<A Very Special House “Plant 
THIRD FLOWERING, SEPTEMBER 1950—The plant has been repotted since the second flowering. 
In keeping with the pioneer tradition that brought 
his forebears from the East Coast to California in 1851, 
Rod McLellan enjoys the challenge of something new, 
and is not one to be satisfied with “things as they are”. 
In spite of the fact that he has spent a lifetime in the 
flower business, and by all accepted standards should 
have bowed to the dictate he had heard all his life, that 
orchids are delicate greenhouse plants, he refused to con- 
form. 
Convinced that orchid plants require the same funda- 
mental treatment of all living plants, that only the propor- 
tions of the factors of light, heat, water and humidity 
varied, he took an orchid plant from the nursery home 
with him one day five years ago. 
Eyebrows were raised, there was much goodnatured 
(and some not so goodnatured) jibing, but Rod was 
unperturbed. He put the plant on some pebbles in a 
saucer, with water below the bottom of the pot, and 
placed both plant and container in a library window that 
faced southeast. Then, determined to strip completely 
the mystery from orchid growing, he stuck a small label 
in the pot which read “Water Saturday A.M., One Cup”. 
He consigned the plant to the tender mercies of the maid 
at this point, and figuratively dusted his hands of the 
affair. 
In bud when it arrived at its unaccustomed domicile, 
the Cattleya labiata, for that is what it was, bloomed 
nicely with three flowers. This in itself was a feat most 
growers thought impossible for an orchid plant. For the 
flowers to open properly, they said, you need the higher 
humidity produced only in the glasshouses. 
Keeping discreetly in the background, even when 
the maid sometimes skipped a Saturday morning, Rod 
sat back and waited. Predictions to the contrary, the 
plant thrived, and the next Fall produced seven blooms. 
“Ah, but wait another year”, they then began to say. 
“You can grow it for a year or two, perhaps, but 
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