Patience Pays Off

When I was in the orchid business, I made my own orchid cross.  This is not an easy process.  Once you pollinate the flowers you have to wait as long as 6 months for the seed pod to develop.  Then the seeds have to be sent off to a laboratory to be germinated in a sterile agar solution in a sealed flask which takes another 6 months to a year.  Then the seedlings have to come out of the flask into community pots, then finally into individual pots where they will grow for a number of years before they are old enough to flower. 

Anyway, my grandmother held onto one of those seedlings from my cross.  She has been nurturing it on her windowsill in the kitchen all these years.  Last week, after 15 years of looking after that orchid, it bloomed for the first time.  I must say it is really beautiful.  Unfortunately over the years the name of the cross got lost.  My grandmother is so excited to see it bloom and she has been showing it off to everyone.  It makes me so happy to see her get so excited about this.  She is so proud of that orchid.  I am so proud of her.  Way to go Bama and thank you.  Here is the picture of the Cattleya orchid that I crossed and my Bama so lovingly raised over the last 15 years.  Enjoy.