Effects Of Orchid/Plant Addiction

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by Bulbopedilum

What effects of your orchid/plant addiction have you experienced? Share as many as you can
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Someone: You're ugly
Me:...
Someone: You have no friends
Me:...
Someone: Plants are boring and for girls
Me: WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!?!
(I slapped someone because of the above in real life, but the "trigger" was not the same)
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So I was wondering how big the Corybas' pot is going to be when it arrives (The vendor always includes potting/mounts except specified) and I found a photo of him/her holding the pot and asked my parents to hold out their hand so I know how much space to make.
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I'm not interested in the fruit of the trees I have... Just space for mounting...
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What about yours?

Plants are for girls (or sissies)? Hmm. Let's see. I'd like to challenge anyone who thinks like that! In school I wrestled heavyweight, and while in school (and a few years after) I worked as a bouncer and occasional bodyguard. I now how to handle just about any firearm (though I don't own one), and I smoke a pipe. One of my closest friends is a retired NFL defensive lineman. I'm not a girl or a sissy, but I am a pacifist at heart. However, I taught my first wife how to bathe and change the diapers on our babies, am an expert at braiding hair (even though I'm bald), and took great pleasure in painting my daughters' nails when they were young. My undergratuate degree was in the sissy field of English Literature and I am a librarian. I can cook, sew, do laundry and dishes, and all that domestic nonsense. Things like buying a new vacuum cleaner are exciting to me. People who judge others by one aspect of their life, be it growing orchids or athletics, are ignorant, stupid idiots who should be ignored. And I'd not hesitate to let anyone who wants to insult me know exactly where they stand (while glaring down at them in most cases).

Yeah, such sentiments complete annoy me.

Now, to answer your question, OAD can be an issue. My spare money is spent on orchids or orchid-related items. I'm a single man who's not been on a date in 2 years because my orchids deserve my time (well, the dogs, too). So I'm broke and alone, yet the joy the plants bring me is an important part of my life.

[marcmaubert]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Plants are for girls (or sissies)? Hmm. Let's see. I'd like to challenge anyone who thinks like that! In school I wrestled heavyweight, and while in school (and a few years after) I worked as a bouncer and occasional bodyguard. I now how to handle just about any firearm (though I don't own one), and I smoke a pipe. One of my closest friends is a retired NFL defensive lineman. I'm not a girl or a sissy, but I am a pacifist at heart. However, I taught my first wife how to bathe and change the diapers on our babies, am an expert at braiding hair (even though I'm bald), and took great pleasure in painting my daughters' nails when they were young. My undergratuate degree was in the sissy field of English Literature and I am a librarian. I can cook, sew, do laundry and dishes, and all that domestic nonsense. Things like buying a new vacuum cleaner are exciting to me. People who judge others by one aspect of their life, be it growing orchids or athletics, are ignorant, stupid idiots who should be ignored. And I'd not hesitate to let anyone who wants to insult me know exactly where they stand (while glaring down at them in most cases).

Yeah, such sentiments complete annoy me.

Now, to answer your question, OAD can be an issue. My spare money is spent on orchids or orchid-related items. I'm a single man who's not been on a date in 2 years because my orchids deserve my time (well, the dogs, too). So I'm broke and alone, yet the joy the plants bring me is an important part of my life.

Yeah, that annoys me too! It's dumb so I ignore it now, but I know I would have started gardening and buying orchids a lot younger if only I stayed true to myself and ignored judgmental people (including my 2 older brothers) . But I'm doing it now, and I LOVE it.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by marcmaubert

- The typical "Plants are for sissies" (and a big discussion about how caring for living things is not a just a girly hobby). I think this is a recurring theme in "macho" countries.

I reply, "If you were a real man, you would have a vegetable garden to feed your wife and kids."

[marcmaubert]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I reply, "If you were a real man, you would have a vegetable garden to feed your wife and kids."

That's a great comeback! I'll remember it next time!

[My Green Pets]

I say don't engage the fools lest they drag you down to their level.

It's like the story of the ant and the grasshopper.

Effects of my plant affections were apparent when I was very young.
I loved to watch things grow. I remember when my mom would get those big Amaryllis bulbs for Christmas. When the flower scape would start growing out, it made me think of Mary Poppins pulling that huge hat rack out of her bag. How did that big long thing come out of that bulb??
Then I started seeing carnivorous plants in library books and at florist's shops. Wow. And my first orchid, double wow. How could a flower be so...so...weird and wonderful at the same time??

People ask me, "How did you get into plants?" I don't know how to answer; they've always been a part of my life.

[jkofferdahl]

Originally Posted by CambriaWhat

I say don't engage the fools lest they drag you down to their level.

It's like the story of the ant and the grasshopper.

