The Bayou Orchid

  Back in March, Mark came home from the lumberyard with an orchid plant.  He had no idea exactly what it was and I had no idea how to care for it.  From what I had heard, orchids were some of those fickle plants that needed to be treated with "kid-gloves".  My idea was that they were not "Bayou" enough to ever call the place home but now one was here.  I had good intentions of learning the "art of orchid growing" but, instead, I plopped the plant on the herb tower and promptly forgot to do any research.  The plant was pretty much on its own.  It got watered when the herbs were watered and fed when they were fed.  It stayed in full shade between the basil plants.  Every time I passed the poor thing, I thought of how I really should figure out how to tend its needs.  I never did.  When the plant arrived here, it had four or five blooms on a towering stalk held up by a tiny (6 inch) trellis.  It was in a small pot that was inserted into a ceramic bowl that had no drainage.  The bowl was removed, the plant was plopped into a larger pot with mulch.  That was it.  That was as far as I got.

  Now, five months later, the orchid is still blooming.  It has never stopped.  When one flower withers, it is replaced with another.  The plant seems to have adapted well to its surroundings regardless of the lack of attention.  Several times, I offered the plant to Darling Daughter thinking it would receive so much better care with her.  She always declines saying "You are doing amazing with it, Mom!"  Nope...the plant is doing amazing on its own...I am doing nothing...and the orchid blooms...and blooms.  Regardless of the neglect.  I suppose it truly is a Bayou Orchid now.