Orchid blooming after a year

Last year on our fifteenth anniversary, I bought my wife a couple of orchids. Now, I must say the garden centre was somewhat reluctant to sell them to me, and at first claimed they didn't have any orchids. Well, I had my sister-in-law with me (who, of course, also grew up at Dufferin Garden Centre) to help me pick out the orchids, and she found some in a dark corner of the store. But, since they weren't blooming, they had figured no one would be interested. Far from it! Since my wife is a horticulturist, she would enjoy the challenge! So, 11 months later (about two weeks ago), the plant started to send up a flower stalk, and this morning, on her parents' 41st anniversary, the first one revealed its glory. Here's a close-up. The first flower still has a wee bit more opening to do, and the second is about a day behind the first. The other picture shows the full plant on the kitchen table, with slingers hanging on the ceiling to celebrate our youngest's graduation from single-digits, and the "grow-op" plant stand in the background in front of the patio door, above which is strung our stephanotis which hasn't yet bloomed since we moved back to BC from Iowa two years ago. You can also just make out two other orchid plants under the lights behind the railing.

Orchids are amazing! Instead of soil, they grow in a humid moss-mulch mix to mimic their natural environment in hollows of trees in tropical rain forests.