Ultimatum to Save Current Lobby Phal
 

Hi.

In my perfectly run, pretentious landmark building lobby.....it is huge, Jimmy who runs everything (lives in duplex on 14 & 15) always has a splendid, huge booming Phal on the table just across from the passenger elevator.

He has a deal with local florist whose phals sell for $100......for an infinite supply.

He knows full well (everyone does) I am orchid obsessed and grow them, but he never gives me any of these amazing creatures when they start to go. And the staff guys can't interfere with this. I think it's about money.

Right now, we have an especially amazing one....whose blooms are just starting to fade on one spike. I went to the office after sending THREE ominous emails, looked him in his green eyes and said, "God will punish you if you let this puppy go on suffering and then die rather than giving it to the Orchid Growing Diva/Goddess for saving!!!!! BAD KARMA!!!

At the very LEAST you could find someone out at yr pretentious beach house in South Hampton who grows them and give them to that person! But this time, if you don give this one to me, GOD WILL PUNISH YOU, and tho all steel and stone and brick the whole building will BURST INTO FLAMES."

I am only little....outside.

Here are two pics I made of this puppy.

Do you know for a fact he tosses them when they are done blooming? Maybe he has a little orchidarium like yours in his duplex!

Suzanne....I know Jimmy better than anyone in his life. I also have keys to his flat. Trust me babe,.....there is not one orchid in that place!:rofl:

Problem is.....he knows my sardonic humor and assumes I am kidding about everything.

I just texted him that God is watching.....and, next time he needs his computers fixed,unless he gives me the puppy, he should ask God to troubleshoot them and repair them, not ME.:D

I told the lobby guy, if he don give it to me, I will just steal it. Course, first, I will have to knock out the security camera....cause however discreet, I know where it is.:biggrin:

Is it possible that he has some kind of deal going with the florist that he doesn't want to give you the plant?

Or maybe its time to drop the sardonic humor and tell him that you want the plant straight out. You know, something like....when the plants' done blooming I wonder if you wouldn't mind giving it to me, I'd really like to have it, seriously!

No assumption with that!!

Judi

he probably doesn't get to own them, it sounds like a rent-an-orchid scheme.....a previous company I worked at had something similar in place. It ensured that there were blooming orchids all year round without the hassle of cultivation.

Maybe he doesn't like the nicknames you choose for yourself.
You really called yourself that? Ok, all hail the Orchid Goddess. :rofl:

Seriously though...
I second the idea that he's "renting" those orchids. It's a business concept that has become quite popular in recent years.

All this stuff is individual specific. Jimmy and I connect, we communicate on all the levels that matter, sometimes directly, sometimes in code. He does know I want this very special puppy to save....but he is a businessman and increasingly all about money before he is a friend. I am sure the going cost of the always a pretentiously presented, high end phal on that table can not be deducted. He knows the staff brings me eveything they find my neighbors pitch, but if he passed along all the expensive lobby Phals....well, I know him, I can see the calculator running in his head. Perhaps not pretty, but it's part of him.

This past winter, he was here and year saw my display of 25 of mine in bloom in the table, focused on one, saying, "That belongs in the lobby."

All we can do is make honest efforts, but my take is, this very special one will get pitched just like all that came before it.

---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:38 PM ----------

Katrina, you are trivializing both me, my sardonic, sometimes self abrogating sense of humor and my connection with Jimmy, who is like the bother I never had.

Along with all the "assignments" he gives me to get what he calls special projects done in this building it's always my intense privilege to get done. They all involve intense research and unearthing solutions and very rare items, and craftspeople,etc.

No, We rent nothing. We buy....and, only the best of everything.

Well if all the ones that came before it got pitched, it stands to reason that this one will as well.
And if this one gets pitched, why not do what you've done before and rescue it from the dumpster?
Seems fairly simple to just wait until it is no longer in the designated spot across from the passenger elevator and go look for it where you know it will be.

And it doesn't sound like its all about money if all he's doing is purchasing an orchid for $100 and then throws it away when its done blooming.

