Like unusual plants/flowers with unusual leaves or petals.. What do you have????

Caring for houseplants, and that is what orchids in the home are, is not intuitieve nor 'easy'. It can be easier than it is sometimes made (i.e. 'it's easy when you know how) but specialist knowledge needs to be on hand. Someone with basic knowlege of houseplant culture would know that a 1/2 cup of water (4 ounces) is nothing. Nor would repeating an application of four ounces of water in 24 hours be cause for alarm. When I get new plants I hit each of them with a full quart (24 ounces) because I don't know when they last had a drink and also I want to get them started on my schedule. The lions share of that quart will run out of the pot but I can be certain the bark is well wetted. I am not certain of what could cause new plants to decline so spectacularly in so short a time but it is probably environmental: draft, too close to heat register, too cold, too hot, etc. I think the present plants are a write-off. If the o.p. really wants to get involved with orchids and try again I would suggest getting the "All About Growing Houseplants" by Ortho as well as their "All About Growing Orchids". I've seen the houseplant title for 99 cents. FWIW. H

Ontario_Canada5a_USDA4b, occasionally I find unusual types of H. paniculatas at brick and mortar nurseries here, but most often I mail order them since Limelight seems to be most of what is sold locally. IME H. paniculatas grow quite a bit more quickly than other types. I don't think I've planted anything that reached a respectable size from a tiny start in less time. The photo above shows my H. paniculata 'Quickfire' in fall of 2012 at around 5' tall. It was ordered for spring of 2009, but spent the summer in a shady spot in small 6" pot (less than ideal conditions!), and was planted mid fall of 2009, so in the photo it's had 3 good years of growth from being planted at less than a foot. I'd show photos of it at planting, but it's small enough that it really doesn't show up in the overviews of the bed that I took. My H. paniculata 'Pinky Winky' I found locally, so it was in a larger (2 gallon perhaps?) pot and about 2'-2 1/2' tall when planted some time in May or June, 2010. In the photo below, taken mid-August 2013 so after most of four growing seasons is well over 6' tall; the spiral trellis that is slowly being eaten by PW is 5' tall. I was honestly shocked at how quickly PW got big. It's stayed about this height (it has maybe gotten to 7 1/2', but I can still prune off old blossoms with long-handled pruners) but has continued to get wider over the years. I don't prune either one except to remove blossoms. I only watered this bed for the first few seasons, and even then only if we had no rain for at least 3 weeks. I am not sure if we even had water here during the 2010 season though we did by the time these photos were taken. Based on my experience with growth rate, I'd advise finding a variety which has the type of flower blooms (size and laciness) and general branch and growth style you like and buying it in whatever size you can, including mail order (very small) if needed. Then train it to your somewhat exacting standards. As a general rule gardening isn't instant gratification, but H. paniculata comes as close as I've found other than from annuals. I think you will be happier with one you train yourself, and 3 years to get a good sized plant that fits the requirements isn't a long time in garden time. Plant annuals around it for the first season until it reaches a large enough size to have good impact. A large pot hanging from a shepherd's hook would also work as a temporary filler.

Looks like one of the variegated abelias....like 'Confetti' or 'Twist of Lime'.