Lucy Would Have Been Proud

I know it's been a while since I've posted, life has gotten in the way of adventure. Saturday was one of the few noteworthy things that has happened in a long time. One of my biggest heroes through life has been Lucille Ball. She has always been a constant in my life. First through KTLA which played all the old re-runs from The Munsters to The Little Rascals to The Three Stooges to Laverne & Shirley. I Love Lucy had to be one of my favorites. Lucille Ball even introduced Carol Burnett to the TV audience. Anyway Lucy was known for her shenanigans and making reality a funny existence. I say reality, because I've done some things Lucy would have been proud of. I know she wouldn't roll her eyes at some of the things I've done like my family and friends are likely to do. One of my biggest obsessions is plants. I love getting free things also, now free plants, I just can't resist that ever! So that leaves me 19 Cymbidium Orchids richer. I think it was worth it, you can decide.

Lets start out with some pictures, and a little story k?

Saturday, I drove down and picked up some orchids from a flower farm which offers up their cymb plants about every other year on freecycle, I had no idea what to expect. (a year ago last July, I missed the greenhouse cleaning, but there was a nice woman who picked me up a few and saved them for me until I could go down and pick them up.) They clean out the greenhouses of the non-producing plants and replace them with younger plants, every couple of years.

This year I was not going to miss it, even though I was sick as a dog, I packed my purse, cell phone, and Kleenex, at 6:30 am pulled out of the driveway and headed on down to the other end of the county. I went with hopes of picking up a couple plants, hopefully with enough to spare to give away as gifts this year, as money is tight. Nipomo is not a beautiful place in any stretch of the word, but when I turned down the road to the flower farm I was flabbergasted. Fields of strawberries, lettuce, and all sorts of produce sprouting up along the way. I followed the signs which promised free orchids. There must have been twenty or thirty hoop greenhouses. I made it just after 8 am. there were already people lined up for their gems.

The whole production was amazing they drove you through the greenhouse itself and loaded every available space with 2-10 gallon pots. Now here on the Central Coast there is no need for expensive heated greenhouse, just the basic pole hoop houses are used. When it gets too cold the plastic on the ends are lowered and weighed down. These were hoop houses large enough for a tractor or car to drive through. Two Hispanic men filled my hatchback, with lowered seats, and stuffed three 2 gallon pots in the front seat. I finally laughed and had to tell them, "No mas!" Ten minutes from start to finish, I was loaded up with my orchids and headed out another way from the farm. I had barely enough room to pack myself on the driver side, hit the freeway, and not leave the thoroughfare for any reason. I stayed in the slow lane, as I could not see the whole passenger side of my car or out any of the windows. So I trucked on home, Kleenex in hand, stuffed up ears, swatting any of the jungle which encroached on my space and waving to all the people looking at me cross eyed. 100 miles later, I made it home safely, without a ticket at 10 am. I unloaded the car and headed back to bed. Whew! that was some trip!

This is the largest of the plants, as you can see it is overflowing it's pot, I had to drag it out of the car, down the driveway to the end of my bedroom.



Yup, all this filled my car! 18 or 19 plants total.


Of all the plants, only one had spikes, two of them.




All looks hopeful, there is new growth coming up everywhere!


It looks like I'll have blooms soon, too.


Purrum had to come and see what all the hubub was about and help (or hinder) anyway she could.


So now I'm stuck with a bunch of huge cymbs which are in desperate need of division, and I have no idea as to how to go about doing it. How many back bulbs should I leave with new growth? Will a back bulb produce "front" bulbs if it is left by itself? Should I remove the dead leaves from the p'bulbs? HELP!

I got some advise from a friend and tried my hand at surgery on my first victim yesterday. I sure hope it all goes well.