Sorry that fact must have slipped by me when you said

Well if all the ones that came before it got pitched, it stands to reason that this one will as well.
And if this one gets pitched, why not do what you've done before and rescue it from the dumpster?
Seems fairly simple to just wait until it is no longer in the designated spot across from the passenger elevator and go look for it where you know it will be.

First, again, this building is run like the inside of a Patek. The porter who picks up the trash using the service elevator, even reports people who do not comport with our very strict recycling rules, and those people get calls and emails. We have no dumpsters. Staff puts trash not meant for recycling in giant heavy black plastic garbage bags, and those get put out for collection 3X a week. So, there is no way I can find it when it gets pitched.

Re those which come my way, either staff brings them to me when they come upon them, or, when I am home and I can, I run up and down the service stairs hunting.

This mini adventure will unfold organically, as is meant to! It is nuanced, complex and really, really interesting.

---------- Post added at 03:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:23 PM ----------

OMG! DENOUMENT! Just this second got email from Jimmy!!!!

You can have it, but I need the bowl

Sent from my iPhone

YAY!!!! Always remember, connecting with individual living beings is individual specific, and its richness is not in the lyrics, but in the nunaces of the MUSIC.

No way, knowing him as well as I do....would he ever rent.

U think it has a tag? NAH, right? I should look just in case. But, who cares? What a special Phal I think!!!

It's a JOURNEY! Color me THRILLED!:biggrin:

Trivialize? Really? I thought you were joking and I found it hilarious. Orchid Growing Goddess...I still...even hours later...find it entertaining.

Ohhh sorry to hear this as I saw an exact duplicate of this at a local big box store. Hope he didn't pay too much as I'm sure another could be easily obtained for less than $40. Maybe even less than $30.

Addendum;

I am a delver/researcher by nature (was raised by my school teacher mom to be too), it is also the foundation of both things I do professionally....

....so I used used Google Image
Search (my default search engine does not have this) and uploaded on of my pics of this puppy.....and came up with....nuthin.:(

I hope he don't let it get near death before he passes it on! Am sure the cache pot he wants back is some kinda rare porcelain and maybe signed. I never use cache pots.

---------- Post added at 03:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 PM ----------


Again, no way. Not in Jimmy's DNA, and Jimmy is sharp as the heel on a Louboutin strappy sandal. He does what I said early on: has some slightly more affordable than retail deal with the guy up the street to supply these ongoing.

And the majority of my neighbors.....talk about high maintenance and cache riddled (read: shallow).....all take it for granted as de rigeur.

JMNYC - after reading through this again I am reminded of that great movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. For some reason the shenanigans apparently going on wouldn't go amiss in that script ! And I mean that in the nicest way :rofl:

I am afraid to share this, and know I am uber movie fan---have over 500 in my DVD library, but truth is, I just can't connect to that director, and just could not get thru that movie despite I couldn't wait to see it, forget the good reviews it generated! He just don move me viscerally. We are ech unique, remember.

But I DO get and CHERISH your comments!:biggrin:

Edit:See, I try to just ignore the lobby phals, simply cause I knew the deal, know Jimmy and never thought I might get any of them or should even think about that. But this one made me snap. Plus, if I did get all of them, I would have even less room to grow than I do now!

Ultimatum to Save Current Lobby Phal
 

-

I am, frankly, taken aback that you are at a loss....not every thread is engineered to elicit specific advice, after all. I was interested in receiving comments/responses to this unexpected chronology of interesting events centering on one individual phal.

Pls say if any confusion remains!

Nice phal. I can understand why you covet it. Does the display get changed often? It seems such a shame if these plants get thrown away afterwards.

Trivialize? Really? I thought you were joking and I found it hilarious. Orchid Growing Goddess...I still...even hours later...find it entertaining.

K....give our little, atypical history, Katrina, that was not my take, nor is it still. I get compliments that mainly go in one ear and out the other. I have Virgo rising; I cut my own hair, do all 11 of my own nails (kidding I have 10), design and build my own cabinetry, build my own computers.....etc. but mainly, I am shoe savvy: anything that don fit, I don put on.

