At this time of year, with rapid changes in the weather--sun and overcast, wet and dry, cold and warm--orchids which are generally pretty regular in their water usage can be quite unpredictable. Two weeks ago, one of my Phals stayed damp three days longer than usual, so I held off watering it. This week, three blossoms on another Phal wilted, early, in rapid succession. Alarmed, I checked it for water and found it completely dry. For the three years I have had it, this Phal (which has no drainage) has never needed water in less than seven days and usually goes 9 to 10 days between waterings. Needless to say, I have learned a lesson. Watering stopped the blossom wilt, and from now, on, I'll be depending far more on checking, than on watering "schedule." It may also be that Phals in bloom use water faster than usual; it seems intuitive, but I don't know that it is so. Anyone? Sweetcicely

I appreciate your replies. I will have to look up gas fumes too. I'll try the mister but I think I'm going to try a cloche too. I do cut back the spikes after the first bloom and usually get to enjoy the second, small, round of blooms. I keep them outside all summer and might get another bloom then too. As far as bloom time, can I control that? All three are purple or white hybrids. Nothing special but very healthy and pretty.

Did they all come from the same source? Years ago, there was some discussion of extremely inferior clones of The Fairy. Some bloomed as a malformed single, some set buds but didn't bloom. I don't remember any conclusion about what caused it, but the remedy was to remove the rose and try a different one. In this particular case, I'd recommend layering a cane from one of the other Fairies. Depending on how they were planted, this may have already happened, since The Fairy likes to move around a bit. When the cane has grown some roots, the bad one can be removed, and replaced with the newly propagated one.

You would get more response if you listed this question on the daylily forum. See the link above on the Lily forum.