Phalaenopsis

[smokingboot]

Autumn ugh!

Autumn's brahhhn innit? OK, the magic of the trees changing is cool, but this is England, not new England, and the magic is limited by drab skies and rain, though admittedly picking blackberries out the back while the rain laces all those spiderwebs is pretty. I sprinkle them on my bran (the brambles, not the webs) they taste great, I feel virtuous. Well done season of mists and mellow fruitfullness. Now get lost, I want the summer back!

Among the things I mourn with the onset of the cold are my slowly diminishing orchids. I love orchids. Not only are they beautiful, they're tough and hang on in there for months, unchanging and lovely. I don't quite get what folk say regarding orchids being hard to keep. As far as I can tell, most like light, heat, and being saturated in water every now and then, like humans but without the fat. Contrary to the dismal fate of my jasmines, busy lizzies, pumpkins and umbrella fig trees, this teeny phalaenopsis brotherhood turns out to be like the Bullingdon club with better manners and no money. They've survived the hood for a long time, mainly by sticking their wee veggie tongues out at cats, cleaners, sprays, fags, interlopers and secateurs. If they could turn their roots into art-driven tendrils they might well be spraypainting my mantlepiece with gang tags by now.

Suddenly the cold is proving too much for them. The creamy white one having previously always dropped one blossom at a time, is now ready to dispatch three in a go. The white and pink spotted one, always more robust, has dropped a bloom. At some point, when all their flowers have fallen, one is supposed to cut them right back. I can't release my inner conviction that the moment I do that, they'll be stark bone dead.

Comments

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

Yes -well, New England Fall from what I recall is brighter and crisper while An English Autumn is usually a bit soggy.
BUT - we get enveloped in mist and involved with decay as that sogginess weaves it's subtle spell, and get to end it all by standing around bonfires with mugs of hot soup and scalding burnt sausages in rolls while we do a mock execution by fire - how cool is that?

I get Fall vs Autumn every year because Suzette is Canadian. Fall colours are better - but I think we still have something special here as well ;)
But then it sounds like you are mourning Summer - the fading light and slowly seeping warmth that trickles back into the earth to hide till spring. We didn't really get much of a summer this year did we? More like a brief burning end to Spring soon forgotten.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

You artist and poet you!

The mist is lovely, true, and in the right mood Autumn is so evocative...but I love to be warm! Winter is time for work and Summer time for play, and Spring renews. But Autumn, especially when the fruit is gone, just shows the holes in the weary year...sometimes it's pretty and sometimes just looking at it makes me feel tired.

[hybridartifacts.livejournal.com]

I'm struggling against feeling tired as well - for me it's just the shortening days throwing my sleep cycle off, but the warmth is always nice (so long as its not too hot) - I could do with warm autumns and even warm winters with magic snow that stays cold and doesn't melt until you want it to... just so I don't have to worry about putting the heating on as its all so damn expensive to keep toasty inside these days.