Imagine Spending Your Whole Life In The Bathroom

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This Phalaenopsis orchid  has lived in our bathroom as long as we have lived in our house.  The builder gave it to us as a housewarming gift, and it has been on a shelf by the bathtub for the past thirteen years. 
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Orchids, from what I can remember having read in 'The Orchid Thief', are essentially immortal:  they can simply keep growing and growing, if conditions are tolerable.
This flower stem is about six months old already.  I kept meaning to get a photo of it, and finally got around to it.  The bathtub made a fair background for photos. 
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It bloomed the first couple of years we had the plant, then took a hiatus of about eight years because I severely under watered it.   Having finally noticed (after eight years) that it was not blooming, I started watering it more, and watering it with distilled water instead of our high pH, high calcium content water.  Whereupon it started blooming again.  
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I'm happy it's happy.
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Another very long-lived plant is Yucca 'Margaritaville', which has also taken time to get around to blooming.  
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The tough no-nonsense plant is in great contrast to the lavish stem of flowers it sends up.  
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The grand flower stalk is surprisingly short-lived.  I thought perhaps months, like an Agave, or at least weeks, like an Aloe, but the stem is already looking tired, about 10 days after it started to open. 
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Nice while it lasts, though.
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The Yucca is up on the west slope.  Climbing up to take photos gave me quite a view.  I looked down to see Natasha at her watchpost:
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And then the front garden and the dry hills beyond, more visible now that the Cercis are gone.  I'm only pulling three or four Cercis seedlings a day now. 
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The Phalaenopsis actually has a pretty good view of the hills there from the bathtub shelf; perhaps that makes a life in the bathroom tolerable.  

 
 

Comments

  1. REally love the long view of your garden with the hills beyond. Beautiful. I have a few phalaenopsis orchids that have been here since 1985 or so... Amazing and tough plants.

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    1. They are truly tough plants if kept within their temperature range--who would have thought?

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  2. geez I have a terrible time getting my orchids to live and I have the perfect conditions...how often do you water and how do you soak? nice yucca.....and lovely views!

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    1. I keep it on the dry side--too dry, really. A splash of water once a week, the humidity from the shower. Soak--are you supposed to soak them?!?

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  3. Very special to have the orchid for so many years. I was in the gardencentre at friday and the owner wanted to trow away 4 orchids because they were almost out of flowers. I could take them home and I hope they are bringing me flowers some day.
    Beautiful photo's Hoover.
    Have a wonderful sunday.

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    1. That is so nice you were able to rescue orchids from the trash! Enjoy them, they can bloom again.

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  4. I *might* consider life in a bathroom if I was assured of that view. I adore those dry California hills and the contrasting green foreground. Speaking of contrasts, that's a robust yucca ya got there!

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  5. That orchid is such a resilient plant, so special to have it for so long and pleased to see it has finally bloomed again. I'm still on the look out for a Margaritaville here, a gorgeous variegated Yucca!

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