St. Louis 2012 Orchid Show, part 2

Yesterday I posted the first set of photos I took at the 2012 Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Today I'll show you the rest of them.

Although I took a fair number of photos, there were literally hundreds more orchids that I did not photograph. If the room were less crowded I might have taken more, but it was difficult to move around without getting in the way of somebody else who was trying to take a photo.

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The beep of autofocus indicators was ever-present around me and I saw a huge variety of cameras pointed at the blooms, from iPhones to expensive rigs with lenses I could only dream about owning. I'm pretty sure I had the only 40-year-old screw-on lens in the room though.

Although most of the orchids were at eye level or above some were at ground level, which made it really difficult to get photos. I have no problem with laying down in my own garden to get the shot, but not really appropriate in this situation.

Plus it was difficult to remember which orchids I already took photos of, and I didn't care to go from flower to flower looking through a viewfinder. I wanted to enjoy the entire display -- the room, the lighting, the foliage plants mixed in throughout, the paper lanterns hanging from the glass ceiling.

So the result of all of these factors is that I captured just a small portion of the available blooms. I hope you enjoy it though!

Phaius Dan Rosenberg 'Windy Hill'

Tolumnia Ralph Yagi 'Jon'

Angraecum Veitchii

Cymbidium Tom Thumb 'Calliope'

Phalaenopsis Carolina Tiny Phil

Polystachya paniculata

Doritaenopsis Fargo Leopard x Phal. equestris 'Riverbend'

Crazy orchid roots

Ludisia discolor bloom -- nice but not overly special

Ludisia discolor foliage though -- WOW!

Laeliocattleya Purple Cascade 'Fragrant Princess'

Phalaenopsis Carolina Tiny Phil (again)

Laeliocattleya Helen B. Lawrence

Bakerara Everglades Hunter 'Swamp Buggy'

Sophrolaelia Jinn x Soph. acuensis

Paphiopedilum Loochristiense

I certainly enjoyed my first real look at orchids, but I have not been inspired to run out and buy some.

Not yet at least.


Unrelated to orchids, I learned a nice trick in this room that may come in handy some day:

I love trickling water as much as the next gardener, but the splashing is always an issue. These pots had what looked like normal window screen over them. The mesh covers drastically reduced splashing, while retaining the splashing water sound -- cool idea!


If you want to see more, the Orchid Show runs through March 25 at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.

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