So our orchids keep dying on us. We'd bring them home, beautifully fragile yet full of life, and I would be a step closer to having my very own botanical garden (yeah right). Three weeks later they'd be dead as a doornail. We changed how often we watered them, how we watered them, moved them into more light, out of the direct sun...all to no avail. The little buggers kept kicking the bucket.

G did some investigating and found out from the lady at A Little Shop of Flowers in Adams Morgan, that our problem wasn't necessarily the care we were giving the orchids; rather it was that we'd bought bad quality plants! How can a plant that costs $30 be bad quality?? She explained that the better quality orchids cost much more because they are grown to last...not to last from shop til home.

Well, now that we are the proud owners of a very fine and upstanding (read: bloody expensive) orchid, we shall see what happens. Fingers and toes crossed. It is a stunner though.

So goodbye WholeFoods orchids, hello Little Shop of Flowers. Or Johnsons -- but I don't like going there because the sales women are rude and stroppy. If they get even a hint that you don't know exactly how to keep a gardenia happy without having to ask stupid questions, be prepared for some serious sighing and raised eyebrows.