Orchids for Remembrance

I found this wonderful blooming orchid plant this weekend at my local grocery store. I brought it home for Valentine's Day and wanted to share it with all of you. Happy Valentine's Day!

Orchids remind me of my mother, who passed away a couple of years ago after a very long bout with emphysema. She loved orchids. Her birthday was Valentine's Day and I always had a new orchid plant shipped to her on that day.

My uncle was a florist and gave her two large cymbidium orchid plants when I was in middle school. This variety is hardy and performed well in South Texas. She took great care of those plants. They grew and she was able to divide them into several more. They bloomed between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. After I was married and moved to Houston, she brought me one of the orchid "babies" for our first home.

I'm not the gardener she was. Just call me "Grace of the Black Thumbs". But I was able to keep that plant going for a long time until one day an unexpected freeze killed it off. I had another orchid plant that I kept going here until our patio was redone last fall--it got lost in the construction. So I'm hoping to redeem myself by keeping this one alive and maybe even getting it to bloom again.

Happy Birthday, Mother. And Happy Valentine's Day to Y'all!