I’ve never considered myself someone who has a green thumb; however, I am known for trying to save and salvage all kinds of plants way beyond their time of going to the great garden in the sky. With this said, we do have a Philodendron that we inherited from a very good friend that has to be at least 25 years old. I think it is still growing and blowing partly because Phillies are so hearty and partly because this guy just loves us and our home and wants to stick around for the long haul. Oddly enough, in spite of myself, the one plant that I’ve always loved is the Orchid.

People have given me Orchids over the years and I always freak out at how to care for them. I think I’ve done this because my intuition would say, “just relax, Orchids are really easy to care for–just listen for what they need cuz they’ll tell you and all will be well” but so many “experts” would say differently. I had one Orchid several years ago that continued to grow and bloom even though I hardly did anything to it at all. That seemed to be what it liked. Then I listened to a friend of mine who told me that I needed to “feed” it and even gave me some Orchid plant food. Well, all i can say is that Orchid ended up dying pretty soon after I fed it (and, yes, I did follow directions). That death took the bloom off of my desire to grow and maintain Orchids for awhile.

Towards the end of May, a friend of mine gave me a beautiful Orchid with six blooms. I just loved it. The blooms lasted for a month or so and then began withering and falling off til all that remained were its leaves and stalk. I could still feel the energy of this Orchid, so I decided to listen to my intuition and treat it the way that I thought it wanted to be handled. I put it on our bathroom window sill where it can get the direct morning sunlight and then some indirect light during the day. I give it a good soaking once a week. I wipe the dust off its trio of leaves and I pet the stalk and let it know that I appreciate it.

Slowly but surely a new little leaf began to bud. I watched it with glee even though the voices in my head were doubting me because, after all, no flowers were growing. Even so, I kept up with the watering and dusting the leaves. I’m glad I did because now it has a big new beautiful green leaf. I noticed this morning that there is the tiniest centimeter of a centimeter of new growth on the stalk at the top. Somehow my intuition has overcome the negative voices in my head through this process and I am very grateful for the new leaf and that teeny tiny centimeter of growth. If the buds come, that will be lovely but it doesn’t define the life of this Orchid for me anymore. The fact that it is shooting energy into it’s leaves and the stalk is still strong and steady is enough for me today.

I’m thinking that there just may be some learning experiences in this process for me about how I judge what is good and what is bad, what is worth my time and what isn’t. Who knew that such a beautiful flower could penetrate so deep into my heart?

What are the plants, trees, grasses or flowers saying to you today?