What's Happening to my Orchid?

A few months ago, my niece, Tiffany, texted me with this photo and asked, "Aunt Terri! What is happening to my orchid?" She has been pampering this little plant for years and this was the very first bloom that she had gotten out of it!

What surprised me was when she told me she had been following all the directions she had read about orchids, and had kept this little fellow in a perforated cup...I had not ever read up on orchids and was unaware that they like to have air around them like that!

Admittedly, the fact that they need lots of air around their roots does not surprise me, as, in their natural habitat in Latin America, they grow on the sides of deep "barrancos", or up high in the tallest trees, along with mosses and air plants.

Eventually, her orchid offered up a few beautiful white, waxy flowers.

I have had a couple of orchids in the past. They usually last about 6 years, before thy just seem to give up. I suppose that Montana is not particularly their favorite habitat!

I did, however, find this wonderful perforated pot at an estate sale last year, and transplanted my orchid into it. (I did not know they made pots like this!) My orchid seemed to like it!