My Orchid Flowers Died, And a Few More

Ginger

That lovely orchid that I posted a while back is no longer looking beautiful. The petals began to get brown and wilty along the edges, then the flowers came off. After a brief inquiry, I have learned that it is likely my fault. Duh, right.

I thought that my apartment was just too hot for the delicate flowers. Not the case. Rather, I probably misted it too late in the day and water remained on the petals overnight. Apparently, something as basic as that can cause the flowers to fall. Don't fret, I will not give up on orchids quite yet.

I trimmed it back and placed the foliage in the bathroom. I hope I can keep it nice and see if it will bloom again.

To compensate, I picked up a 6 dollar ginger plant from Home Depot. It looks beautiful. I will post a picture after this post. I would like to do a complete post on all that is ginger, but for now I will just give a few thoughts.

One website said that you could just buy a knob of ginger at the store. Soak it over night and then plant it in potting soil (mix it with peat moss if it is heavy-- you want to make sure there is plenty of drainage). Other people have reported sticking toothpicks in the side and immersing one part in water and letting it sit until roots develop. This sounds a lot like what I remember doing with an avocado seed. You should start this process indoors so you will be ready to plant outside in the spring. The plant needs a lot of humidity, so give her a mist. Then you can dig it up and eat it! Or just stealthily cut off pieces of root as needed.

Note, I have not tried any of this, it is all hearsay. I will just try to keep my plant alive! But if the flower dies, you know I will be digging up that root!

On a side note, I have been a bit delayed with blog postings since I have been pretty preoccupied with my current medical mystery. Sorry for all of you checking to see if I have updated! As soon as the weather cools down and I figure out what the heck is going on, I will get back posting several times a week.

peace,

Melissa