The Northern California coast is usually warmest in autumn. The summer fog eases, and lets the sun shine through. In Pacifica, the warmer weather has arrived on schedule, and that’s reason enough to celebrate today’s equinox with some gorgeous blooms. They’re only photos from an old orchid show, but they fit the seasonal cycle quite […]
Our Pacifica garden is finishing up the summer with radiant orchids. There are lots of great colors, small blossoms and large, and a swelling seedpod on my Prosthechea. It must be have been pollinated by a busy little Anna’s Hummingbird. The fruit has been growing for over two months already, its wilted flower still hanging […]
San Francisco’s recent Orchids in the Park event had far too much flower magic capture in a single post, and here are more photos to prove it. With such a great variety of species and hybrids, it’s not just their magnificent colors and patterns. It’s also their shapes, which can be elegant, dramatic, strange, or […]
This little Lady Slipper is colorful, cute, and fuzzy! Phragmipedium schlimii is native to the slopes of the Andes in Colombia. It’s smaller than most other Phragmipediums, or Phrags, so when I spotted this one for sale at last winter’s Pacific Orchid Expo, I figured I could find room for it indoors. A few months […]
Last weekend’s Orchids in the Park event in San Francisco featured plenty of great plants for sale. There was no show this year, but a few of the vendors put out displays, and the sales tables were their own visual feasts. The extensive variety on offer is evident in these photos. It was very crowded […]
Would you like like to meet some charming, attractive Australians? Sarcochilus orchids are brilliant Aussie gems. They’ve been hybridized Down Under for a while, but until recently, there weren’t many hybrids available in the USA. Increasingly, I see more of them on sale and at orchid shows. This post includes 15 different varieties which were […]
After a sunny spring, the summer fog has arrived, and it’s keeping our plants happy. Start the garden tour with the orchids in the first row of photos: a brilliant yellow and orange Prosthechea, a white and orange Coelogyne, and a hot pink Masdevallia. There’s one more orchid, the white blooms in the first photo […]
Celebrate today’s summer solstice with more photos from our recent visit to San Francisco Botanical Garden. I already blogged about three of the most amazing plants we saw, but of course, the rest of the gardens are stunning, too. There were California natives, like a gorgeous California Azalea, and giant Coast Redwood Trees. South African […]
San Francisco Botanical Garden, also known as Strybing Arboretum, is full of wonders. Whenever we go, Dave and I always expect to enjoy lush growth and plentiful blooms. But on a recent visit, it seems the gardens went above and beyond their usual magic. There weren’t any orchids, but we were astounded by some stunning […]
The recent Peninsula Orchid Society Show had plenty of great flowers. In addition to my earlier post, here are more photos to enjoy. This small event featured displays of extraordinary species and the latest hybrids. The species included the always-impressive, brilliant orange Masdevallia veitchiana, two tables full of purple and white Cattleya intermedia, and sunny […]
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