Grocery store orchid....

 It's *just* a grocery store orchid, but my oh my, is it lovely!  I feel like I have something extravagant and other-worldly.  For my neck of the woods it is, but if I can buy something this beautiful at my hometown grocery store for $14.95, they must not be too rare or too difficult for most folks to grow.  According to my step-mom, who was given one last year, they are easy to keep.  After I brought my Phalaenopsis Orchid home I did a little research online which said that orchids are quite easy to grow indoors under the proper conditions.  These beauties need filtered light, never direct light, and watering for my particular orchid is minimal.  On the care card included with the flower it says to add 3 ice cubes or 1/4 cup of water weekly and to keep it at a comfortable temperature: 60-85*F (20-35*C), about the temperatures that you and I like to live in.  How simple is that?  The other nice thing is that they hold their blooms for up to 3 months.  That's a lot of enjoyment for a few bucks.

I have my Easter Orchid standing next to the kitchen sink near the window where it will get filtered light.  My new posie is one of those simple joys that makes me smile every time I glance over at it.  I'm excited to see if I can make it re-bloom later or see if it makes a new baby orchid.  If you care to know more about buying, caring for, and growing orchids, this is a very nice site:  Orchid Care.

Another blooming beauty in our home is my Christmas Cactus.  Remember it began blooming for me way back before Thanksgiving?  Well, it has continued to bloom profusely all through the winter and is still pouring-it-on right through to Easter.  It exudes life and beauty all through the bleak wintery months.  I love it.  I have always thought of it as God's special gift to me.  It lives in the laundry room (still) so it is hidden from most onlookers, but it doesn't mind it's humble abode and keeps on thriving while existing on a little water and much neglect.

I remember when I was a girl, our old neighbor lady, Mrs. Wilson, grew African Violets in her sun room.  They were ever-so-beautiful, and she would sometimes invite us in for apple pie and  show off her special violets.  She was proud of them as if they were her own children.  My mom had a Boston Fern that was ensconced on a a tall, ornate plant stand.  She babied and babied it -- misting it almost daily and talking to it.  She loved growing plants.  Do you think growing houseplants is a fading art?   I don't have many indoor plants, but the few I do have are very tough and hard to kill.  I'm not big on artificial plants, but have never been "into" keeping many houseplants either. Even if my sweet orchid only lasts a couple of months and withers and dies, it will be well worth the price for a few beautiful blooms before summer is here. Now I think I'll go smile at my orchid again before I go to sleep.