Spoiler alert: Kitty wins. The champion is pictured here -- well satisfied with her champion status. Yeah, I bet you were thinking that orchid could give a real proper hurting to kitty or at least put up an actual fight. No, it went down like clay pigeon -- shattered and defenseless.The newly acquired orchid was blooming beautifully and lasted exactly 48 hours in my house before Chantilly accidentally* swung her tail too vigorously while sitting on the back of the sofa. She knocked the orchid off the neighboring table to the floor. The flowering stem snapped in 3 pieces. Nothing was salvageable of the blooms, but the plant itself is okay. Fat lot of good that does me as the dirty little secrets of this orchid lover include: A. I think orchid plants without blooms are not especially attractive (i.e. downright ugly); and, B. I have never gotten one to successfully re-bloom.
Should I let it live for months as it mocks my every attempt to baby it into re-bloom or just chuck it now and admit defeat? Stubborn as I am, I'm going to give it a try with a healthy touch of realistic pessimism at my eventual prospects of success.
*I say accidentally, but I know that feline brain was secretly jealous of how much attention was about to be lavished over those gorgeous blossoms in the coming month.
You should definitely keep the orchid, and give it a little neglect to see if you can trick it into reblooming.
ReplyDeleteKitty can not win! The orchid has to fight back, or what chance does any houseplant have?
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Speaking of cat v. plant showdowns . . . My mom's cat has a definite grudge against her potted palm. Seeing as this is the only plant my mom has ever been able to keep alive for more than a month, we are a bit concerned and it's now hiding under a sheet of white netting. I swear that palm shivers every time the cat comes in the room.
ReplyDeletejb
You'd think that certain cat-attracting plants would evolve with a few well-placed thorns or shooting spikes, but then who wants that in their house? Today Chantilly was acting very batty - you know when the cat starts zipping in and out of rooms and up and down stiars just because? During that she'd pause and give the crazy eyes to one of the fancy poinsettias I bought this weekend for holiday gift giving. It is now being moved to a high shelf.
ReplyDeleteWe call that Crazy Cat Time at our house. Hidey starts doing that and everybody looks at each other, "Is it Crazy Cat Time again already?"
ReplyDeleteSee now Crazy Cat Time or CCT is the type of scientific research we actually need to be funding. I mean: What triggers that? What is going through the cat's brain at that moment? And how can we harness that energy for the good of our planet? Sometimes when Chantilly's CCT hits - she practically creates burn marks in the carpet as she thunders up and down the stairs and hallways -- that has got to be at least 100 crazy calories expended right there.
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