Two Years To Bloom - Picture

It used to be that I just could not grow orchids.  Of course, I moved 1200 miles south and now it seems I just have to be patient.

The nurseries up there understand how difficult it is to get these plants to flower in a climate that would freeze them solid in winter so you just won't find seedlings, or find many of them.  Normally you will find full plants in bloom and those will be mostly the ones that are easier to bloom like the Phalaenopsis.

Perhaps that has changed in the years since I have been gone.  After all some people do like challenges.

I put this particular seedling on the irrigation stream around two years ago.  Orchids don't grow quickly so I thought I'd have something interesting taking its time and a little green on a grey fence. 

This winter it was a happy plant.   I noticed around New Year this little stalk growing with a ball on the end of it that looked nothing like the thin green leaves you see here.   It has avoided iguanas, survived heat and drought and decided to grace me with these yellow blooms.  This Vanda is a plant I just would not have attempted before moving here.  It's still a surprise when I can walk outside and see these beauties here.  In my own back yard!

Just don't tell the iguanas they are here.  The plants would be gone in an eye-blink.