My Orchids Tie One On

 

Here’s my latest creation and invention. My friend Joe owns the best Italian restaurant ever called Roma Ristorante. Joe asked for some flowers for his bar so I picked up these stunning orchids and two glass containers. One very large and a smaller vase to fit inside the larger one. Next I scoured Ebay and found 350 wine corks (Ebay is awesome!) I then dumped the corks between the inner and outer containers and in the inner container, repotted the orchids in organic potting medium for orchids.

It’s important to support the flower stems of orchids but I’m not a big fan of the standard stem clips so to continue the theme, I drilled a quarter-inch hole right through a cork then with a razor blade, sliced it in half (on one side only).   It’s important to leave some wiggle room between the stem and the cork and I found that a quarter-inch drill bit was perfect. Then I placed the cork around the stem and stake. Finally, it’s finished off with some string and I topped off the arrangement with moss. Cheers!

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Orchids

Lately I’ve had this urge to experiment with Orchids. Not anything involving lab beakers, chemistry equations or anything dangerous mind you. More like something creative and classy. Speaking of chemistry, did you hear about the chemist who was reading a book about helium? He just couldn’t put it down. One of my dad’s goofy jokes…sorry.

For this experiment you will find all of the ingredients at your local nursery, craft store, or back yard. You’ll need:

• Orchids
• Large glass container
• Potting soil for orchids
• River rock
• Sheet moss
• Sticks
• Twine

Now for the ‘how to’:

1. Place a layer of river rocks on the bottom of the container then line the sides with sheet moss. Using clothes pins, clip the moss in place at the top rim of the container to keep it in place.
2. Fill the vase with orchid potting soil.
3. Insert the orchids into the soil mixture.
4. Remove the clothes pins and finish off the creation with more moss to hide the soil.
5. Stake the orchid flower stems with sticks (I used curly willow branches) and tie them off with some moss secured with twine. PS: the moss/twine suggestion looks much better than the standard orchid clips usually sold with the plant.

Most orchids come with care instructions but my best bit of advice to keep them gorgeous for weeks on end is to keep them out of direct sunlight but in a well-lit area.  Water them once a week by placing three ice cubes (that’s 3 cubes per plant) on the soil.