The orchid which started my addiction... finally in bloom again thanks to OB
 

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:).

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, :biggrin:

I let the spike grow naturally and did not stake it this time as you can see in the second picture.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_o4OXVkcS2VU/TF...%20%289%29.JPG http://lh3.ggpht.com/_o4OXVkcS2VU/TF...20%2811%29.JPG

it looks marvelous, lovely green leaves too, very nice growing indeed!

Great Job Rosie! It looks really healthy!

Thanks :biggrin: the last two leaves to grow have been lovely and shiny and healty looking, the previous ones had been dull. That's one reason I decied it was now well enough to leave the latest spike to grow.

P.S. I've edited the second picture so it opens as a bigger version. I had got the link wrong before so it opened as the same small version.

woo hoo! good growing Rosie!

Oooh, I like that plant! And I like OB, too!
:lovesite

Absolutely lovely. Well done, Rosie!

Kim

Superb work, Rosie. This one obviously means a lot to you.

Well done! Isn't it interesting how our first plants become a sort of testament to our growth as gardeners? You've come a long way, based on other plants you have shared with us. You should be very proud!

That is a nice picture Rosie. Have you submitted any photos to th Orchid Board calendar/photo contest?