Today was the Cleveland Botanical Gardens annual orchid display. Every year the display has a theme, and this year it was orchids of Vietnam. Ruth also has a date to go with Francis.
Orchids are pretty much orchids to me, so here is my pick of the best of today.
That jade tree behind the ribbon is descended from our brother, Melvin, and nurtured to mammoth size by my sister Janice. The last time we wrassled it out the front door to be repotted, I suggested to Jan it probably was the last trip through the front door and we should consider donating it to the Botanical Gardens. And we did.
I last saw it four years ago.
Then we started around. I have culled down to pictures of interest.
Orchids, birds and butterflies were everywhere. Pass on the bananas, but the melon looks mighty fine.
Here the turtle is late to lunch. We quit waiting for him.
This is the avenue of fragrant orchids. Ruth tested them. Some did smell nice. My nose closed, half a dozen down.
Bromelid
Banana
A Christmas Cactus like I grew up with.
Then we went upstairs, and I fell prey to my best habit of people watching. In my next life, I will again have hair like the woman in black. Heck, I'll even settle for the woman in wellies.
When we stepped off the elevator and passed the young girl in black, I said to Ruth, "I had identical trousers in college," and Ruth said, "They are vintage! Did you see the little pleats at the waist?"
She was in the same spot when we left, so of course we told her our observations on her trousers. Her face lit up. "My mom will be so pleased. She gave them to me!" No, I did not reach over and stroke them. They were of that fine, light wool I've not seen since the sixties!
And finally, we looked at all the specialty orchids. This is the one we both picked to take home. Dendrobium something or the other.
This post makes me happy and sad.
ReplyDeleteHappy because botanical gardens just do make me happy. When I lived in Denver in my late teens, I would go to the botanical gardens because I was so homesick for the plants of Florida.
Sad because I had a huge jade tree that somehow I let die and also, because I can't grow a damn orchid to save my life. I don't kill them but they don't bloom. Okay, one of mine bloomed last year but it was honestly a pathetic attempt.
Mostly, though, just the story and sight of that jade tree fill me with a sort of joy. It's a beautiful thing.
Oh goodness... thanks so very much for the beautiful photos. I love orchids but was never very good at keeping them alive. :/ I followed over to the post about the Jade Tree. What a marvel that tree is. To think I used to have Jade plants but didn't consider them much to look at. Should have done a bit of research on them!
ReplyDeleteI like orchids-they are elegant. If you were a flower, what flower would you be? Would you even be a flower or some other kind of plant? Hmmm. I think I'd be a sea rose; a little wild and salty but, at the end of the day, rooted in place, watching the sea foam and roll and the gulls glide.
ReplyDeleteI like orchids well enough, but they aren't my favourite flower, however my mum insisted I carry them for my wedding bouquet and she later "saved " them by putting them in the freezer which is all well and good unless you thaw them out again when they turn to mush. I'd love to have hair like the young woman in black too, but it's never going to happen.
ReplyDeleteI like the orchids one can grow at home. Mine are all blooming again. They love the big north facing windows I have for them. They must be really happy. I love fragrant orchids, but don't (can't) grow any. My jade tree is so small for the years I've had it that I feel rather discouraged. I think it needs a different sort of location or treatment. Or gardener.
ReplyDeleteSuch pretty orchids! I liked the butterfly picture! That was pretty impressive!! Looked like a fun day!
ReplyDeletebetty
What a wonderful day you had! Your pictures are beautiful. I am a people watcher too. I never would have thought to donate the jade tree but that was a wonderful thing to do. How fun that you can now visit it plus know that many others will enjoy it for years to come.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds (and looks) like an amazing day.
ReplyDeleteI can grow orchids - but only cymbidiums.
Wonderful set of photos from the Botanical Gardens. The butterfly seems to be happy with the ripe banana.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteI don't know any variety of banana that grows like that... was there a plaque giving details??? I can take or leave orchids, it has to be admitted, but the outing itself provided just the right amount of entertainment! YAM xx
Well, you know about assumptions! I don't remember reading the plaque. I assumed they are bananas because they look like bananas!
