Even if you don’t have a green thumb, you can have beautiful orchids all year with orchid wall calendars. The American Orchid Society’s 2012 calendar contains a year’s worth of mini orchids. The Orchid Conservation Alliance’s 2012 calendar (front cover pictured below) has photos and stories of a dozen of the world’s most endangered orchids. [...]
To celebrate today’s solstice, I have more photos from last weekend’s Orchids in the Park, along with a few non-orchid shots from Golden Gate Park. Starting outdoors, end of summer delights included a fruit-laden pink passionflower and a working 1914 carousel at the Children’s Playground. The third photo shows part of the living roof at [...]
A Burmese group is reviving their tradition of adorning ethnic clothing with orchid threads. In northern Myanmar (also known as Burma,) they weave Dendrobium fibers into fabrics. Locally called “waso,” the orchid is Dendrobium moschatum, a species with great flowers and a musky fragrance. It’s native to lower elevations all around the Himalayas. Fibers made [...]
Are you an allergy sufferer who fears that your nose has confined you to a life of plastic flowers? Orchids may be the answer. Allergic reactions to orchids are rare because they don’t have airborne pollen. Instead, their pollen clumps in waxy little balls called pollinia. Since it doesn’t float freely in the air, it’s [...]
Dave and I enjoyed some wonderful blooms and delicious scents in Oakland last weekend. The Orchid Society of California has been around since 1937, and they know how to put on a show. Just to start, here’s a brilliant orange Epidendrum, a fuzzy yellow Paph, and a sweet smelling Cattleya.
Even though it’s nearby, just across [...]
Check out the cover of this great 2011 wall calendar from the Orchid Conservation Alliance (OCA.) I’ve blogged about the OCA’s great work to conserve orchids and their habitats. Now you can support them by buying this beautiful monthly calendar. It’s full of hundreds of photos of incredible scenery from Ecuador’s cloud forests, including lots [...]
For almost 90 years, the American Orchid Society (AOS) has promoted orchid enjoyment, education, research, and conservation. Now, like many of us, this great non-profit organization is struggling in the slow economy. If you’re not a member already, you can help by joining the AOS. Members receive benefits such as the award-winning magazine Orchids. Along [...]
I’ll start today’s celebration of spring with a few nice photos. The first is a sweetly scented Iwanagara, a Cattleya hybrid. Next is a Paph species native to China, and then a Jasmine that’s bursting into bloom in our back garden.
Here in San Francisco, we set a record high of 80F (27C) yesterday, and [...]
As cut flowers and live plants, orchids are more popular than ever for Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year. No matter whether you’re celebrating love, the Year of the Tiger, or both, here are some orchid buying tips:
Moth Orchids and Lady Slippers are great choices since their blooms can last for months, and they can [...]
“Buy a hybrid” is good advice when you’re buying a car, and also when you’re buying an orchid. Hybrids are great choices for Valentine’s gifts, especially for people new to orchids. They’re easier to grow and have showier flowers than most species. You can check out orchid buying basics in my previous posts here and [...]
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