Ohhh sorry to hear this as I saw an exact duplicate of this at a local big box store. Hope he didn't pay too much as I'm sure another could be easily obtained for less than $40. Maybe even less than $30.

Forgive me, but yet again, you are missing data in this last 'helpful' offering: both about the reality of this individual plant (I think its two, actually), the quality of what this local guy offers, forget the presentation, and where I live people pay for the latter as much as the former....not the stuff of big box stores. Forget, this is MANHATTAN....and, an upscale part of Manhattan.

If only you knew what we paid the only guy in the world (took me forever to find him, thank God I knew a curator at Christie's) capable of making a custom mold to replace one of our original, 18" ceiling fixture shades in the lobby (circa 1931) when some mover guy broke it.....you would never believe it.

Peace! And be happy, Katrina! No reason for otherwise here.:)

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 PM ----------

Indeed, they are all nice, Jimmy has uber taste. when the current one starts to look bad, meaning when a lot of its blooms fade, a new one just appears.

And boy, you nailed it: it is a huge shame, esp what it is emblematic of in those who do it! But, no different from my neighbors who buy more modest phals and also treat them as fi they are cut flowers. Again, every single one of my around 35 phals is from the trash of this building.

I can't save all of them, but just trying is so nourishing for me.

Face it, the huge, worldwide commercial phal industry is geared to this treat em like cheaper than cut flowers, but more cache...consumer base mindset!

Same deal with electronics: I see just from the trash and empty cartons, everyone has to have the most cutting edge tablets, smartphones and 60" LED "smart' TVs, etc.

And they all seem to shop at Barney's.

Well bless your little red soled feet! 😉 It's a very pretty Phal, and Jimmy was very wise to consign it to your care.

Its an awesome orchid, but I have seen similar for less than 30$ elsewhere, JM. I've seen these puppies at Lowes. Maybe not the exact cultivar, but similar enough to be twins. I wouldn't argue with some hoity toity overpriced seller in downtown manhatten. He's got his rep and his overhead to consider. A hybrid phal for 100$ when you can get them for $39.95? That is Silly as far as I am concerned.


And if you ever need custom molds made, get in touch with me. I make molds. (I guessed about Manhatten. Were from Brookline)

That.....was adorable! But Terri, know that I have no respect for any female so lacking an actual identity she can be held hostage by any footware only the vapid would give $2,500 for! I know what all that merda costs to make!

But I will say, I would rather eat worms than ever be some victim of COMMERCE re red soles.....my little toe nails are always some shade of red and always perfect and I do them myself! I would made a pic but that would be TOTALLY insane, forget also creepy.:roll::rofl:

---------- Post added at 01:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:24 AM ----------


Not the same thing, Ms. Talented Thing. Most of ours have two identical plants in the pot, many spikes, are gargantuan....and pls get, business is about costs and labor: a high end presentation in an expensive, big clay pot with the requisite bells and whistles indigenous to this level/imagery, i.e. sheet moss covering the ties, etc. every part labor intensive.....are the way they are in response to a certain demographic. Plus, this is an upscale part of Manhattan. The guy up the street sells these for what he does all day long and nobody breaks a sweat. If you knew what commercial space in my neighborhood costs per square foot....well gotta get all the data and see it all in perspective.

Most of my neighbors, MANY OF WHOM work on Wall Street---I offered some info so that people here might get some sense---EXPECT this pretentious level in all things. Do I? Come on....of course not! But here, I am an ABSOLUTE exception.

Re the mold, no, this required an older, hugely gifted and SINGULAR guy who is famously skilled with GLASS.
Beyond the perfect custom mold, he also had to spin and blow and hand engrave with old world master chops. He works MAINLY for the top museums in the world.

And HE kept the mold! We got three replacement shades, two are now in storage....just in case. It was a fortune, Jimmy didn't care. Remember, he (and the other members of the owning family, same family since 1931) could have easily chosen to save all those many thousands by just replacing all those vintage bronze lobby ceiling fixtures with something new...reproductions. But that's not how he rolls. And given the reality of this splendid building....it deserved no less.

