Mary & Friends - Orchid Daze 2019

Meet Mary, my orchid. This post is long overdue, because I’ve had her over a month now (but to be fair, you’ve seen her before in black and white).  

Mary was a gift from my sister-in-law after we lost our dog Quinn, and she is my first orchid. I like to garden but don’t consider myself especially skillful with indoor plants, and orchids are known to be more of a challenge that a typical house plant. So when I got her, I was happy to have such a beautiful flower but also pretty sure I was in over my head.

Fortunately, Photoblog is home to the world’s most wonderful orchid whisperer, Andi! Not only does she know everything there is to know about orchids, she is generous with her time and an absolutely delightful person who always manages to give me something to smile or laugh about.

Thanks to Andi’s patience and instructions, I think Mary has a fighting chance at survival. And now that I’ve learned a little more about caring for orchids, Mary may even get herself a companion orchid one day…I can definitely see why people say orchids are addictive. 

About 6 weeks later, she's lost two of her flowers, but Andi assures me I don't need to panic! :)

While I’m on the subject, I’ll share some pictures from the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Orchid Daze display from this weekend. I only had a short amount of time to visit, and there were tons of different kinds of orchids and a tropical frog feeding session to see during that time, so it was a little overwhelming trying to see everything and take photos. I hate being rushed, so I plan to go back again on a day when I can enjoy browsing through things more slowly. 

I wish I'd been more careful to note the type of each orchid. Doh!

Thank you, Andi, for all your help and for introducing me to the wonderful world of orchids!