Today I was lucky enough to attend the Orchid Society of Greater Kansas City Grower’s tour and picnic. I saw several incredible growing operations, and I can easily envision where this obsession is taking our family. I talked with a lot of “Enablers,” the spouses of orchid growers. The sense my fellow “Enablers” gave me was that given the number of ridiculously expensive hobbies a person could have, growing gorgeous flowers at home is a pretty awesome hobby for a spouse to have. I readily concur.
I really liked meeting the fine folks from his orchid club Bdo has been talking about. They have a lot of fun talking about growing situations, lighting, watering, and hybridizing orchids. It is always fun to listen to people talking about their passions! I learned quite a bit today. And I had some amazing pickled watermelon, which was out of this world!
But my favorite part of the day was this flower. I am told is called Phalaenopsis equestris. It was at the first grower’s house, and it caused a strong reaction in me. First, the man reminded me of my late father, who would absolutely love that his favorite son-in-law had gotten involved with growing orchids, and that I was enabling his obsession. Second, the petals were in ring- three dark little purple flowers, ringed by three lighter purple flowers. Different than any orchid my husband had shown me before! They looked like they would just fly apart. The grower’s hand, which looked like it had dug in dirt for many years, held the delicate blooms without a care for how paper-like they appeared to me. Bdo often tells me that the orchids are much hardier than they appear, and part of their charm is their deceptive delicacy.
When I got home and looked closely at the photo, I was taken by how strong orchids really are. They can take a lot of abuse, and still be beautiful. And this one is definitely going to get into “our” collection! I am glad I went on my first orchid outing, and I love that I felt like my father was a part of it, too!
