I've been buying a lot of houseplants lately, and it's been interesting to see which plants adjust to my house the easiest. All plants go through a period of acclimation when they are introduced into a new environment. Chances are, the nursery they were raised in had nearly perfect conditions, and it's unlikely your new tropical plant really loves your house. But in a head-to-head comparison, I've seen a few that take the move like a champ. The devil's ivy, or golden pothos vine, is one of them. This plant suffered not a single yellow leaf, not a hiccup in its aggressive growth, in the move from nursery to home. So, if you happen to have college students leaving home for the first time, or you want a plant that should be able to survive almost anything, the golden pothos vine is a great place to start.

Photo © Jon VanZile

You wait and you wait, and you just never know. But sometimes, things work out perfectly . . .

After two years of patience, one of the special cattleyas in my collection finally bloomed. It's not uncommon to wait this long with a new orchid, depending on the species. Some orchids are very slow to acclimate. I've got one that I don't expect to bloom until my first kid is ready to go to college.

For those of you who are technically inclined, the plant is actually a cattleya hybrid (most of the plants casually labeled "cattleya" are actually hybrids). In this case, it's a BLC Chunyeah 'Fang #19'. It has mildly fragrant orange flowers with splashes of red and a red lip.

So (drumroll please), this week's Plant of the Week is the cattleya orchid.

Photo © Jon VanZile