"Diana Kulaga" wrote in message
hlink.net...
[snip]
No, they don't do that if they are dying. What that obviously
inexperienced
clerk was referring to is the phenomenon of a truly dying orchid sending
up
a spike in an effort to save itself. Your plant is thriving, if it's
growing roots, leaves and a spike to boot. Keep on keepin' on!

Diana

Your are assuming the best for this clerk. I know some nurseries that, not
to mention big box stores, that would prefer to "educate" their consumers
into believing orchids, and other plants, flower only once and then ought to
be disposed of. They do this because they believe they'll be able to sell
the same customer more plants the next time they are available. And, if
fact, I have heard of some huge breeders developing hybrids of certain house
and garden plants that have a very short life span relative to their wild
counterparts (e.g. Sinningia speciosa and various Cyclamen that have tubers
that are far too small for them to be likely to survive dormancy: I have yet
to get one that survive dormancy so I must be buying from the wrong places,
and this makes me sad because I love Sinningia speciosa about as much as I
like phals). IF it is true that some breeders try to breed perennials into
producing annuals, I can only hope that such scoundrels will never gain
market share among orchid growers.

Interesting! My first reaction to what Ruth described was to assume that
the clerk mentioned is "ethically challenged", to be politically correct.
;-) I guess I have assumed a survival strategy of hoping for the best but
expecting the worst since in that way, one is never really disappointed and
occassionally surprised.

Cheers,

Ted