Crazy Orchid Lady

Talk about mixed feelings, the fall is the time I love to be sad.  After all, I am heading for winter in New England.  No small thing!  At the moment, I am slicing down the garden and saying good-bye.  It’s also the season of my birth.  Another not so small thing.  I used to get really depressed until I found orchids; fall and winter bloomers that leave me ecstatic with anticipation and so satisfied when they open, filling my nostrils with lovely scents that I wait to smell for six months to a year.

Cattleya Aloha Case

Cym. Golden Elf 'Sundust'

Vanda Pachara Delight

And of course there is fall foliage.  What an amazing farewell display!  I was looking at a maple yesterday all lime green within, melting to yellow then orange and culminating with crimson outside leaves.  All I could muster was “GOSH!”  It’s almost too much to absorb at once.  Soon the snow will insulate the earth and my garden and muffle sounds and drive me inside to my inner sanctum of blooming orchids and very hot baths in the claw foot.  I still go kicking and screaming into winter, even though I know better.

My orchids are oblivious to my agony and despair.  They are quite happy to get out of the 40 degree F nights and into bright warm spaces with fans recreating tropical wind and their beloved reverse osmosis water.  They take advantage of their good fortune by attempting reproduction-they flower and beg for pollinators that may sneak in the door to my office and possibly be tricked into helping to create a seedpod (which will never become a plant since I have no lab).  Their happiness makes me proud that I’m a good mommy, all the while knowing that I probably am just learning not to smother them with care; to neglect them a little, so they will thrive better than they have in the past with my constant attention and over-watering.  I’m often in the dark about what truly helps them thrive.  I wonder if I should return to superstitions, chants, and good luck charms since I rarely see a pattern of what thrives and what dies.  I know that they sulk with my summer and fall moves inside to out and back again.  They just want to sit on the branch of one tree and let the seasons happen around them, but they know nothing about how lucky they truly are to never experience a New England winter!  Come to think of it, I would like to just sit still and experience the seasons happening around me, too.

What is fall like for you?  Come chat with us on the COL forum.

I was deadheading the daylilies this morning and the beauty around me was quite overwhelming. Some mornings are just like that. The light is so subtle and the newly opened flowers are so happy to be open and reaching towards the sun. The color first thing, as they open, is the strongest it will be all day. Just like the scent of the rugosa roses, the beauty wends its way in my direction and eventually moves directly to my heart. It is very direct, like music is: it almost feels like an arrow has pierced me when I suddenly stop deadheading and pay attention to it. “OHHH” is all I can say. Here it is again.

And do the pollinators get swept away in the same passion as me?

Today I wondered why it is always such a surprise to feel it, even though it is all around me in the garden so much of the time. Is it that I must wake up from all the mundane thoughts I have? Or is it like pain? We can remember we were in pain after the fact, but we have lost the feelings of the experience, thank goodness. I bet beauty is the same. We cannot hold it, but need to rediscover it over and over. Long live my flowers, then, that force me to rediscover beauty!

What do you think?

Greenhouses make orchid growing so much easier, but I always balk when I think of heating yet more space!  Actually, I did consider attaching a walk-in greenhouse to the back side of our home where the snow crashing down from the tall roof wouldn’t fall directly on the glass or plastic roof of a potential greenhouse.  But then we made a patio and attached a generator to the house there. So, as a result my 450+ orchid collection lives indoors with me in two large rooms, my warm office and my cool former art studio.

This week, within the space of 24 hours, I encountered the largest home greenhouse and the smallest home greenhouse I’d ever seen.  The largest was built by a fellow member of my local orchid society, Keith Tibbetts of Windsor, Massachusetts.  Here is an article I wrote about my visit to his greenhouse with all of my photos.  http://www.crazyorchidlady.com/articles/keith-tibbetts-amazing-orchid-greenhouse/

And the smallest, I read about rather than visited through a New York Times article about tiny houses which have the potential of being tiny portable greenhouses.  These are built by Derek Diedricksen, also a Massachusetts resident. The $200 Microhouse.

And his video….

So what is all this sudden information about the biggest and smallest greenhouse hinting at?  Does this mean that I need to sell my firstborn and build a greenhouse?  I think I will buy one of those little houses first and meditate in it…..

