Blooming in my absence

So I was gone for more than a week, and look what has bloomed in my absence...my mounted Oncidium! This is special as it is mounted and should be misted every day and soaked every few days. I expected the developing spike and blooms to abort due to lack of water....but they obviously did not, and here's why:

Knowing the unique requirements of a mounted orchid, I soaked the entire mount for about an hour before I left, then moved it to an area with a minimum amount of light and heat. I had hoped that it would help the orchid use less water, preventing the orchid from dropping all of its developing blooms. It looked like my plan worked.

(More care instructions for mounted orchids to come hopefully in a future post...)The picture below is a close up of the bloom with a flash to show the detail of the flower. Enjoy!