it's all my office manager's fault. in the middle of 2001, she went from ordering cut flowers for the reception desks to ordering potted phals. we'd get new ones every 6 weeks, and the out of bloom ones got stashed in her office. she'd give them to ppl who asked, otherwise they'd get tossed. i got two, a big floppy white and a lavender, both NOID's. it's been downhill ever since.
the good thing about it though was that these plants were free NOID's. i experimented with them, i fooled around with them, poked at them, tried different kinds of watering and bug sprays and repotting on them, all without the "ohmygod i'm going to kill it!" angst. they weren't gifts, with all the emotional baggage that entails; they didn't cost me anything, they weren't rare or in any way special. if they lived, they lived. if they died, they died. no biggie. i think this is the best way to start with these plants.
(i still have them both; the white has to be totally abused before it blooms, however. neither one spiked this spring, so i figured i'd just bring them back into the office as foliage plants. they read my mind, and are now both in short spike.
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