The gardener lashed it to the flamboyant tree with ropes -- like some Roman Easter ritual. And there it sat. Through the dry and rainy season.
The only activity was a matrix of long white roots -- right out of a gothic film -- that girdled the tree.
I know this plot. It was Little Shop of Horrors all over again. One morning I anticipated a giant alien would be tied to the tree.
But I was wrong. Instead, the plant started putting out columns of fresh green leaves during the summer rainy season.
Then one morning there was something new. A thin spike. That grew longer and longer. When it was nearly five feet long, it started forming buds.
And there it sat for a couple of weeks. Until I was greeted one day with delicate purple flowers. Orchids. Perfectly fit for a Lilliputian high school prom.
Unfortunately, that is when I headed north. My landlady informs me that the display goes on.
This year I will miss its best performance. And, as long as the plant is not aware of my herbicide history with orchids, we may be able to coax a reprise next year.
Orchids are proof there is a God!
ReplyDeletePreach it, brother John!
ReplyDeleteThey sell them in the street in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I need to slow down, buy one, and enjoy. I love gardening. And our weather is near perfect for most plants to thrive. Even impatients are impatient, and they grow in cracks in the sidewalk, in walls, etc.
ReplyDeleteOrchids are one of my favorite flowers. They grow like crazy in Florida. Here, a plant is extremely expensive, and it doesn't necessary do well unless in prime conditions.
ReplyDelete"we may be able to coax a reprise next year"
ReplyDelete---Steve will be living in the same place next year?
Who knows. I may be living under a tombstone next year.
ReplyDeleteAnd who would have thought that orchids loved bondage?
ReplyDeleteAnd they require so little care. Other than spraying it with a bit of water in the dry season, no one did any tending of my prize.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteYou may have nailed it, that may be one of the prime conditions it doesn't get to thrive here?
ReplyDeleteIndeed, an orchid, those aren't roots, as orchids don't feed off the tree, they are just support.
ReplyDeletethe stock looks almost like a schumburgia, but the flower screams cattelya - I'm guessing cattleya bowringiana - lovely!
As the plant spreads you'll be able to split off old growth, and move it to a new place where new growth should occur!
Congratulations!
I am a proud papa.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry I missed the height of its showiness.
ReplyDelete