My Birthday Orchid

Kate purchased this Phalaenopsis, at Home Depot, about a week before my birthday, in September. It soon made its way up to Maine, where it has mostly lived in my bedroom since it arrived. I did bring it to the dining room table around Thanksgiving for a visit.

Originally, there were two spikes, filled with blossoms, on the plant. They lasted a good long while, but eventually began to drop, until as I sit to write these words, there is one bloom left.

I believe Kate paid around twenty dollars for the plant; I am not unaware that that is a lot of money to spend on something as frivolous as flowers. But in the case of orchids, I think there is room for an exception.

First, I do so love orchids, as my Mother did before me, and so many of my orchids are gifts, many from people no longer with us. Secondly, long after it blooms, I will re-pot and feed the plant, and usually within a year, a new flower spike will appear. If all goes well, in a couple more years, the orchid will produce a pup or maybe two; continuing to give joy and even allow itself to be divided and shared. How can that not be viewed as a good investment of twenty dollars?