Effects of my plant affections were apparent when I was very young.
I loved to watch things grow. I remember when my mom would get those big Amaryllis bulbs for Christmas. When the flower scape would start growing out, it made me think of Mary Poppins pulling that huge hat rack out of her bag. How did that big long thing come out of that bulb??
Then I started seeing carnivorous plants in library books and at florist's shops. Wow. And my first orchid, double wow. How could a flower be so...so...weird and wonderful at the same time??

People ask me, "How did you get into plants?" I don't know how to answer; they've always been a part of my life.

Here I am at Missouri Botanical Garden in 1992 with some of my favorites at that time.

Pitcher plants are wonderful. Some years ago I carved, for a dear friend (RIP) a pipe shaped like a pitcher plant and a pipe tamper shaped like the flower.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Plants are for girls (or sissies)? Hmm. Let's see. I'd like to challenge anyone who thinks like that! In school I wrestled heavyweight, and while in school (and a few years after) I worked as a bouncer and occasional bodyguard. I now how to handle just about any firearm (though I don't own one), and I smoke a pipe. One of my closest friends is a retired NFL defensive lineman. I'm not a girl or a sissy, but I am a pacifist at heart. However, I taught my first wife how to bathe and change the diapers on our babies, am an expert at braiding hair (even though I'm bald), and took great pleasure in painting my daughters' nails when they were young. My undergratuate degree was in the sissy field of English Literature and I am a librarian. I can cook, sew, do laundry and dishes, and all that domestic nonsense. Things like buying a new vacuum cleaner are exciting to me. People who judge others by one aspect of their life, be it growing orchids or athletics, are ignorant, stupid idiots who should be ignored. And I'd not hesitate to let anyone who wants to insult me know exactly where they stand (while glaring down at them in most cases).

Yeah, such sentiments complete annoy me.

Now, to answer your question, OAD can be an issue. My spare money is spent on orchids or orchid-related items. I'm a single man who's not been on a date in 2 years because my orchids deserve my time (well, the dogs, too). So I'm broke and alone, yet the joy the plants bring me is an important part of my life.

Oh my...any man that derives pleasure from shopping for a vacuum cleaner AND wants to use it on a regular basis...would win my heart. If I weren't married and you didn't have that nasty cat-aversion.... it could've been a match made in heaven. LOL!

Seriously though...AMEN to all your sentiments and comments! My husband majored in Biological Sciences, specifically Aquatic Ecology, at OSU...and he ain't no sissy. I have been interested in plants since about the time I could walk and I inherited my love and skills from my FATHER...who came from a farming family and could grow anything and everything and he had a house full of plants. Mom, on the other hand, black thumbs and fingers. No plant was safe under her care!

Anyone that says plants are for sissies or only for girls...is a troglodyte.

As for the effect on my life...2 rooms of our house that "normal" people would use for a living room and dining room are plant rooms. Where other people have furniture...we have shelves and lights. We even got rid of the carpet and replaced it with hard floors due to all the water issues. This space is what people first enter when they come into our house and the look on some peoples' face who see if for the first time...priceless...but it's clear they think we are crazy.

Also, we've had our neighbor, the electrician, upgrade our electrical system...adding load capacity in the existing box AND installing a second box in the garage...to accommodate the power load from lights, fans, and my husband's woodworking tools. My plant hobby has taken over the house...his hobby is woodworking and it has taken over the garage. Between the 2 of us, AEP makes a good deal of money each month. And in this same vein...we get letters from AEP on a regular basis telling us that we are using far more power than our neighbors and they can help us become more efficient.

Also, I think planes flying over after dark can likely see the glow of all the lights coming out my windows. This space is at the front of our house so my husband constantly jokes about it just being a matter of time before we have a visit from law enforcement. Of course, one look in the windows - even from the street! - could tell anyone that we aren't growing anything illegal. The shelf space is too low. LOL! Nonetheless, hubby likes to make the joke.

I could go on and on with other things but I'd just be repeating others' comments. It's an addiction, for sure, but, relatively speaking, a harmless addiction and one that actually adds goodness to a life rather than causing suffering. Of course, my bank account might disagree with the suffering part. LOL!

[Dollythehun]

Amen, Katrina! You don't want to know my thoughts on those purple grow bulbs...I'd be censored. I could have written your post minus the degree and woodworking.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

Amen, Katrina! You don't want to know my thoughts on those purple grow bulbs...I'd be censored. I could have written your post minus the degree and woodworking.

No purple glow lights in my house! Hate them! Nope...daylight spectrum only.

I should also add that my father was no sissy either. Born during the Great Depression and raised on a farm...tough life would be an understatement!...he entered the Marine Corp after graduating HS, survived 2 wars (Korea and Vietnam!)...retiring after 20+ years (after Vietnam) as a highly decorated Officer.. And, after he retired from the Corp, he went on to a career as a financial planner AND he raised 2 daughters. And let me just say...knowing how I was as a kid...he had to be tough. LOL!

[Optimist]

Just recently in a hospital bed explaining on the phone to a total non-plant person how to water each type of orchid. It's madness!