I have received a very nice gift for Mother's Day, a purple Phalaenopsis. The only catch is that it was a present from a very weird person.
In Spain and other countries such as Portugal, Andorra, Hungary, South Africa, and Lithuania, the first Sunday of May is dedicated to mothers. Other countries have other dates for celebrating that day, the majority of them will celebrate it next Sunday.
In some of the Balcan countries, International Women's Day is celebrated instead of Mothers' Day and it is a tradition to give flowers to women.
Usually, carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus), roses or orchids are the most common flowers used as a gift. My son already said it is a cliche, flowers are not cool.
Huh, no flowers from you, son?
Ok, no problems, I bought that orchid for myself.
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Anyway, I like the act of giving instead of receiving a gift, so I pretended I am buying the orchid for someone else, and then I combined nice and useful and gave it to myself. Well, if you think it is not weird, then I can edit the first sentence of my post.
I know that it is very exciting when you have a plant without flowers and you are waiting for the buds and flowers. It is happening right now with my succulents, they are having buds and some of them already bloomed. I am sure you know that is a special feeling, waiting for them. Not knowing how the flowers will be (I will not check on the web to spoil my excitement :D ). But, with this orchid, I made an exception. Two exceptions.
-One - I gave money for it (almost all my other plants arrived in a different way to me).
-Two - I bought it WITH flowers.
I know, I know, a cliche, right?
But... they were so nice...
The plant has two tall spikes, with many flowers on them. Also, the buds are still there, so I will be able to enjoy a bit more the new flowers. When the spikes go out of bloom, I will probably leave them, as many times new buds again grow there. If the spikes dry, then it is easy to cut them off.
What I didn't like is the fact that one of the leaves is damaged by a stem that serves to hold the flower spikes. Did they do it on purpose, or it was not intentional, I don't know. But I see that the leaf doesn't like it either. It's a bit yellowish.
Also, the plant was in plastic transparent cellophane, who knows during what time. Plus the roots had too much water, probably that plastic packaging kept inside too much moisture. I saw on roots not so good signs... a bit of mould. I will not water it for some days, that is for sure.
Maybe it will be ok now in its new home. If my small white orchid (that looks so tiny and small compared now to this giant) could survive, then there are hopes this one will be fine.
The whole plant looks like this. It is pretty tall and has healthy leaves. We will see how the roots will behave. The spikes are full of flowers, so what could I ask for? No better gift for Mothers' Day than the one I have chosen for myself. Ow, who paid it is less important :D
When is celebrated Mother's Day in your country? Have you received any gifts if you are a mother or have you had to take care of yourself as the writer of this post? :D
