Late Bloomer, Repeat Bloomer

Easter is on its way, but my poinsettia plant is now in full bloom.

Back when I lived in Ohio, I tried several times to keep my Christmas poinsettias and get them to bloom the following winter.  They tell you that the plant needs absolute darkness for 12 hours starting in the autumn.  I would faithfully put my poinsettia in a closet for the allotted hours, but my efforts were rewarded with only a few small red leaves.

My first Christmas after the move to Mexico, I bought a poinsettia.  After it was done blooming, I cut it back and let it sprout new foliage.  In the fall I put it in the guest bedroom, but I was not good about closing the blinds or shutting the door each night.  Even though it did not get total darkness, by February it had some nice blooms.

This past fall, I did not even bother to give it total darkness.  Christmas is long past, but I think that the late blossoms are the best I have ever had!

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I have also written frequently about my attempts to get my orchid to bloom.  I bought the plant at Home Depot, and the flowers were beautiful.  But then, for over a year, I could not get it to rebloom.  July of last year, I took the plant to a nursery, and had a professional repot it.  He said that I had been over-watering it.  He cut away some rotten roots, and planted it in bark with a time-release fertilizer.  He told me to give it no more than one cup of water per week.

In August, just a month after repotting, a flower stalk had sprouted, and by October my orchid was in full-bloom  The flowers lasted until January.

A few days ago, I was looking at my orchid.  I wondered whether the time-released fertilizer was spent, and if, now that winter has passed, I should begin fertilizing it.  I noticed that at its core, a new leaf was emerging.  And then, much to my surprise, I saw that a new flower stalk had sprouted.

 Only a couple of months have passed since the previous blossoms had fallen, and my orchid is preparing to bloom once again!