Happy Valentine's Day, Honey!

My hubby, TG, took me out for dinner last night, and he bought me a gardenia, which I wanted for a long time. I was so happy, and when he offered help to carry it, I was like, "No! This is mine! I will hold on to it." I hold it on my lap all the way home. I watered it, put it on a water tray away from my other plants, all 50+ of them, for quarantine. Even though I checked it very careful in the store, I cannot say I didn't miss anything. Two years ago, I bought a mini rose. It was so beautiful, but brought aphids into my house. I had a disaster that winter. I learnt my lesson the hard way. Anyway, back to my gardenia. I am very happy to report that two of the flower buds started opening up before I went to bed. The smell was wonderful. And the flowers are big too. I will take some pictures once they fully opened. I know gardenia is very hard to take care of, even for the experienced gardener, and I killed a baby one before, but I am willing to give it one more try. Another friend of mine, Em, is great with gardenia. She has several huge ones in her house. I will try to talk to her and ask for some advice. So excited! Am I lucky or not? I got Em for gardenia help, and AK for orchids and everything else. It's great to have friends who share your passion.

Oh, another wonderful surprise last night. As I enjoying my gardenia, I suddenly noticed my 'Winter Wonderland', Odontoglossom, opened up quitely. I posted its picture earlier this month, the white one with burgundy color dots. I didn't think it will bloom for me this winter, since the baby was too small. I left it on the bottom shelf, pretty much ignored it. But I guess it was happy there, the baby grew very fast, and reached mature size before winter. And now it's blooming! I know it only has 3 flowers this time, last winter it had 4, but the flowers are still quite big, and the plant is healthy. Another baby is about 3 inches tall now, it will give me flowers next winter. I love it when my orchids give me surprises.

These days I have been busy making some custom orders. A girl asked for my help, she bought a Chinese QiPao dress, very pretty, but didn't have jewelry that matches the style. She loved the little dangling button knot earrings, and wanted me to match the color for her. I finally got the picture of the dress from her, and just finished making the earrings. I think it will go great with the dress. And one of my friends want to buy some bookmarks, but they were sold out. I have to buy more papers, and start making them again. And for her, I will not use any beads, just chinese knots, so they will be even more unique. She loved the idea. Here they are. Unique, huh?