Welcome Wendy. Indeed, this board is an amazing source of knowledge and experience.
A friend of mine, when we grilled out, would purposely toss a hot dog into the coals saying "We sacrifice one, so the rest may flourish". Perhaps your initial plant was the sacrificial Phal?
I thought I'd pass on a tip I got early on: start a log book with plant name, date/place of purchase, bloom dates, culture info, repot log etc. Include a picture of the flower cause sometimes, as the collection grows (mine is somehow up to 250), its hard to remember who's who. In my case, this has also led to an organized "drool list" - plants I want to add.
One other thing, please advise your husband that putting
any kind of moratorium or prohibition on new plants is ill-advised. It creates an instant "Black Market" micro-climate. I was discussing this with Dr Harry Gallis recently, and he said "Yea, it's horrible, you end up sneaking them in at midnight through the basement."
New to this obsession...I mean hobby
...which I don't. )
to OB. You do have a beautiful collection of orchids which I know will just continue to grow. Happy buying, oh I mean growing.
I was more upset than my boys, so I got in the car, in search for another phal. I came home with 3. 1 phal and 2 baby cattleyas. Husband was MIA when I got back home. 5 minutes later he showed up, with yet another 2 phals cause he felt bad about what had happened to the first one. 
Linear Mode
