just too stubborn to accept failure and willing to drive to Home Depot or OSH for 'reinforcements' as needed.

When J. and I were first dating, we took a trip to our local mall. The "event" that weekend was an African Violet show. I'd always heard they were impossibly hard to grow and had never tried them. But cuttings were only a dollar a pack so we bought a couple cuttings, one plant, some soil and an instruction booklet. Those violets were the first live thing we purchased together and agreed to be responsible for as a couple. The lady who sold us the stuff said 'follow these two simple rules and they'll do great; 1) they don't like going to bed with wet roots so don't water at night and 2) water from the bottom - always put the pot in a saucer and water the 'saucer'. The plant 'sucks up' what it needs. Those cuttings flourished. At one point, we had over a dozen violets from just those starter plants. They ended up being very 'easy' to grow - just kept them inside, watered every week, fertilized monthly and viola - beautiful violets.

I bought an orchid a few years back at Target. It was around Easter when there was an end unit display with beautiful orchids in full bloom.
I immediately pictured an orchid carefully placed in my home, looking just like the Real Simple magazine cover - and it did, for about a month. Then the blossoms died. And it never bloomed again. I received another orchid as a gift and it was blooming when I received it and then didn't bloom again. Ever.

Until this past week - and 'lo and behold - BOTH orchids are blooming - a beautiful yellow and a delicate white - both in full bloom. AT THE SAME TIME - which is all the more amazing because neither has shown any indication of blooming in over 4 years. I walk by them in the kitchen and I can't believe they are in my home. I have my own 'cover shot' in my kitchen - beautiful orchids in beautiful glass pots in bloom.

Happy Spring!!