ESTEVAN - One gorgeous plant filled Debbie Anderson's house with beauty and set a unique and entertaining precedent.
A light-purple orchid started blooming in early February and by mid-May, it had almost 50 flowers. Not one petal has fallen off yet, Anderson said, and more buds are coming.
Usually, orchids bloom once a year for about six to 10 weeks. Anderson's little plant must have been so happy, that it's been opening more and more beautiful flowers for over 15 weeks now and still shows no signs of finishing its gorgeous mission.
Anderson said a friend gave her the orchid when she was moving away a couple of years ago. The first year it had just a few flowers. The next year, Anderson decided to give it another try. She transplanted the orchid, but did nothing special to enhance its blooming abilities, she said.
"I thought, we'll see what comes of it and then it started coming again," Anderson said. "It says to feed it ice cubes, and not once I did that. All I do is give it about a quarter of a cup, maybe once a week."
She bought a slightly bigger pot and used potting soil from a dollar store. And in February the orchid started cheering her with the first flowers of the season.
And while Anderson didn't feed the flower or do anything with the dirt, what may have made a big difference for the plant is the humidity in her house. Anderson's big hobby is fish.
In her house, she has big aquariums and big tubs for different kinds of fish. With a lot of light, a warmer temperature and high humidity, the orchid probably felt a bit like the tropics and gave it all it had.
Anderson said every morning she checks her orchid to see if there are any new flowers and buds coming. And it's been bringing nothing but joy.
