Angraecum sesquipedale

I should be working on a paper on Total Quality Management style but, as you can see, I am not as focused as I should be today. Perhaps a little blog break will help me regain the momentum I had going earlier today.
Yesterday I hooked my mom up to her new DSL and I believe she will be very happy with the improved speed and reliability over dial up. Today I took the ornaments off the tree, wrapped up the "special" ones, and disassembled the tree. Need Jerry to haul in boxes and totes to finish the project but he works on Sundays.

Was watering orchids today and checking on the bloom spike of my angraecum and discovered that it has a double bloom spike! It's been a reliable bloomer the last two years it's had one (always in late Dec to Jan) but never two blooms so I am doubly excited to see it open. The unopened buds appear to have the same maturity level so I expect them to be open at the same time. This orchid smells so spectacular that this double bloom will be a real treat. More photos will follow :)

When Darwin saw this orchid with its long nectar spur, he predicted that there must be a pollinator with a tongue long enough to reach the nectar at the bottom of the tube (see the spur coming off the bud). Folks doubted Darwin's theory at the time and sadly it wasn't until after his death that the hawk moth, with it's long proboscis, was discovered as its specific pollinator.

I took several garden photos today when I shold have working on my paper so you will be getting a glimpse of 'winter" gardening here in central Florida.