Getting Through the Holiday, Blooms and New Projects

It is now the final Friday of the year and I have some exciting news to share!

When I went to open my office door on Christmas morning, I checked on my orchid that had the keiki that had the blooms on it.  On December 18th, I had predicted that that orchid would bloom in about two weeks.  Much to my surprise, one of the buds was slowly opening up on Christmas morning.  Since I couldn't remember what color the blooms were on this particular orchid, it was exciting to see such a lovely surprise.  By the next day, the flower had fully openend.  The other buds on the orchid are progressively getting bigger, so I will have more blooms over the coming weeks.

The other buds on the flower spike

The flower bud slowly opening

The flower in full bloom

The bud that is to the right of it on the stem as you are going towards the tip of the stem, is going to be the next one to open up.  The bloom on this Phalaenopsis orchid is not fragrant.  There are some fragrant ones out there, but they are sort of rare.  The flower petals are buttery soft, and just overall pretty considering its a plain white orchid.

The other keikis on my orchids are doing good.  I have taken to taking the pot to the sink and running the moss I have collected around the keiki roots to get them wet as opposed to spraying them with water.  It seems to be easier this way despite having to take them all to the sink to water them.  Since they are more "open air" than the mother plants roots, I've been watering the roots of the keikis a bit more frequent than the rest of the plant.  The spaghnum moss that I have around the keiki roots seems to dry out about every other day.  Keikis can manage on their own, but watering them on a frequent basis helps them to grow faster (maybe) and not have the mother plan have to send up moisture and nutrients up to the keiki.  None of the other keikis have any flower spikes that will produce any flowers any time soon.  I think (without going to look) that one of the other keikis does have a flower spike, but its still small and there hasn't been any sign of buds deveolping yet.

Now for my other Phalaenopsis orchids, I have 2 more that have buds developing on their flower spikes but they are relatively small compared to the flower spike that gifted me blooms for Christmas.  My other 3 Phalaenopsis orchids are in a dormant period I suppose as they are just growing roots and new leaves, but no flower spikes yet.

Something I had been researching lately is how to use (basically) curio cabinets and turn them into indoor greenhouses for houseplants.  Josh and I had a conversation towards the end of November (it was between the two holidays) about the status of my houseplants, what my plan was for them during the colder months and the conversation of finishing the bathroom that has been deconstructed for the past almost ten years, where my houseplants have lived the past several winters.  Our house is positioned poorly which means there isn't anywhere that has decent/good natural lighting and I haven't put my plants out on display because either the cats or our pup would demolish them either by breaking the stems or using the plant pots as litter boxes.  In the warmer months its not that big of a deal because the plants all go outside on our carport.

I haven't counted exactly how many  houseplants I have but I have a bunch.  I will probably look at finding homes for some of them that I have multiples of (from propagation).  I have several that will be going in  the ground in the Spring such as the Russian sage plants, the culinary sage and others.  My paw paw seeds have sprouted which I'm super excited for and I recently planted some turmeric rhizomes from some that I picked up from the grocery store.  Since my grocery store ginger did so well, I figured I'd try grocery store turmeric and see what happens.  If it fails, then I'm out about $2.50 and time.

When it comes to buying each other presents for Christmas, it's always difficult because if we want something and have the means to get it throughout the year, we just get it.  With the conversation about the deconstructed bathroom and my need to have a place that provides humidity and light that most of my plants need, I gave Josh the suggestion of what to get me for Christmas and that was the curio cabinet that I had been researching.  For a potentially humid environment from the plants, the cabinet needed to be made of metal and glass.  Most cabinets that I looked at were made with either plastic or wood.  Remembering the days of Ikea Hacks, I googled Ikea cabinet greenhouse and was presented with an abundance of results and some were just absolutely stunning.  If you are curious, look up "Ikea Jungle Box."  There are people that make living cabinets complete with water features and all.  Some have used them with plants and an area that they kept fish in and I've seen others that have kept reptiles in them.  Me, I just want to keep it simple for now.  The lady who owns Odd Flora in Lexington started the ball rolling for ideas on using Ikea cabinets for plants.  When I went there a while back, she had 4 Rudsta cabinets with plants in them, complete with lights and all.  I started looking at the Rudsta cabinet on the Ikea website because the price point was a bit better than the Milsbo cabinet.  But to make the Rudsta the approximate height of the Milsbo cabinet, you'd need to buy two Rudsta's which would basically be the equivalent of one Milsbo cabinet.

Yesterday evening, I made the trek to Ikea, by myself, unsupervised.  I took a list with me with item names, locations and size guidelines.  I had measured the cargo space in my Jeep and confirmed that the items I wanted would fit.  I made my round on the upper floor, had dinner from the cafe and then went downstairs to the market hall and then the flat pack area.  If you have ever been to Ikea, you know that the shopping carts in the market hall are omni directional and can be a pain to navigate.  You want to move directly to the left or right while standing still - no problem, just keep your cart straight and move it side to side.  Do you want to run behind the cart, hop on the back and do an epic drift.  No problem, Ikea's got you.  If you've never been to Ikea and aren't familiar with the carts, here's a YouTube video showing what I mean: 

I had items in my market hall cart, then had to get a flat pack cart once I got to that area to load the boxes on for the cabinets.  I ended up getting a Milsom and a Rudsta cabinet.  The flat pack carts are also omni directional do maneuvering both carts at the same time to get to the register was....  a bit comical.  Oh... also, in the kids’ section, they had stuffed bees!  They were so cute; I had one somehow wind up in my cart  😃

All in all, I did purchase things that were not on my list, but things that we could use - like replacement couch throw pillows for example.  I found a really cute propagation set that will come in handy and a bit easier to clean than the one I have on the kitchen window sill that has small openings.

This afternoon, I put the Milsbo cabinet together and got it moved into place in the living room.  I had bought some Skadis peg board panels to use on the back wall of the Milsbo, but after fiddling around with it and finding that the holes in the center support panel don't really match up with the holes on the peg board panel, I'm scrapping that idea for now.  I have accessories and things coming in the mail tomorrow so I'll set to working on the cabinet once all the supplies come in.

I  have decided that in lieu of the peg board panels on the back wall, I will put up some peel and stick wallpaper to give it a contrast from the stark white wall behind the cabinet.  I've never done peel and stick wallpaper before so this will be an interesting task for sure.  I went ahead and put some of my orchids in the cabinet for this evening.  Here is what the wallpaper will look like: 

The Rudsta cabinet isn't much bigger than one of the bookshelves I have stacked in the corner of my office.  My plan is to take one of the shelves down and put the Rudsta on top of it and put my plants in there as well.  This will provide a better environment for the plants in general and to move towards the ultimate goal of emptying out the bathroom so we can start working on its completion.  I plan on putting the Rudsta together tomorrow.

Here's to the new year, flower blooms and projects!

Now off to heat up some dinner and catch up on the latest episode of Outlander.