Sunny Morning

It's such a sunny morning, and my orchid looked so pretty with the sun streaming through, I couldn't resist picking up my camera.

Orchid: Color of the Year

Breaking News: Pantone announced  yesterday that they have selected this luscious color for the 2014 Color of the Year. Last year the Color of the Year was Emerald (my fav) but I like the new color too. I find as I get older I like color more and more.

"While the 2013 color of the year, Pantone 17-5641 Emerald, served as a symbol of growth, renewal and prosperity, Radiant Orchid reaches across the color wheel to intrigue the eye and spark the imagination," said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute in a news release Thursday. "Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm." 

I love that orchid color and it made me take a look at my own orchids. I have one that is almost exactly the color above. It's not blooming now, but my white orchid is blooming its little heart out right now.

And another one is waiting in the wings, sending up that spike that will soon be covered in blooms. Orchids are the best indoor flowering plant, as they are really easy care and when they do bloom, they bloom for months. Last year one of my orchids bloomed from February through July. Yea orchid! If you love the color too,  Lowe's will be carrying the paint, and it will undoubtedly carry over into fashion, furniture, and textiles in 2014. We'll see.

Orchids and Butterflies

Yesterday was President's Day and a holiday for both of us, so we headed downtown on this chilly day  to the Museum of Natural History to see an orchid exhibit that I read about and wanted to see. We used to go to this museum all the time when our kids were little, so it was fun to see this guy again.

The exhibit is called "The Orchids of Latin America," and represents a sampling of the thousands of orchids (there are more than 17,000 species)  grown in the Americas. These specimens in the exhibit  are the best of the winter-blooming plants grown by the Smithsonian and the U.S. Botanic Garden. There are over 300 plants displayed at one time, with new plants continually being changed in as blooms fade.

I especially loved the orchid pictured below, and remarked to a woman standing by me that it reminded me of pansies. She said it is in fact called a 'Pansy Orchid,' and she grows them in her apartment.  Its official name is Miltoniopsis, so I will need to track that variety down, since she said it is easy to grow.  It was great to see so many colors and varieties all together--such a feast for the eyes on a cold wintery day.

Pansy Orchid,  Miltoniopsis

After viewing the orchids, we went upstairs to the Butterfly Pavilion,  where you enter into a small chamber, warm and misty, that is filled with plants and real butterflies flying about from flower to flower. Kids love it in there, as the butterflies tend to land on you, and you have to be checked from head to toe when you exit, in case there are any hitchhikers!

Friday Fleurs: Orchid

Thank goodness for orchids in these gray days of winter. It's always a treat when one starts to bloom and the best part is they will stay in bloom for months. This one is a small grocery store specimen that someone brought me less than a year ago, and this is its second bloom. It's in a tiny little pot and it has several more buds on it as well as these first blooms. I usually keep my orchids in a sunny window upstairs to get the maximum light, and then when they start to bloom I move them around the house.

Unfortunately, this is the only white I'll be seeing today. I am so jealous as I watch the news and see the snow falling farther north. We just missed this East Coast blizzard and are only getting heavy rain today and maybe some flurries tonight.

Orchid Emergency

I have several orchids and I take good care of them, watering regularly, fertilizer, etc. The other day when I went to water this one it was covered in ants. Ugh. I had to immediately take it outside, pull it out of the pot and discard all the orchid mix, rinse off the orchid roots and then I let it sit for a day in the garage to make sure all the ants were gone. Then it was back in a new pot with fresh orchid mix and hopefully it will be blooming soon, after that little shock to its system. This one has beautiful big white orchid flowers. I used to be afraid of orchids, all those weird root thingys, but they are actually very hardy. And in case you are wondering, yes, I have quarantined the other two orchids and am keeping a close watch.