Rebloom

Last year, just before Easter, I purchased two discounted orchid plants in tiny plastic pots from a nameless big box store.  I've never owned an orchid before, and they were cheap enough I figured I wouldn't be out much if I killed them.  Well . . . they both kept their blooms for far longer than I expected, well into spring, finally wilting as summer got going.  I cut them back per instructions found on the internet, re-potted them into larger terracotta pots and then proceeded to pretty much ignore the plants for the rest of the year, giving them water once a week, when I remembered.

Here recently both shot out new flower spikes, and first one, and now the other, have put off a new spike off of the old ones.  This past week the first flowers have re-bloomed.  Very Pretty!  The other plant's new stem will bloom in a couple weeks, most likely, and at this time has 7 buds.  If they follow the pattern from last year, I should have lovely blossoms for most of the winter.

It is a touch of spring as we get into the dark of winter.  Note in the picture the yard outside does NOT have snow!  In fact, we had a rather Texas-like Christmas . . . into the high 30s, sunny, and clear.  I should stop making blog entries about flowers . . . and go take my bird hunting!

*** Postscript ***

I flew Hit Girl behind the school in Houston.  A few squirrel chases, but she really was not at the best weight to chase.  Two bunny flushes, and she contacted the second one, unfortunately crashing with quite a lot of force, snagging bunny as it tried to escape into a huge brush pile.  She caught it, and it was wailing, but she was so far in when I got there (just a twisted head and feathers poofing out of the branchy hole she crashed into) that when I was trying to figure out how to get my arm in beyond her to where her bunny was, and tried to gently lift her out by her wings, bunny popped free, and was home clear into the pile.  Hit Girl was very frustrated, and downright crabby after that.  Hopefully she will burn through what I let her eat to fly again tomorrow.  She needs to kill something to get her aggression out . . . preferably not on me, or Rich.