My Mother-in-Laws secret to ever-blooming Phals

[gehentogo]

I found out the secret this weekend...

A couple of years ago, when my wife started buying phals at the local big-box stores, she bought her mother a pink one and a white one. My wife read a book about orchids, and learned some basics. She had limited success with her phals, but her other orchids would never bloom.

Anyway, every time we visited her mother, those two phals had many HUGE blooms on them. No matter what time of year, those things were always blooming. Not knowing anything about orchids, I suggested my wife get some tips from her mother, who said that she really didn't do anything to get them like that. She would even forget to water them for long periods.

I teased my wife about this on occasion, and it drove her nuts, that she worked so hard for just a couple puny blooms while her mom just had awesome blooms all of the time.

I found out her secret this weekend.

My clever mother-in-law, who really doesn't know the first thing about orchids, would wait until the blooms fell off, and then throw the plant out and buy another for 2.99 at the local big box store.

Sad as it is for those plants, I had to laugh at my wife's mom for hoodwinking us for five years.