Wait! I knew I had this image in this system, and I just found it: an image of part of our lobby, tho not the part where the passenger elevator is, the part with the table always bearing a worldclass phal (the table you see always has cut flowers)... but you can see the CEILING FIXTURES in question! Re the big ones (there are little ones too in the other part of the lobby)....we hadda give the genius I unearthed one of the big ones to make the mold, cause one of the big ones got shattered)..but that was just the first of many, daunting steps....the big ones are 18" in diameter.

One more! just realized this image of part of the lobby shows the surveillance camera! Hah. I just indicated it in red....and, pretty sure it does not cover the part of the lobby where the table bearing the phals is! It's mainly focused on the section where the big service section is,the mailboxes,the package room. So....someone could steal a phal if the lobby attendant who also operates the passenger elevator was taking people up or down,as long as the thief did not leave the building via the main lobby doors....wherein he or she would be caught on camera.

Of course, getting into the elevator with one of our giant phals with empty table behind.....would be, well...immediately registered.:rofl: I already told the staff I was going to steal this one if Jimmy refused to give it to me.:lol:

I have learned not to even think about all those that get pitched, and all of them are really special.

I am positive, given I think we have an ongoing account with the guy up the street, no way do we pay what regular clients of his do. That would be bad business for this florist.

Wow, what a beautiful lobby, all we have is a mailbox:mrgreen::mrgreen::mrgreen:

Well, just because you paid it...doesn't mean that's what it's worth. I was simply trying to point out that you can and would find a similar (if not the same phal) and you don't have to pay $100 for it. If someone wants to pay that much...fine...but it's not necessary.

As for the $$$ situation of where you live/your building/and all that other stuff...look, I get how expensive it can be where you live. My husband is from NJ and we have friends and family up and down the East Coast and we regularly visit and spend time w/those friends. Hell, my husband just got back from DC last week! We also have friends in CA...another very expensive area of the country. So, yea, I get it, I get, I geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet it. I think we all do. What I don't get is why your Mother didn't teach you that droning on and on about these topics is really rather crass. Not to mention...tiresome.

So, YES, I was laughing and I was serious about that fact in my first comment. I honestly thought you were joking about that Diva/Goddess BS. Sorry...I won't make that same mistake in the future.

FWIW -- I am happy...very happy, actually. But, I will admit that ill mannered boasting really does rub me the wrong way. Sorry. You have my permission to call me old fashioned.

I paid nothing. The building pays. This is a famous, landmark building. Pre war. And, penny wise, pound foolish in some things..is not why it is. WITNESS THE EXAMPLE OF the project I was given to replicate/replace the shattered ceiling shade.

Jimmy is also famous in my City...and the sharpest, most meticulous manager/owner, best businessperson I know. And time is money: the vendor in question is literally half a block from us; am sure Jimmy cut a deal with him and everyone wins.

If you still don't get, given what I took the time to share about myself to illustrate it clearly, that my calling myself what I did in that exchange was sardonic and self abrogating and FUN.....that I am the ANTI diva of all time.....I give UP.

I am not the assaulter here (nor was I previously or ever), nor the one who doesn't get things clearly and accurately.

Finis.

---------- Post added at 02:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 PM ----------

While I love this building just as if it were a living being and get and know every part....the lobby is kinda pretentious.

Which is why, I think.....the giant, also pretentiously presented phals are not that happy there.;)

Plus, at this time of the year, the lobby is like a meat locker freezing/no humidity. U think they like that? No, they hate that!:((

I only hope, when I get her, I don't discover all her roots are rotted. We all know, despite what is visible above, it's what you find when you knock it out and remove the medium....that matters.

We just make honest efforts, and, I think, that's the privilege. I hope I can save her!

If only.....

it seems certain people - and its the same old, same old with predictable comments - take great pleasure in what I call "sweating the small stuff "

Here's an article to help :
How to stop sweating the small stuff - CNN.com

if that doesn't help, then please unsubscribe from topics that upset your sensibilities ! It can be done !

