Archive for the 'Photos' Category
Saturday, October 19th, 2024
Some orchids can be sneaky. Greenhoods, or Pterostylis orchids, have a surprise in store for small flies, gnats, and mosquitoes. These strange flowers have tricky lips. As an insect enters the flower, the hinged lip snaps shut. This briefly imprisons the pollinator inside the bloom. The only escape route is a tight squeeze past the […]
Categories: In the News, Photos
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Saturday, October 12th, 2024
Over ten years ago, Dave and I moved from San Francisco to nearby Pacifica. A decade later, I’ve learned about a lot about growing orchids so close to the ocean. Even though we’re only 10 miles (16 km) from our former home, it’s a very different microclimate. Now at 1/3 mile (0.5 km) from the […]
Categories: Cool Growers, Growing Orchids in San Francisco, Photos, Problems
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Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
With the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it seems like a good opportunity to show off a few of our summer orchid blooms. The first seven photos are outdoor orchids, and the last five are indoor ones. Our cool, foggy weather, interspersed with sunny days, has kept them happy and flowering. For most, […]
Categories: Photos
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Sunday, September 15th, 2024
Until recently, the only wild orchids I’d seen around the SF Bay Area were non-native Weedy Orchids. So it was an exciting moment earlier this month when I spotted two beautiful flower spikes by a Pacifica hiking trail. They had dense clusters of small, unusual blooms. Dave and I could both see that the tiny […]
Categories: Cool Growers, Orchids in the Wild, Photos
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Monday, September 9th, 2024
Every year, Orchids in the Park has plenty to offer. I’m always amazed by the flowers, so diverse that it seems impossible that they’re all related. In addition to my earlier post, here are more examples of their incredible variety. With so many stunning blooms, sweet scents, and friendly orchid lovers, it was another successful […]
Categories: Photos
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Friday, August 9th, 2024
The San Francisco Orchid Society put on its annual Orchids in the Park show at the end of July. It was a great event, crowded with plants and with people. The displays included lots of amazing flowers, like the Lady Slippers shown in the first row of photos above. An impressive variety of orchids, from […]
Categories: Photos
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Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024
San Francisco’s annual Orchids in the Park sale happens this weekend! It will be held on Saturday, July 27th and Sunday, July 28th, in the SF County Fair Building at 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way. There will be lots of vendors, orchid care demonstrations, activities for kids, and loads of amazing flowers. These photos from […]
Categories: Events, Growing Orchids in San Francisco, Photos
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Tuesday, July 9th, 2024
A dozen orchids in my previous post about the US Botanic Garden (USBG) were just the start. The first row of this post includes three more. There’s a great Pabstia species, and then a sunny, dangling Dendrobium. The third picture shows a very unusual orchid. Eulophia petersii is a desert species. Few orchids live in […]
Categories: Botanical Gardens, Photos
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Thursday, June 20th, 2024
Mark Twain didn’t actually say “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” but that quirky quote certainly describes our unusual weather. With chilly fog blowing in from the cold Northern Pacific, today we’re greeting summer in Pacifica with a high temperature of 52°F (11°C.) While other parts of the country […]
Categories: Photos
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Sunday, June 9th, 2024
Did you know that you can find remarkable orchids only a few steps from the US Capitol? The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) sits on the National Mall, just across from Congress. It’s the oldest botanic garden in the country, and has great outdoor and indoor plant collections, including orchids. Dave and I recently visited, […]
Categories: Botanical Gardens, Photos
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