On August 6th, WordPress announced a new series of Weekly Writing Challenges. The debut topic, entitled “Mundane to Meaningful,” is designed to promote creativity by finding a deeper, universal meaning in the facts of your story. Let’s begin!
The Mundane:
Yesterday, I saw a shopping cart of deeply discounted orchids at Winn-Dixie. Most looked BAD, but one had a new 6″ spike. I noticed it was severely potbound. After a cursory look at the info-tag, I decided to buy it. I watered it thoroughly when I got home, then set about googling the info-tag. Had to work from memory because I somehow left the tag in the cart!?! Bottom-line: Wierd plant from an even wierder nursery.
The Meaningful:
Yesterday, I made a rather unusual purchase at the Winn-Dixie:
Although glaringly obvious when I snapped this outdoor picture, the strange blue splotches weren’t visible under the store’s florescent lights! At the time, I was FAR more concerned with the plant’s severely potbound roots:
The info-tag listed it as a Phalaenopsis Lila Mystique, and since I’m a sucker for anything with a flower spike, (and have successfully grown phals before) I decided to buy it…and remember ➡ I had yet to notice the strange blue tint!
But I was about to!
Upon returning home, I took Lila to the spigot for a proper watering and realized my hands looked like a pen had burst all over them! Annoyed, I searched for more than 20 minutes for the dang plant tag before assuming I’d lost it somewhere between checkout and the car! 🙄 Time to wash my hands and start Googling what little I remembered!
Turns out Lila Mystique is the latest creation of Silver Vase Nurseries, a Florida company with a patented technique for colorizing orchids! When buds form during the spiking process, the stalk of a white phalaenopsis is injected with dye. The color is absorbed by the orchid’s vascular system and Voilá—petals soon open in shades nature never intended!
According to the company’s literature “the intervention is performed in an environment that keeps the infection risk for the plant at a minimum.” The non-toxic dye is not available to the public, nor is the exact procedure published anywhere online that I could find. The Silver Vase greenhouse is fully robotized and environmentally friendly, producing more than 2 million units for year-round distribution. Welcome to the brave new world!
As you might imagine, there’s been a fair amount of controversy since colorized orchids debuted at the 2011 Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition. Initially, many consumers assumed they were purchasing hybrids and were shocked when subsequent bloom cycles revealed white flowers! Not to mention the HUGE price disparity between dye-infused and “garden variety” phals!!! Imagine paying 29.99 for the former and discovering a year later what you’ve actually bought is nothing but an overpriced 10.00 plant!? 😮
I’m pleased to say I only spent 9.99, so a huge “Thank You” to Winn-Dixie! As the old adage claims, “you get what you pay for”…in this case a spiking orchid and the chance to learn something new!
Until next time!
🙂
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19 thoughts on “Weekly Writing Challenge: From Mundane to Meaningful”
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small house/BIG GARDEN 
Fascinating! I saw Blue Mystiques in our grocery store a while back, and though I photographed them with my cell phone for the “blue” photo challenge, I fortunately did not buy one! I got a lot of questions I couldn’t answer about the photo, so I really appreciate this post!! Thanks!
And thank you very much for the pingback!
You’re quite welcome re: the pingback! I love when I get them on my blog so try to send them to other people as often as possible…Share the blog love and all that.. 🙂
I have a question for you about your Blue Mystique…Did you think it looked fake? Mine didn’t have petals, and I’m wondering if the dyed colors look somewhat unnatural in person?
Oh, how I love orchids! But my husband has named me the Orchid Murderer. I can’t keep them blooming and alive to save my life! My mom is an expert.
I read an interesting non-fiction book about how crazy the orchid culture is amongst collectors in Florida. Wow! Good luck with yours.
I’m really new to orchids, but you are SO right about the collectors here! Someday I’ll take a pic of the tree in my mother’s neighbor’s front yard….There’s at least 20-30 gorgeous one of a kind specimens mounted throughout it and they’re breathtaking in bloom!
Thanks so much for stopping in and leaving a comment. Very appreciative! 🙂
I saw a blue one in a Walmart nearby recently, it did look fake with the blue dye, which is why I didn’t buy it. I never realized that’s how they dye it, I thought they simply watered them with dyed water. Silly me. Thanks for enlightening me 🙂
Hey, Gracie! Thanks for commenting and telling me about their availability at Walmart! Mine was cheap (relatively speaking) but from what I could tell, Winn-Dixie prices them at 29.99. I’m curious about what Walmart charges!?
I love orchids but wouldn’t want one if it was dyed. It’s step too far for me. It will be inbteresting to se how yours develops over a few years. Mundane to meaningful really worked well, nice writing 🙂
Thank you SO much! Coming from you, that’s a big compliment!!!
I really enjoyed your article.
Orchid is the only plant I grow and take photos.
Yes, I love them very much.
I have learned something new about orchid today.
This is something we do not have in Japan yet… as far as I know.
Hey dun!
I appreciate your comment and many thanks for following my blog! I’ve been to yours, too and it’s one of the nicest designs/layouts I’ve seen anywhere! I look forward to reading more of it!
Thank you so much again for your kind words.
I remember hearing about plants being injected with dye – just too weird for my tastes !! Oh and unnessecary !!
But love dthe line “Wierd plant from an even wierder nursery” 🙂
LOL!! I kind of cracked myself up with that line, too! Just noticed this morning , the wierd plant has started setting blooms!
I so disapprove – as if nature hasn’t devised enough gorgeous variety of orchids – helped along by us busybodies hybridising them too – to now inject the growing stalk with dye just sounds like the rip-off you have luckily uncovered.