JMNYC - I enjoy this thread. Don't get discouraged by the partypoopers. I don't care if your building management pays $1,000 for an orchid. Its their money, not taxpayers.

Blessings on you, you keen and emotionally healthy human in the Windy City!!!!!:biggrin::bowing

I just wish more humans would own that the foundational journey is....WITHIN. Again, it's the health of the roots that matters and impacts everything! In ALL species.

And God Bless....The Loop!:lol:

XXXXXXXOOOOOOOO

Do people actually talk this way in NYC? Where I grew up this would get your butt kicked. Darn! Annoying is an under statement.

Wow. "We" often celebrate many voices, including heady, delicious, humor rich, loving, non necrotic, lfe affirming pas de deux with those we are close to. As was the happy case in this event.

Entirely normal if not ideal human energy in discourse/exchanges...opposite of software. Apparently too subtle and nuanced (or happy?) for some. Nobody I know personally or professionally....but, it seems....some.

Being as formal as High Mass is a no brainer.

But, the rich, life affirming dynamic in question, is one of the reasons everyone wants to live here despite the increasing costs.
_____________________________
Edit: Making a quantum leap via your chosen username.....I will have to conclude and so, celebrate, at least, coming up, it seems you weren't precluded from celebrating the erotic (eros, from the Greek=lifeforce) and deliciously salacious offerings of Little Richard! So, there is hope!:D

---------- Post added at 05:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 PM ----------

One more: i have shown and linked many colleagues and friends to this thread, and everyone at my end is boggled that anyone could fail to "get" the joyful essence of any part of this narrative. I mean it.

Forget ANYONE actually thinking I was being serious in representing myself as I did in my intial pitch....while Jimmy sat behind his uber Apple screen in the office grinning from ear to ear.

I am learning not to take for granted all the happy, healthy things I apparently do.

No prizes for guessing the dictionary definition of someone who feels compelled to make this type of unsolicited comment......

Well, I am sinCERELY in your debt for This! I am used to going to bat for others (INCLUDING STRANGERS), never expect anyone to do this for me. My feeling is, such offerings have VALUE.....given, they exceed the necrosis of patination and show true colors.

True colors are always the bottom line, and I don't mean only re orchids! Anything short of knowing who individuals are---sometimes settle for being---I think is a waste of time.

Someone unwittingly hobbled by despotic upbringing/conditioning (who hasn't looked within), is sadly, likely to be threatened by what is normal and life affirming...relegated to having old terrors come up.....and, (here it comes again) throwing chairs. :biggrin:

Thanks so much again!:bowing

That makes a lot of sense. I had never considered the possibilities. I just needed a few drinks to understand better. The internet has helped me understand those around me. Now I fear for the future of humanity. Not that it won't exist, but that it might. Holy Cow and someone actually defended this mind numbing use of the language.

July 24 Update with initial images.

Jimmy brought me the puppy.

I will now paste the mail I just sent him and put up the initial images I made.

Exactly as I suspected alas, plus clearly, both were initially grown in good NZ moss, and the florist, for his obscene display purposes, but that's what Jimmy wants cause that's what most of my neighbors LOVE....put them in a disgusting closed metal pot I NOW GET HE PUTS ALL OF OURS IN… filled with TONS of what is clearly Chilean moss.

I will try to save both, see if the one with the crown issue (did not expect to find that) might make a keiki down the road I do this all the time with the phals that come my way, only rarely in decent shape.
I will now remove all the bad roots and put each one in a properly sized new pot with fresh medium and hang them and do my usual monitoring. It’s a journey.
_________________________________

Thanks Jimmy....

Trying to do this while trying to get work done too....knocked her out (them).....was already worried re her (their) roots....not so good as I suspected.

I think I can save one.....the other is starting some kinda crown issue....meaning maybe some water got into the crown and her ability to produce a new leaf is kaput. Remember, phals are monpodial, so, when this happens it's ovah.....best U can hope for is it might produce a basal keiki (baby) at the base....part of its survival strategy.

