Sure, would love to. I was assured when I bought the place that it was a weed and needed to be cut down. They are naturalized to the area and show up in roadside hedgerows all over the place. Anyway it came up in a crape myrtle. Both have seemed content with the relationship and I like how one fills in the other with evergreen foliage and also I have two seasons of bloom. When it blooms is when the foliage is most sparse- ie right now (not completely deciduous though). ...in summer.

Seasun, a south window is great, but 5 feet away is too far. You are not giving your phal enough light and it will decline into death if you leave it where it is. Orchids take some time to die, so you'll think you're doing fine, doing ok, maybe not growing like it should. Oh NO!!! What happened to my beautiful orchid???? Here's how where to put the phal figures: phals need about 1000 footcandles of light to grow and bloom. *Outside* at high noon = app 10,000 FC. You are never getting anything near that indoors because of the ceiling and roof of the house cutting off that directly overhead sun. All you are getting is the slanting sun, of much less than 10,000FC. Cut in half by the window glass and screen. Cut in half again *for every foot away from the window*. At 5 feet from your south window you are giving it *100FC or less* by my fairly generous estimate of what your south window actually lets in. In St Louis, I can keep phals *in* a south window with no damage, just far enough from the pane for a shade to slide down. Start moving it closer to the window. The first day move it to about 2 feet from the window. Leave it there a day or two, feeling the leaves where the sun falls on them (if it does). If they are hot, it's too much light, move at least 6" further away. If barely warm or cool, move closer. Repeat above, moving it 6" closer to the window every couple of days til you are at the place where nearer the window = leaves are hot (or it's in the window). There's been a lot of discussion with newbies about how much light to give phals here lately. Mostly newbies wanting to argue for keeping it on an inside wall in a bookcase where it looks great, more experienced growers arguing for more light, LOTS more. Your phal will love you if you do a search for these threads. Use the search function and put in something lilike "phal + light". If you leave it where it is and it dies in 6 months, put it down to needing to learn things the hard way. Actually that's how most of us learned this lesson.

From your description I imagine that your orchid is a Phalaenopsis, or Phal for short (you can google this to make sure). I would suggest reading the AOS or Canadian Congress culture sheets on how to take care of it. These should answer questions #2 & #3. To answer #1 I would suggest reading our FAQs, in particular My orchid is done blooming. Should I cut the spike or not? Hope that helps, ~Jem

I've wondered if some visitors who are so enthused about a new greenhouse get discouraged when so much trial and error, and expense is involved and the first year results don't look like the dude's. I see the same questions over and over about heat, cool, shade, water and electricity and then the questioners disappear. I've seen pelleted pentas seed for sale, Barb, but saved seed has never germinated for me. Cuttings root fairly easily in late summer for keeping over in the greenhouse, and small pots of pentas are not expensive. Sometimes they survive the winter here, sometimes not, so I take a few cuttings as insurance. I just like to see cuttings grow and bloom. I'm a child at heart, playing in a playhouse and easily entertained. I hope the baby is healthy and all are well. The only thing about being a Grandmother is, you have to live with a Grandpa and they can be so sappy over a young'un. LOL. Nell