This one is
special!
This is my first orchid, this is the orchid which started it all for me, and it came
sooo close to dying.
When I first got it in 2006 I actually found it easy to care for, I naturally picked up on the idea of letting the roots go silvery before watering again. Then I got it to bloom again... I was amazed! I thought you needed special conditions to get an orchid to re-bloom and I was sure it would just be a green plant once the first flowers finished.
All was going well, I bought a couple more thrilled with my success... then I re-potted in medium from the local garden centre which I now realised was decayed before I started. It almost killed it and I searched the Internet and found Orchid Board (of course that's when the addiction started
![Coverlaugh](http://www.orchidboard.com/community/images/smilies/new/coverlaugh.gif)
).
Now two years on and it's in flower again at last. Well, shall we say that it's finally healthy enough that I did not feel the need to remove the spike to conserve it's energy.
It's just so wonderful to have this one in bloom again and I want to say a
huge thanks to everyone here for your help,
I let the spike grow naturally and did not stake it this time as you can see in the second picture.
![](http://lh3.ggpht.com/_o4OXVkcS2VU/TFM9YW7-PjI/AAAAAAAAJPg/q1_US2TVxRY/s144/Phalaenopsis%20xx.Kumba%20-%20July%202010%20%2811%29.JPG)