I hate this guy up the street (tho I did surmise he's yr source for all our lobby phals and he does have spectacular stuff).....both plants obscenely over potted in huge amount of Chilean moss in this no draining metal pot....all about appearance in the interim and nothing about health and growing them properly. What he does insures their misery and death.

But thanks for passing her along.....when I finish work I will return the obscene metal pot. One thing to use a cache pot outside a properly draining one.....but that's not what this guy is about.

Very depressing, Jimmy. I will do the best I can.

Thanks!!

Addendum: I KNEW her roots were abysmal and nearly all rotten, I knew from looking at her, you become a good judge of such, and you just know. I removed everything bad, made 2 pics.

I will now let them dry and then pot them properly. Both will need the double stakes I use in such cases because of the dearth of roots.

New update:

Let both newly root trimmed (also removed a lower leaf from one) phals dry some, put some cinnamon in the crown of the one I am convinced has an issue there, potted both, hung them where they will not get too much light.

Ran the oval brass pot of death the florist uses for I now get, all our lobby phals, all doubles.... up to Jimmy on 14, left it on his door mat.....came back and sent him this via email:

Oval brass POT OF DEATH.....at yr door.

Now, do with this what U will:

Not only is what he's doing insuring the death of these plants.....it is ALSO COSTING YOU NEEDLESS MONEY!!!

Why? Because what he is doing starts rotting the roots IMMEDIATELY AFTER HE TAKES THE TWO WELL GROWN PLANTS in bud, EARLY BLOOM.... AND PUTS THEM IN A METAL CONTAINER With NO DRAINING AND A huge amount of empty space he then fills with cheap Chilean moss and then waters the doomed thing.....

.....and THAT, Jimmy, cuts th normal perfect bloom interval, by at least HALF.....meaning you gotta replace them in half the time you should have to replace them! Makes him twice the money from our account.....and kills all the plants involved too. Wut does he care?

Yes indeed.

PONDER THIS....just as a businessman....you are wasting money!!!!! The other part....it is wut it is. Makes my tummy hurt. Try to remember... U have the Moon in Pisces.

Next chapter in this truly fascinating chronology.

Got this email in response to the last one I sent, pasted above:

In a message dated 7/24/2014 9:38:22 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, JIMxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

I need you to tell me what to say to him so that he pots them correctly
__________________________________
Responded with this:

Jimmy, He knows! U think he don know? He does not care!!!!!

U tell him, leave both plants of the cultivar you next choose in the pots he GETS THEM IN. Place the original pots side by side inside A cache pot....a SMALLER OVAL ONE (or rectangular one) THAN THIS EVIL huge brass piece of merda pot. Ceramic is far nicer than that HUGE brass painted black on the outside PIECE OF GARBAGE anyway.

The issue will be what the top looks like to my pathetic, shallow Wall Street neighbors with the Hermes crap---not that they even look at that, like most, they look at the BLOOMS. Proper way, TWO SEPARATE POTS WILL BE VISIBLE....BUT nobody will look at that! Plus he can put sheet moss on top of the medium re both pots.

What he does now, is, knock both plants out of the pots he gets them in.....put them in the giant ugly brass death pot, fill in the huge empty space with Chilean moss he then wets....and then he puts sheet moss on top of that. The roots start rotting IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!

AND YES, INDEED, NOT ONLY INSURES THE Death OF THE PLANTS, BUT cuts the normal gorgeous bloom interval in half!!!!! Maybe more than in half.

I would personally like to look him in his Faustian eyes and let him have it. For him....it is just business and he is dealing wit, for HIM (and, prolly most of his rich clients) disposable commodities. But don mean YOU have to collude in this!

Again, does it cut what should be a long, perfect blooming period in half? YES IT DOES.

And then, it kills them. He counts on that most people who patronize his pretentious business know ugatz. PROVE HIM WRONG.

Heads up: the right way as per above....someone will have to water them at the right intervals....and let them drain before returning them to the cache pot. Depending on the plants, maybe once a week or even less often! Have a staff member do it, take them to the basement, one of the utility sinks in the laundry room, I will give any info necessary. It’s a no brainer, Jimmy.

