Sunday 15 November 2009

Moth Orchid

I'm rather pleased with myself as I have managed to get my Orchid to flower again. I bought myself a Phalaenopsis or Moth Orchid last year and it was in flower for a few months. At Christmas, my hubby's auntie and uncle bought me another Moth Orchid which again flowered until about May. I read up on the internet about getting them to bloom again and the general advice was to cut the flower spike down to just above a bud, which I did. I then waited for months but nothing happened. They looked rather comical actually, bare spikes with no sign that they would flower again. In the end I decided that I would cut the spikes right down to the leaves. Within a few weeks of doing this both the Orchids sent out a new spike, and both are now beginning to bloom. The next thing I'll be Googling is how to repot them. The one in the photo is the one which my hubby's auntie and uncle bought me, and it's roots are growing so far out of the pot that it will definitely need repotting.

I spent Thursday finally putting the garden to bed for the winter. All the more delicate plants in containers have been moved into the greenhouse. I don't heat my greenhouse at all, but as the weather becomes colder I will drape fleece over the pots, and I find that this keeps the frost off them.

I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago that I did finally manage to get my winter hanging baskets planted up. I have got one at the back of the house with Pansies in it, and two at the front of the house containing Violas. On Thursday I planted the few left over plants into the border to add a little more colour over winter.


Last week I was kindly given the Best Blog Award from Tanya at Allotments4You. I am very proud to say that I have been given the award again this week from Kella at Kella's Musings on Growing Her Own, Wildlife and Her Brand of Parenting. Thank you very much Kella, I'm really honoured that you consider I deserve the award again. Of course, this now gives me the chance to nominate some more blogs for the award as it was very difficult last week to choose just 15, so first of all, here are the rules again:-

Post the award on your blog along with the name of the person who passed it on to you and link to their blog. Choose 15 blogs which you have recently discovered and you think are great and pass it on to them. Don't forget to leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

The 15 blogs I would like to pass this award on to are:-

I hope you will all accept this award as I think you have great blogs. I have also found it fun to follow the recipient's links to the blogs they have nominated as it's a great way to find new great blogs. Other people haven't nominated the full 15 blogs as I have, so I think anything up to 15 will be acceptable.




13 comments:

  1. Hi Jo! First, congratulations on your success with your orchid! I tried to do the same, and I failed. You certainly did everything right.
    Second, congratulations on you Best Blog Award! I am glad you joined Blotanical, and I can read your posts.
    Thank you so much for giving me the Award! I am very touched. To name 15 or less blogs will be a challenge, I am not sure I can do it. I need to ask for some time, since I just published a post on the Honest Scrap Award. Again, thank you for thinking of me and for reading my blog!

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  2. Thank you so much for selecting me for the award, I'm not sure I currently deserve it as I have been very poor in blogging recently, I seem to have lost my 'blogging mojo'!
    Many thanks anyway, I love visiting your blog!

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  3. Congratulations and thank you, yes I'd be delighted to accept and will post my 15 later.

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  4. Thank you very much Jo. I will go and have a look at some of those blogs you have listed.

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  5. Well done on keeping your orchid going for a second flowering. You must be chuffed :) Congratulations on your award ! Thank you for passing it on to me Jo and for reading my blog and commenting so regularly. I might not be able to come up with fifteen new to me blogs but I will do my best to do so in the near future :)

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  6. The orchid story is a true success! I don’t have any orchids, they just seem too difficult to handle... but they are very beautiful!
    And congratulations for second Best Blog Award!

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  7. Thank you, Tatyana. I am quite pleased in getting the Orchids to flower again. There's no rush in posting the award.

    You're welcome, Libby, and yes you do deserve the award. I think we all lose our blogging mojo from time to time.

    I'm pleased you're accepting the award, renaissance. I look forward to checking out your links.

    You're welcome, Rachael. I think it's a great way of discovering new blogs.

    I am chuffed at getting the Orchids to flower again, Anna. The blogs I passed the award on to weren't all new to me, I've been reading some for ages, but thought they deserved the award anyway.

    Thank you, Vrtlarica. I always thought that Orchids were too difficult to handle too, but apparently not.

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  8. Congratulations Jo on your award, and thank you for picking the Kitchen Garden blog! A post with my own top 15 follows shortly.

    Also congratulations on your orchid - my last orchid (also a Phalaenopsis, I believe) was so disgusted with my treatment of it that it jumped out of the window to escape me.

    (we had left the window open and it was blowing a gale, but still...)

    I took the hint and have never tried again, but am in deep admiration of anyone who succeeds in getting them to stay alive, never mind flower.

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  9. Jo,
    I am jealous at your orchid achievement. I have never acomplished that feat. I'm going to try again this winter.
    Also, thank you so much for giving me this award. It is an honor! I am already searching for 15 blogs to pass it along to. I will post them in the next few days. Cheers!

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  10. Thank you, Crocuskitchengarden. I did laugh at your comment about your orchid escaping you, and I'm surprised mine didn't do the same. I've actually surprised myself getting them to flower again, I usually kill house plants.

    You're welcome, Avis, and good luck with your own orchids, I'm sure they'll do just fine.

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  11. Thanks for mentioning me!

    Will do my best to post and continue the tradition.

    Thanks

    Ryan

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  12. Also, I have just posted about Phalenopsis on my blog and will be blogging about repotting sometime in the new year!

    Ryan

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  13. You're welcome, Ryan. I'm looking forward to your post on repotting Orchid's, mine is in desperate need.

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