This poor little orchid gal is not going to make it. I bought her at Lowe’s a few weeks ago, knowing that being a terminal spike orchid, she wouldn’t last long unfortunately. She had the most beautiful blooms; I could not help myself.
As I watched her leaves yellow and her roots crinkle, I knew no amount of orchid fertilizer treatment or care would change this course. It was her time.
Terminal spike orchids may only have 2-3 years in them, from what I have read. I also never quite know what other bugs or rots have formed in their lives from nurseries to sellers in arid environments that shorten their lives, either. It could have been one of a many reasons why just after coming home with me, she gave out. All of her blooms spent, it was all she had.
And so, I reached for the keiki paste for the first time. I’ve had a few terminal orchids before and never had any keiki paste to try to encourage keiki growths with. This one motivated me to buy some and give it a go. (And yes, it’s true that even with a growth hormone like the paste, it’s still not a given a new baby plant will materialize).
Once it arrived, she had lost her last big leaf and her roots showed she was out of life.
But I still fertilized.
And I still made a tiny gouge in the last node left and applied the paste.
Just in case life decided to give it a go.
Yet, I was perfect accepting if it didn’t.
As I held this tiny orchid in my hands with sympathy and care, it hit deeply that I felt a little bit like this gal. I’ve had more days than I care to count where I had no more energy to thrive in my roots or leaves.
I considered how I might hold space for myself more often when I was on empty too. And how to do so without judgement as to whether I delivered or not. This thought brought me some acceptance that there was indeed extra room in coming days for me to give myself the same grace, if I remember to do it. And similarly, I could do so without judgement.
And so, I gently set her in the indirect light and left her to take her time with whatever came next, giving gratitude for sharing her beauty while she could. It was more than enough.