Do you have a greenhouse??

Angulocaste Olympus 'Chadds Ford'

I buy orchids online from great sellers, established or on ebay, from local sellers, local florists, and occasionally in a desperate moment at big box stores.  So why do I still make a roadtrip for hours each way to an orchid show?  I think it is to understand the big picture and who we are in this big picture.  Who are we all, novices and experts as a group?  What do we have in common?  Who was smitten enough to want to work with orchids full time and become a seller?  What would our collection be without these people? (We have lost many the last few years….)

We go to take photos, to find a rare or not so rare treasure.  We get to pick out the plant with a new lead or larger leaves, a spike or a bud out of a group of them.  To pick out the prettiest and most different phalaenopsis, cattleya, dendrobium.  I go to find miniatures since I am always concerned with room for new ones.  I go to get to know my sellers personally, to ask them advice, to give them feedback and to let them know I appreciate what they do.  And most of all, I talk to new collectors to see the passion dawning on their faces when they tell me stories.

I only spoke in depth with one newbie yesterday at the New Hampshire Orchid Society Show in Nashua.  We were waiting for our partners to drive the cars closer to the freezing cold entrance, wrapped orchids in hand.  All I said was, “What did you get?” and in three and a half minutes, she told me it was her first time, came with a woman from work, mother in Singapore grew orchids in her yard in charcoal pots, showed me the gold cattleya charm from her mom dangling around her neck.  It was all coming together for her and she sparkled with excitement.  Yeah, we are a friendly passionate group that never stop being amazed by the beauty, variety, and our connection to our beloved orchids.

Why do you go to shows?

Happy Valentine’s Day all!

Beallara Peggy Ruth Carpenter 'Morning Joy'

I never realized just what an obsessive collector I truly am until I started collecting orchids.  One would think I would have figured it out long before that (hint: 270 daylily varieties, 250 beardless iris cultivars, 40 hoyas, 40 amaryllis, boxes of all the family photos, 200 of my late uncle’s outsider art paintings)!  But orchids brought it home to me that I was a collector.  There they sit on their shelves or windowsills, waiting for good conditions, depending on the kindness of strangers (me), flowers I fall in love with over and over, and had to own.  And will I ever see those glorious flowers (or see them again if I bought them in bloom)?

So what is my collection pattern?  I tend to be very consistent in my taste.  I like miniature to compact orchids but periodically stray into giant plants (Schomburgkias, Cymbidiums).  I love artshades, species-looking forms, subtle more than over the top, unusual color combos, stripes and spots, clean whites, dark reds, the blues, and salmon (oh salmon!!!).  Laelias, Cymbidiums, Lycastes….make me swoon!  Oh dear, I’ve got it bad!  I am so consistent that I will buy the same orchids I already own, if I don’t bring my list with me.

I find a species I love and buy 40 of them before I know it.  Try to keep them alive.  Then after a few years (yes, years) of no bloom, I research madly, asking everyone I know with any experience, how to get them to bloom.  I know I should use the scientific method-gaining success with one before buying the next and next-but that’s NOT my pattern.  It’s not exactly bungee jumping, but when I have a breakthrough for 40 orchids, I am wildly excited!!!  What can I say?  It’s not logical…..

Do you have a pattern?

Blc. Yen Corona 'Green Genie'

Growing orchids is a roller coaster ride.  But there are many useful lessons.  Eventually, you start to see patterns and can get more consistent, but it takes years.  Here are some things I’m learning whether I want to or not:

Buy healthy plants, not the $1 sale orchids that look sad.  Saving an orchid is near impossible once they are near death.  They are not like other houseplants.

Don’t overwater (still working on this one).  I spent two winters battling rot after rainy summers.  Nobody likes to be ice cold and wet.

Flowering will happen eventually if you have a happy growing plant.  Be patient.  It’s good practice.

Each orchid has a range of tolerance to growing conditions and some, with little wiggle room, won’t like yours.  Try not to take it personally when you lose an orchid!!

Don’t compare your ability to grow and flower to others.  It’s a chump game to beat yourself up for only producing one flower.  Every flower is a gift and a miracle you should be proud of.

Just some thoughts on Groundhog’s Day….