Orchid Happiness

A few weeks I visited a good friend of mine's (Lauren) new home on a beautiful farm in Paarl. I arrived back to the burbs with these 2 sprigs of wonderfulness- brightly coloured, home-grown Orchids.They remind me of my youth and happiness by representing my late Grandfather's much loved greenhouse where he housed his carefully nurtured Orchid Pride. He sometimes gifted my mom and soooometimes myself and my sisters with the a length of beautiful buds that he had so lovingly nurtured.

Now, I am a huge Orchid fan (aren't we all) and have spent far more than I would like to count on those elegant white slipper twirls, that beg to be bought and placed in prime positions in one's home at the Woolworth's check-out gauntlet. They have sat proudly next to me on car drives home, as I drive (like a pensioner) to avoid bumps and turns so that they arrive in their new home in the only way that they are accustomed, in pure comfort and style.

Yet, these 2 lengths of buds from Lauren, hold a magic that is different. They have been home grown and seem to glow with more colour and vibrancy because of it. They have a hardiness that is not found in their delicate "slipper" shopping centre cousins that I can only attribute to good old farm fresh-air.

They have now secured a prize place in my otherwise very white and neutral home and they are proudly displaying their beautiful colour above their pale looking counter-parts.
The next time I am tempted to splurge on a a bewitching Slipper Orchid, I might think twice.