Penny Sanford Porcelains: OOH-LA-LA Orchids!

Aren't these Cattleyas breath-taking? This is a photo from Stewart Orchids of Natchez, Mississippi. They are the oldest (and largest?) orchid grower in the country, and they moved to Natchez, MS, over ten years ago. Reportedly, the land they leased in California became too expensive, and Natchez, with its humidity, was a perfect fit.

I've been very excited this month about my "discovery" of this famed orchid grower in Mississippi, but this morning I read on an orchid forum that the company had reportedly sold off its vast collection of superior cattleyas back in June.

Their website is still up and running, so maybe, hopefully they are still in business. For anyone who has experienced the "Natural Outdoor Sauna" of Natchez, it makes perfect sense that it is a superior place for growing orchids!

ANYWAY, the reason I am blogging about orchids is that one of our presents to Mama this year was a nice group of cattleya orchid plants for her to watch bud out and open!

Back in 1989, I started sending an orchid plant (mostly cattleyas) to my father from a mom-and-pop grower near Calloway Gardens in Georgia. They would carefully ship an orchid that was almost ready to bloom, and for about three weeks, my father could watch the bloom open. His health confined him to his recliner or his bed, so this was something colorful and interesting to bring a spark of activity to his shut-in life.

We who still have our eyesight, nimble fingers and freedom of mobility find it hard to imagine how still and listless life can become to someone who can no longer use their senses to feed their mind or who can no longer get around to absorb that fresh new stimuli.

This Christmas, I remembered the lessons I learned from seeing Daddy's enjoyment of those orchids, and I began a search for another orchid grower who could supply us with some beauties that my mother, age 84, could watch from her recliner.

Enter Glorious, Beloved, Alluring eBay!

I discovered Bromlady, a Mississippi orchid grower in Bogue Chitta, MS. Is that not a name to tickle the imagination?!

Mary Jo carefully...and I mean CAREFULLY...packaged three cattleya plants that had buds emerging from the sheath (hope my nomenclature is correct). Folks, not even one piece of the bark potting soil had fallen out of any of the pots!

One of these beauties has already bloomed (photo above) and is sending forth two more buds! The others have multiple buds on them as well. (I never knew our muggy Mississippi weather was so perfect for orchids!) Her prices were stunningly less than I had to pay from the Georgia grower 17 years ago.

Since I am determined to learn how to nurture these orchid plants into subsequent blooming (that means that I am determined to NOT kill them!), Mary Jo has been very helpful with advice about how I should tend to these eningmatic denizens of the Rain Forest.

We have a long-distance friend who traveled and collected orchid species from the wild years ago. I think that is "not done" now. Her stories of Orchid Adventures are spellbinding!

As the blooms emerge, I'll be posting photos of the other orchid blooms that bring their fragile beauty and color into our usually drab, anti-climatic January!

I've loved orchids for a long time, although I was more familiar with the corsage type! A while back I even sculpted an orchid ornament and brooch/necklace. The brooch has a little doo-dad on the back that slides over a chain to make the piece into a necklace.

They are still available. The ornament is a Limited Edition. Both are finished by hand, the fired porcelain is polished, PSP Gift Box, etc.