DeleteI love orchids. Some wonderful varieties there. And that's quite a feast lined up for the turtle.
ReplyDeleteYes, I could have that for lunch!
DeleteOrchids at this time of the year are a real boost for the emotions.
ReplyDeleteSuch a delightful way to spend a winter day.
ReplyDeleteHouston does not have a public botanic garden, one of two major cities without one but that is supposed to change this year when the first phase of Houston Botanic Garden opens. it will ultimately cover the 120 acres of a former golf course (I had to look this up). though there are several smaller arboretums and botanical gardens...Mercer and Bayou Bend for two.
ReplyDeletePretty orchids. Nice outing. I wish there was a botanical garden close by, but no. Old clothes styles new again? I have a picture of one granddaughter wearing a strapless cocktail dress that belonged to my mother - looked beautiful and she got all sorts of compliments.
ReplyDeleteI looked at that photo for ages trying to find the turtle.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Vietnam - no, it wasn't, it was in Malaysia - anyway we went to an orchid garden. But it was the wrong time of year ...
Looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been nice to see your family's tree exhibited. Lovely pictures.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to see my Jade tree still lives. It's lovely.
ReplyDeleteI think it's pruned too severely. Three years ago it was on the other side of the door and completely accessible to the public. Now it's behind the ribbon. I wonder if too many people broke off pieces to root, of if people brushing against it broke off bits. It is delicate.
DeleteIt must have been a good feeling to see the Jade tree again. A lovely outing for a winter day.
ReplyDeleteOh, that hair! I remember the Cleveland Botanical Gardens as one of my favorite winter hangouts. Nothing like butterflies and orchids when winter starts to get to you. There is a 70 year-old Christmas cactus in the window of a small dry cleaner in Bennington that is massive! They don't dare repot it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your wonderful trip to see all those beautiful plants.
ReplyDeleteThe vintage trousers make me smile.
I still have my high school cordoroy jacket.
Gorgeous snaps. Looks like you all had a lovely day out. Melon and over-ripe bananas is certainly haute cuisine for the butterflies!
ReplyDeleteI love the story of the pants, you are absolutely right, that gorgeous fine wool is a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely treat around those botanical gardens! Thank you!
XO
WWW
I used to go to the Lake Erie shore to bird during spring migration - Magee Marsh, Ottawa NWR, that area. My birding got rained out one year, so I went into Cleveland. Went to the Cleveland Museum of Art. In those days I was very (and happily) handy to the Chicago Art Institute, but the Cleveland Museum simple amazed me with its riches, esp. the Chinese and Medieval collections (I had just read Thomas Hoving's "King of the Confessors" so I was getting the style) You might want to take a trip; they've a textile collection that includes pieces from 2000 BC to the present.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation. I've spent hours and hours in the Cleveland Museum of Art. I even met a long term suitor there. It was a photography exhibition I'd gone to see. He was there hoping to find a new girlfriend. Bernie. I've written about him.
DeleteThe photos and the commentary were fabulous. Thank you for sharing. It looks like a lovely place and a place I should visit.
ReplyDeleteI love the photos. About 45 years ago a woman came up behind me at a debate tournament to tap me on the shoulder. She said, You have the most beautiful hair I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI still live on the compliment.
Love,
Janie
Sounds like a wonderful day out! I know nothing about orchids either but I do love to see them. And that turtle's lunch looks pretty good, actually. I must be hungry.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely garden. I love orchids and jade plants.
ReplyDeleteI love orchids. Unfortunately, when I buy them, they bloom, they die.
ReplyDeleteI too love orchids but have never grown those from the tropics. My favorites remain the native lands I find in Prairie and Woodland remnants where a few survivors still be found. In spite of strict laws here in Minnesota, ignorant people still find them and take them up so like the polar bears I will be visiting next October in Churchill Manitoba they are becoming increasingly endangered. Human ignorance at its worst.
ReplyDeleteRay, this is so sad. And thanks for mentioning it.
DeleteThose gardens are lovely!
ReplyDelete