Orchid Blooms (Aranda Orchid)

It been ages (or never seemed) that my orchids bloomed. This is actually rescued - someone had thrown it away and I had collected it by the roadside. The condition of the plant was bad (dried up leaves, dead roots) and it required a lot of pruning of which even I was not sure of. Somehow, I was amazed when a flower spike shoot up. And these lasted almost a month for me to enjoy. The Bleeding Hearts eventually had taken over the other orchids which I tied along the fence. And this one constantly blooms with bouquets of flowers

Purple Shamrock Mix - Oxalis Triangularis

There is something in my garden that I never seemed to get used to it. Often the regular surprise that comes in seasons of blooms. But never this one - nope, I'm certain that I'm not going to get bored with these.

I've been delayed some few weeks in taking these pictures. Earlier there were lots of blooms. The tiny pink bells in the midst of the purple background seemed to mesmerise my eyes - painting them as one tone factor.

But this result didn't come just suddenly.
It was months of dissatisfaction
and the non-ability to put that garden finger
and figure out how it actually should be.

Earlier I had flame-violets in this space. There did well but they started crawling down by the fence. Being leggy and so dis-proportioned that the whole mess was beyond words.

Then I tried begonias - well, it too didn't go well as they needed resetting time to time. And finally these Oxalis came and they slowly took dominion over this space. But the slow growing pace was not only the set-back. They tend to be very sensitive over the watering issues. (Make one mistake - and they punish you with a rotting bulb)

So I came up with an idea - plant other plants which able to co-exist with each other. I find some begonias & trailing plants do not have deep roots which compliments well together in the colour tones. Resetting all of them was a challenge. Some of the bulbs didn't emerge (either dormant or dead) and neither did some of the begonia manage to survive the initial shock of propagation.

Regardless, those which manage to survive - did thrive to the fullness. With much trial and error - I found another few more tips to add here.

1) Over-Watering.
The first sign of over-watering:

You will find some few leaves slight rotted and fallen from the base. (I thought it got attacked by snail or a pest munching over at the base) IF you continue to over-water - the remainder leaves too will rot at the base. By then, if you carefully dig up - the bulb had rotted away. In my case - the bulb had totally disappeared - disintergrated into the soil.

2) Lack of water.

Here you will find the leaves will be in a close posture. (like an umbrella being pulled down by the base) If you continue without watering them - they will go immediately into dormant stage
but watering immediately will revive them back.

3) In order to get the right balance - plant trailing plant which its roots doesn't go deep. That way - it will absorb most of the water (over-watered medium) And you will get a good colour mix that complement each other.

Now I'm wishing to have a few more different varieties of oxalis to give more shape, colour and composition. If you have any experience with this plant, do share your success story or your trials with this one.