Winter flower fix

Okay, you know you're a plant nerd when you get excited about this:

pineapple

It's a pineapple! You have no idea how excited I was when I noticed it today. It's on a shelf that's over my head, so I didn't see it coming (so to speak). I've been growing this plant for maybe 3 years from a top I cut off of a store-bought fruit. Dang, that's fun :-)

Not only that, but my orchids are blooming. This is the first year in several that I haven't gone to the flower and garden show. But, at this point, I'm pretty much full-up with orchids and that's all I want to see at the show anyway.

Here are my beauties:

creamy white phalaenopsis 

magenta phalaenopsis

close-up of Epidendrum bloom

 And here is an orchid I purchased a few years ago, three maybe, that has reliably bloomed and never fussed. It's called an Epidendrum. These blooms sometimes last into summer. Every new stalk will bloom. The photo at left shows the smaller of two stalks with blooms. There are at least two more stalks that are also forming flower heads.

Epidendrum plant

Here's another photo of this lovely plant to show you how big the plant gets. It is desperate for repotting, but I'm afraid there aren't orchid pots big enough! Right now it shares our bedroom with the giant Norfolk Pine.

There are more flowers, but for now, I think I'll just leave you with the orchids. Needless to say, the house in winter is a jungle - just the way I like it :-)