we have potted plans from at least three friends who left SF (and CA, it turns out), and one is an orchid that I never figured out how to do much with beyond keep alive for two years.

so we asked at the garden center and they suggested orchid food (sticks and spray) and sure enough, when fed, the primary sprout poked back up and grew 12" or so in the past few months and now we’ve got maybe four flowers to look forward to.

idk if/how we could have helped the first four buds which died off.

photograph of our orchid in an white orchid pot (holes in the side in a cross pattern, with set in a dish so that you can’t over-water it) on our credenza next to a red/green prayer plant, in front of a very light pink wall. A few large green leaves spill over the pot and one long trunk clipped to a stick in two places rises 12” before bending over at 90” on a gradual arc. At the top and end are four buds, the one furthest from the tip being the oldest and largest nearing half an inch in diameter and the others smaller and younger in diminishing size

top down photo of the same orchid plant and buds, macro on the buds where you can now see that there were three or four earlier buds which withered away and left nothing on the plant but a brown tip like a broken-off branch.