•Posted by hopefulauthor Are you an orchid expert? I prefer the word "experienced" -- expert implies a greater store of knowledge than I likely can live up to. •Posted by hopefulauthor Phals are fairly easy, but what about other orchid types. I know some very experienced orchid hobbyists who can't grow a phal to save their life -- but yet can grow other orchids like nobody's business. heh But just as not all members of the cactus family have the same growing requirements -- for example if you try growing a Schlumbergera under the same conditions a Saguaro needs, you very quickly will have a very dead Thanksgiving/Xmas cactus -- so too different orchids have different requirements. Keep in mind that orchids are one of the most diverse Families of the plant kingdom •Posted by hopefulauthor ...I love Orchids, but not the price. lol They have grown, but only a couple inches over a 3-yr period. That slow growth is precisely WHY orchids are not cheap like so many houseplants. Consider that whether grown from seed or meristem culture, most orchids will not achieve blooming size for 5 to 7 YEARS. And while there are some that under ideal conditions will reach blooming size sooner than that, there are other types that take longer than that even under good conditions. Furthermore, orchids cannot be started from leaf or root cuttings and only a few can be started from stem cuttings. Unless doing meristem (cloning) or seeds, the only method for propagating the majority of orchids is by division (not unlike irises or hosta). Now you did not mention if the plants you bought were seedlings. If so, then you likely still have a year or two to go. Seedlings of many orchids can be obtained for just a few bucks, but that is because you will have a long wait before flowers are ever possible. As far as only growing a couple inches over 3 yrs, I'm assuming you mean growing in the vertical direction? For monopodial orchids -- like the one in the middle with the yellow tag -- that growth speed is perfectly normal. (*Monopodial orchids grow as a single upright “stem” with one leaf following another on opposite sides of the center.) I can't tell from the photo what the others are except for one tag that I can tell says Cattleya. Each new pseudobulb for the catt should reach its full size in less than a year with each succeeding pseudobulb being larger than the last until a maximum size is reached. (Just what that size is depends upon genetics just as with people.) •Posted by hopefulauthor Do these guys need more light? Humidity? Again hard for me to tell based on your photo as I can't tell exactly which genera you have. It doesn't look like you have any that require high humidity. In general, catts require a LOT more light than a phal. For many orchids (as with any large group there are exceptions) the leaves will tell you what they think of the light you are allowing them. *dark green leaves = "get me out of this dungeon!" *medium (grass) green = more light would be better *light green = "now we're talkin' baby!" *yellow green or green with purple spotting/blush = upper range of what the plant can handle (not necessarily a bad thing - I actually aim for the blush on the leaves) As with any plant, harden them off to higher light.

We have some family traditions that came from my family when I was a child, and new ones that we created. We opened one present on Christmas eve, and it was usually the kids "care package" of smoked oysters, smokehouse almonds, and dried apricots (This was always one of their favorite presents) Christmas presents were opened on Christmas morning, but could NOT be opened until Mom (me) had her coffee, so the kids always got up early and made a pot of coffee, and delivered a cup to me in bed. Then we opened presents. Since when I was a kid my mother always passed out the presents, I now always pass out the presents, although in the last few years, I have given relinquished that job to oldest daughter, and then oldest granddaughter. My kids do not come on Christmas day, because that want to stay home and create their own traditions. I think this is wonderful, cause I hated having to get up early, open presents, then go to two sets of parents. The kids never had time to play with their stuff, and we were just rushing around all day. Now we decide at Thanksgiving when we will celebrate Christmas together. This year it is Saturday, Dec. 22. Because the kids get sick of all the turkey type dinners at the holidays, we would have a fancy Christmas evening dinner of standing rib roast, with fresh seafood flown from the coast, or Crown roast pork and fancy canapes. The kids and grandkids always liked getting dressed up in fancy-pants clothes for this. Bear in mind that the "Christmas evening" was actually our designated Christmas evening, not the real one. We would not open presents until after the fancy dinner. When presents are opened, it is one at a time from youngest to oldest (I always made sure everybody got the same number of presents). Noboby can open theirs until we all see what the opener before us got. In my husbands family, people just went in and started ripping things open, and we never knew who got who what, or instructions would have been ripped away and discarded, and I found the entire thing to be a disorganized disaster that stressed me out. My kids do the same things now with their kids: one at a time and the proper thank yous passed on. Now, with all the kids grown up, and nobody coming here for the real Christmas day, we stay up late watching movies on Christmas eve then sleep in on Christmas day, open our gifts to each other, and then go visit his family for a traditional Christmas dinner. For the past several years, however, we have decided to set a new tradition: a little trip at Christmas. Two years ago: New Orleans, last year, a Caribbean cruise, and this year, San Antonio, Texas. We have found it kind of fun to start new traditions and watch our kids start their own. One other thing, whatever day we all decide to be our Christmas together, the following morning we always have a sausage and cheese and egg casserole for breakfast. My kids all do the same thing: they serve this casserole every Christmas morning at their own homes. It has been fun reading everybody's traditions! Sherry

Redroze, It's never ending and we started a year ago. Kitchen backsplash, painting of moulding trim, curtains, lighting room fixtures still need to be selected. Our house has great bones but nothing was done to it which is a good thing. We got it under asking price in our preferred neighbourhood in the hot market of 2007. But we've burned through our reno budget and have decided NOT to use credit. So we're taking our time. Doors have been replaced, pocket doors handles installed....I've been living with masonite board covering the ugly gap that was our coal burning fireplace. We just had our gas insert installed last week - love it - but my BF now needs to build the mantle (and he did an incredible amount of work installing the new hearth and getting the old fireplace cavity ready for the insert.) I'm planning spending my Christmas break painting - finally settled on LR and master bedroom colours:) Takes awhile.. Redroze - even with our unfinished state we still had our big bash in summer and we still have get togethers with friends and family. We, too, want to replace our current DR table with a bigger one, but decided to spend money finishing our fireplace first, for greater impact. It didn't stop us from hosting a large Thanksgiving dinner - my BF BUILT a rough table to attach to our current one, and we just hid it under a large table cloth and used folding chairs for the extra chairs!

Yeah... the good old days... I hate, hate, hate, shopping anywhere for at least a week after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I can't avoid it this year, although I won't shop on Friday. I'm sponsoring five senior citizens for Christmas, and all of the gifts have to be purchased, packaged, wrapped, and turned in by December 2. I've got most of the shopping done, but there's still a few things left that I need to get, so I'm stuck doing it this weekend - but I think I'll wait until Sunday. We're out of town now, anyway, and won't be home until Friday night, so I'll need Saturday to rest up...