Hold on, I took some pics to put up on my orchids board site....cause people are following this. I will paste them in the next mail.
________________________________________
The less you plan, the more life is a truly great, dynamic journey, often, for all involved.

---------- Post added at 11:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

Another update. Jimmy wanted me to put instructions in WORD to give to the our florist guy.

I did, attached it so he can print it out.....said you might consider deleting the last sentence. :rofl:

U gotta find the funny, it's a delicious birthright.

I am pasting.
_________________________________


Florist Man:
Re all future Phal cultivars Jimmy chooses for display in our lobby:

Keep both plants of the cultivar in question….one of our last had crown damage, by the way, along with nearly all the roots on both plants rotted… KEEP BOTH PLANTS in their original pots as you get them from the grower (Taiwan?) or local wholesaler… in what appears decent NZ Sphagnum moss.

Put the twin plants in their pots as they are into either a small oval or rectangular cache pot. We prefer heavy ceramic. Do not fill in empty space with the Chilean moss you use. No filling with anything!

You may put the sheet moss on the top of the medium in both pots, but it’s not necessary. Jimmy’s call. Both pots should be drenched and allowed to DRAIN before putting them in the cache pot before we receive the finished presentation to put on the display table in our lobby.

What you are doing now---as I am sure you KNOW… starts root rot immediately, insures the death of the plants….AND, it also cuts the normal, long interval of perfectly retained blooms and new buds opening at least in HALF. Because most of the roots are ROTTED early on,and the plants in great distress.

(YOU LOWLIFE Faustian THIEF.)

This florist is simply doing what he does best...creating floral displays. He's not concerned w/the longevity of these plants because most of clients are only buying the finished product for it's decorative appeal...rather than wishing to grow it on. He's going about his life...doing his job...and earning his living. Why does this make him evil? He's making pretty decorative objects...he's not killing puppies or abusing babies.

I don't buy cut flowers nor do I buy floral arrangements but I believe others have the right to do so if that's what they choose to do. I don't cut the flowers in my gardens because I like to enjoy them right where they are. But, my neighbors cut their flowers and they put them in vases in their homes...and that's OK. My way...their way...one is not better than the other it's just a different way of going about things.

Maybe the people in charge of doing the buying should've asked this man to do things differently a long time ago. If the goal was to keep the plants alive...don't you think it would've be more productive to relay that bit of info to the guy doing the creating? Most florist do not grow these plants...they buy them to create decorator objects...and that is what your building ordered. Most people who buy arrangements enjoy them for a short period and then they pitch them. Kind of like those same people in your building who buy those cast off that you pick up...they were decorative items and when they wilted they were pitched. I wouldn't do that...but those are the exact people who buy this florist's creations. Wouldn't those people simply be on a different "journey" from those of us who grow orchids rather than cut them? I thought you said all "journeys" had value. Could be I'm misunderstanding all that "journey" talk...I admit it.

Regardless...

I believe your new instructions will go a long way in helping to keep the plant alive but you really shouldn't condemn the man for doing his job. The job he was hired to do.

Given the content of many of your "speeches" and the overall 'to each his own' feel of many of those speeches...I find the above diatribe rather hypocritical.

Just sayin'....

I'm locking this thread while I review some of the comments made on it. I may choose to unlock it again, but please note I'm very unhappy about some of the comments made.

:mods:

:bad: No no no. We do not talk to others like this here on Orchid Board. If you don't want to read about it then just unsubscribe and stop reading this thread. Don't be rude about something you are not interested to hear.

Taking off my moderator hat for a momment, I have actually enjoyed reading this thread. So different to my own experience and so interesting as a result.

:mods: so back in moderator mode, if you don't like it don't read it... simple surely... there are a lot of other things to read here on OB.

:bad: and again no. If you don't like JMNYC's style just move on to other threads/posts.

Do NOT insult the way other people speak/write. :evil:

I will re-open this thread but will be watching closely. Again :mods: