Gift #1121: Orchids

Well hello everyone and welcome to March!  We’re on the home stretch into spring now.  It’s really, really hard for me to get through January and February, but once we get into March I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief.  The world starts waking up and green things will slowly start to emerge now.  We may have some cold spells left, but we’re on the move towards the light.   I blogged earlier this year about the steps I was taking to keep sane in the winter months and how I was looking forward to spring.  One of the upcoming events that I was looking forward to was the return of orchids to our greenhouse at the art museum.

They came to us second week into February and have been lifting our spirits through the long, dismal, grey days.  This is their last weekend on official display.  My mom and I have been able to visit with them a couple of times.  I’m already sad to see them go, but I’m consoling myself with the knowledge that many of them will be staying and I can still go back to spend time with them.  And also the outdoor spring bulb display is well underway.  Many of the bulbs are sprouting and getting bigger by the day and some have already started blooming… but I’m getting ahead of myself and today’s post is for orchids.  

If you remember from last year,  I confessed that I had not liked orchids much at all.  It wasn’t until last year’s display that I had genuine appreciation and love for the plants.  It took a long time for me to like them, but once it hit, it hit hard.  I spent last spring reading several books about orchids, I knit a shawl to remind me of orchids, and I’ve been waiting impatiently to see them again.  This time I greeted them with much love and affection.

To a color-starved soul in the depths of winter, these blossoms are far more fabulous and luminescent than any sparkling jewel.   As the light falls on these blooms, they just glow and I’m pretty sure I hear angel’s singing as I admire them.

Delicate floral scents perfume the greenhouse and the air shimmers with energy and color.  It’s really hard to have a favorite plant from all the lovelies on display.  I had a handful of ones that I found very special from this year.  Most of these are ladyslippers.  I’m utterly enchanted by these orchids.  Even before I appreciated orchids as a whole, ladyslippers were incredible to me.  I love their muted colors of pink melting into green, Some of them this year were hybrids I’d not seen before – dark, dark burgundy so rich and beautiful it took my breath away.

I’m so inspired by these beautiful plants, rich in color and texture, and so grateful that we can enjoy them during the last dismal days of winter.  It’s a foretaste of what’s to come with spring, when the earth leaps alive in a riot of color and celebration.  While we wait for that happy event, I’m content to feast my eyes on orchids and treasure them.

Blessings to you,

Sarah