My Aerides Punchinello has 26 buds!!!

[peeweelovesbooks]

Yup. Yessireee indeed!!!

I bought this one on a whim back in 2009. It promptly decided it didn't like it among my laelias and of course, I got offended and sort of neglected it.

In 2010, I made half-hearted attempts to forgive it, but it and I sort of ignored each other. I put it back on the rack and for the most part forgot about it.

I felt guilty; and so I repotted it and started taking care of it. We came to a truce, and the Aerides decided to produce a spike. However, the ants ate the entire thing.

So, I was mildly disappointed and decided to keep it since I realized it was sort of trying to get my attention. I repotted it into a clay pot with hydroton and the thing took off. The leaves are green and shiny and stiff.

So now in 2011, it decided to grow a spike!! I was like, "OK I'm not getting excited here," but the spike got pretty long this time. I put it in a protected area and the spike developed little buds. They looked like green pearls. I noticed the ants again and decided to eradicate them before they ate the spike again. So, I rinsed the pot with some Dawn soap and the ants died YAY!!!

I put it inside the house and the buds were showing this sticky coating. I thought it was weird and got worried. But I realized this is sort of normal--the more mature buds (the ones with the little horn) dropped the sticky coating (it's almost a shell) and are now showing pink!!!

I counted the buds 2 days ago and THERE ARE 26 BUDS on one spike. 26 buds. The ignored Aerides has gifted me with 26 buds.