Orchids and other lovely plants that don’t need a lot of attention

I’ve only ever had orchid in pots as presents and they have never been successful after the flowering finishes I ve followed all ‘the rules’ but it’s never worked for me
I love the blue shrimp plant they popped up all over my allotment I dug them up brought them home put them in pots dotted around and sold the repeat fir 50p or a £1 depending on size at the charity shop I work in

I'm the same as you, nanna8. I have the opposite of green fingers, and can kill most houseplants with a glance, but my orchids thrive and flower regularly.
My garden mostly features indestructible shrubs and sturdy weeds .

I wish I had “green fingers” I try really hard with indoor plants, after years and years, an app and a water monitor, I’m finally managing to keep a few houseplants, labelled as “unkillable” alive

I have lots of agapanthuses, both in pots and in the ground that require very little attention.
They flower all summer long.

We are coastal with warm temperatures and sunny days, (though this year is rubbish so far), and agapanthuses stand up to the sea winds.

I have all shades from light blues to darker purples in my borders. In my pots are smaller, daintier ones like sparklers. I brought them back from the Isles of Scilly as baby plants.

My orchids like a warm south facing windowsill, but shaded from direct sunlight.
The best repeat flowering ones were ones left in a SW facing room unattended for almost 2 years during lockdown. They were still alive and full of blooms when we eventually got back.
So I can only think that neglecting them is the way to go.

I usually kill houseplants at twenty paces, but a friend gave me a potted cyclamen a few years ago with the instruction just to water sparingly into the saucer, never on top. It’s thrived wonderfully well on my benign neglect and she is always astonished by the number of blooms it produces!

Cyclamen - yes they will grow here. One came up in the garden and I don’t remember planting it. Also a begonia appeared. I think the birds are thanking us for feeding them 😀Some here think agapanthus are weeds but I like them. I like that blue plant BlueBelle must ask if we can get them here.

It’s real name is Cerinthe Major Nana8 they are very prolific once you have them
I m the same with Cyclemen they pop up in the garden and I definitely haven’t planted them where do they come from they’re a bin so it can’t be birds ??

A bulb not a bin dah !!

I have two orchids that have survived and flowered out of many I've bought or been given. Some lasted for a few years but always indoors here.

Outside - cyclamen, peonies, roses (they do need pruning).
Oregano seems to grow everywhere!
Spring flowering clematis seems to survive on neglect too.

BlueBelle

It’s real name is Cerinthe Major Nana8 they are very prolific once you have them
I m the same with Cyclemen they pop up in the garden and I definitely haven’t planted them where do they come from they’re a bin so it can’t be birds ??

Cyclamen. Mine grow in cracks and gravel and and seem to grow everywhere.

They’re pretty, though (cyclamen). Thanks for the name, BlueBelle will check it out next time we go to a plant nursery.

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One of my orchids in the garden has just died - no apparent reason except I had moved its pot next to a kangaroos paw ( plant) . Maybe they had a fight ? 🤷‍♀️