Thursday, February 28, 2019

My Year of Orchids: Keep it easy

Simple. Keep it easy. Easy. Keep it simple. Nice and easy. Nice and simple. 

We tend to fuss and fume over our orchids. But let’s  face it. They’re big kids and they can take care of themselves. I started mine in trees in the blazing heat of July. Probably did everything wrong. “Tried” to kill them. But they lived, thrived, grew, flowered. They prospered just as they would do in nature. 

The orchids (and my other epiphytes too, I’m sure) are equipped with all kinds of defenses that help them thrive in their floating, unattached state. They have evolved and utilize creative metabolic properties that help them maintain their water balance. They produce and transmit sneaky mysterious pheromones that draw partners from outside the plant kingdom (insects, fungi, and bacteria to make a few). In a word, our orchids are well equipped to fend for themselves out there. And let’s face it. Some of the time they’re probably fending off their human stewards (us) along with our good but perhaps misguided intentions. 

So with a few days of blessed rain ahead, where I know they’ll get what they need, followed by a ten day break with my friend Victor in Maine (we won’t see many orchids!), this is the pep talk I’ve given myself. Hope I can take care of self as well as the orchids do!

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