Almost every year, one of my African violets starts to fade, and I have to put it out of its misery. I’ve also unintentionally killed off a half-dozen plants in my fairy garden, and yesterday I admitted one of my favorite Christmas cactus plants to the houseplant emergency room for “excessive and unexplained drooping.”
That’s why I’m excited about my ‘Orange Marmalade’ phalaenopsis orchid:
It just started blooming again for the fifth year in a row. The plant only has two main stems, so late last year when some of the side shoots turned crispy brown and fell off, I was wondering if that would be its demise.
But this week fresh flowers popped out of the top of the main stem, and the shorter stem now has four new tiny shoots growing out of it.
Maybe next year at this time I can celebrate year six.