My maternal grandmother loved orchids. Whenever a corsage was ordered for her for a special event like a wedding or an anniversary, she requested that it be an orchid.

On New Year’s Eve, one of hubs’ poker buddies and his wife gave us an orchid as a housewarming gift. This rekindled so many memories of my grandma. That was one of the positives for this gift.

The big negative was that I instantly panicked. I’ve had zero success with house plants and even managed to assist a cactus in meeting an untimely end.

The instructions attached to the plant said to give it an ice cube once weekly and to keep it in a place where there was filtered light.

I started the ice cube watering and placed the plant next to a west-facing window (on the ledge of the bathtub) in our master bathroom.

Last week, all of the flowers from one of the spikes had withered.

I consulted professor Google, and read that the ice cube watering was inappropriate. Hmmm … if that’s the case, why were those the instructions that came with the plant?

I changed the watering system to one that was suggested on several horticultural sites, and moved the plant to a location in our living room.

So far, so good. The second spike is still in full bloom and the blossoms look healthy. We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.

“The word comes from Greek mythology. Orchis was the son of a satyr and a nymph. During a feast to celebrate Bacchus, Orchis drank too much wine and tried to force his attentions on a priestess. Bacchus was very displeased, and reacted by having Orchis torn to pieces. The pieces were scattered far and wide, and wherever one landed, an orchid grew.”

Lisa Kleypas