Trying to Save the Unsavable

There are two plants that I am trying to save, the orchid given to my mom in March 2022, when my dad died (she left it here at my house), and an azalea my daughter brought with her after her heartbreaking divorce, in December 2023, when we sold her home. 

First, the orchid. 

Full confession: I am a killer of orchids. Having received many as gifts from friends, I never found out how to keep them alive. They come in small plastic pots, perhaps, a little moss shoved into them, but that’s it. 

When my dad’s orchid started to die, and it took a year for that to happen, I went to the internet to find out what I was doing wrong. 

Turns out, the sitting water was rotting the roots of the orchid. I purchased an orchid pot, replanted it into mostly moss, watered it once a week, pouring off the excess water, and prayed it would survive. It has been over a year, and so far it is still alive, and I see NEW growth. Yay!

Now, for the azalea. 

We moved our grieving daughter out of her home in December 2023. She came here with her 2 year old baby boy, our sweet, sweet grandson, and currently the joy of our lives, 2 cats, a dog, and an azalea. 

The azalea wintered in the garage, occasionally got watered, and flourished. It clearly had a will to live, despite the neglect.

In spring 2024, I planted it into my barn garden. It survived, but didn’t thrive. Winter came and almost killed it. 

Almost. 

As you can see, there is still a little green. And where there is green, there is a possibility of life. 

It is at the barn garden, but now back in a pot, and if it survives summer, I’ll overwinter it inside. (Because I am determined to hand it to my daughter one day, ALIVE and thriving, when she is healed enough to move out, and on). 

So, say a little prayer for saving the seemingly unsavable souls we are given. 

Life has no shortage of such beautiful things.