It's so cool to read all your stories! Gives me a new perspective on the people behind all the orchids
I grew up with a deep disdain for plants, because I watched my mom toil over her (200+) roses and vast African violet collection. She'd always be exhausted and bloodied after taking care of the roses, and I just didn't understand how something so "boring" as a plant could be worth that much effort.
As I struck out on my own, I dabbled a bit in succulents and bonsai, which I enjoyed for their aesthetic and artistically inspiring shapes. My husband gave me my first orchid on our first anniversary, a pretty white phalaenopsis with delicate purple spotting.
At first, I treated it like a bonsai and watered it every day. As it started to decline, I searched YouTube for help and stumbled across a video about how much orchids LOVE getting their roots chopped. Since I was familiar with root-pruning, I unscrupulously chopped all my orchid's remaining roots in half. Unsurprisingly, it continued to decline.
So, I treated it like a succulent and let it dry out for several weeks at a time. It grew limper still. I moved it outside to a sunny spot, hoping to give it energy to recover. The next day, all its leaves were white with sunburn. They all fell off, but one, and a caterpillar consumed that one shortly afterwards.
For the first time in my life, I was heartbroken over a plant. I finally understood what my mom felt for her roses. Since my husband had continued to gift me an orchid for each anniversary, I decided to put some effort into understanding them and learning more about horticulture in general. The more I learned, the more I grew to love plants.
When I attended my first orchid show, my interest transformed into obsession. I was fascinated by all the alien-looking creatures in the showroom—and the plants were strange, too! That was a year ago, and at the time I had 10 orchids. Now I have 75. I live in a smallish town, so I help my local community learn what they need to know to avoid my mistakes. It always comes with a warning about what can happen if they go buy "just one more".
Oh, and by some miracle, my first orchid threw a basal keiki, and is still alive, gaining strength day by day!
Linear Mode
