It looks like a slipper orchid. That is a general term for several groups of related orchids. I don’t know what genus or species it is, maybe someone else will!

I tried a reverse image search and several images come up that match the flower pretty well. Unfortunately the sites didn’t have any more detailed information to identify the exact plant, they were mostly stock photo sites and just said “slipper orchid”

Unfortunately can’t help you there as this one was in bloom when I got it :)

Has yours grown additional side growths? As far as I understand each fan of leaves only blooms once, then the side growths have to mature and those will each bloom once and so on.

Congratulations! What did you do for intense rehabilitation? Did anything else change (sun exposure, temperature, day length)? Hope the momentum keeps up!

I think overwatering is very common with orchids! They’re different than most plants because they grow attached to trees, not in soil. So their roots are designed to be exposed to the air or just barely covered. They get water from rain that runs over them and then dries off as well as out of the humidity in the air. The houseplants we’re used to growing grow in the soil where the roots are used to being moist. So that makes orchids a little different!

Here is a great video about watering orchids, it gives more details than I did and it’s really helpful because it shows how the roots should look when they need watering. I’ve seen her other videos highly recommended too!

This book is the one I’ve liked most. It’s more detailed than most of the books I’ve read, which I want! But there are lots of good books out there. What I’ve learned is that flowering is a complex process governed by many different factors and differs between species (of which there are tens of thousands for orchids!).

First it needs to be healthy, so getting appropriate levels of light, water, humidity, and temperature. Then it may need some kind of environmental trigger, this could be daylength/seasonality, change of temperature, or even change in atmospheric pressure from a storm! But then the total opposite too: if a plant is dying it may flower as a last ditch effort at reproducing itself. So basically it’s pretty impossible to make it flower on purpose unless you know the specific needs of your plant, just keep it healthy and hope for the best :)

Generally Phaelenopsis orchids (the most commonly available for sale and iconic type) want to be heavily watered (even soaking the pot for 15-30 minutes) and then allowed to dry almost completely over a week or two, more or less depending on the temperature and humidity. Keeping the soil/bark constantly moist causes the roots to rot, so you want it to dry (but not so much that the leaves get floppy/wrinkly). They like bright but indirect light, which is tricky – not direct sunlight but in a bright location all day. Warm temps, with night time minimums above 60. Higher humidity (mist them with a sprayer sometimes if you can). At least that’s what I have taken away from the reading I’ve done!

I’m you! Except in my case making the spreadsheet of features makes it harder for me to eventually buy the item. I always think there’s another item I just didn’t find yet or I get overwhelmed by there being too many items to compare. Good top about the imperfect correlation between price and quality!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, they’re really helpful! You kind of combined the concept of satisficing from one comment with the deadline suggestion from another comment in a helpful way. I think reframing my goal as you suggest would work for me. I’m definitely looking for the perfect chair right now. Maybe if I was looking for the good enough chair today it would help me pick. I worry about getting buyer’s remorse, but realistically I’ll just be happy to have a chair.

Thanks for sharing the word “satisficing”! I’ve never heard it before and it’s really nice to have a word for that concept.

I definitely fall into the maximizer category and that causes some of my purchase paralysis. For many types of item, I’ve started just buying the wirecutter recommendation and trusting it to be good enough. Clothing and furniture feel more personal and less generic, so the wirecutter strategy hasn’t applied, but I will have to try to find a way to satisfice with those purchases too.