AboutOrchids

Welcome today’s change of seasons with the Tiger Orchid, the biggest orchid in the world! Dave and I spotted this jumbo beauty during our recent visit to Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu. This was the first time we’ve ever seen one in bloom. The Tiger Orchid’s Latin name, Grammatophyllum speciosum, seems to fit this large plant.

These giants are native to rainforests from Thailand and Myanmar through Southeast Asia to Malaysia, Singapore, New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Believe it or not, they’re air plants, although they can grow larger than a ton. This specimen at Foster wasn’t a ton, but we estimated it was about 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, 8 feet (2.4 m) across, and very heavy. It held hundreds of flowers, each about 4 inches (10 cm.)

Grammatophyllums are Cymbidium relatives. They need warm temps, lots of full sun, and regular water. In Hawaii, we’ve seen them growing in large, specially constructed, wooden baskets. Sometimes they’re set on elevated platforms made of wood, stone, or brick.

This plant had purplish brown spots on a white background, but most of this species’ photos and descriptions depict spots on a golden yellow background. Those colors inspire the common name Tiger Orchid. To learn more about the biggest orchid in the world, check out the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s story and photos about repotting their 300 pound (136 kg) Tiger Orchid.

Australian Geographic exposes Deceptive Orchids: Luring Wasps for Pollination. The diverse orchid family employs a wide range of pollination strategies, including trickery. Using special perfumes and flower shapes, some orchids fool male wasps into thinking they’ve found a female. While visiting the flowers, the wasps transfer pollen, and fertilize the orchids. Several groups of orchids around the globe use this ruse, but Australia is home to the most of these tricksters, with over 250 native species adopting the strategy. Their nicknames, like Hammer Orchid, Flying Duck Orchid, Purple Enamel Orchid, and Elbow Orchid, describe how they appear to human eyes. Male wasps, however, see seductive lures. Be sure to check out the great deceptive orchids photo gallery. Do these flowers fool you?

If you want to see orchids in Honolulu, visit Foster Botanical Garden. Hawaii’s oldest botanical garden showcases exotic orchids in several areas of its 13.5 acre (5.5 hectare) grounds. Photos from our recent visit start below with three spectacular blossoms: a Tiger Orchid, a Leopard Orchid, and a purple Miltonia. These warm growers are the epitome of tropical beauty. I’ll have much more about the Tiger Orchid and the Leopard Orchid in another post coming soon!

Brilliant orchid colors and bizarre flower shapes abound at Foster. An Antelope Dendrobium earns its nickname from petals spiraling up like horns. Spider Orchids with long, skinny petals entice spider-hunting wasps to attack their flowers, and then pollinate them. The Clamshell Orchid looks more like an octopus orchid to me, admittedly with only five legs.

Warm growers at Foster live both indoors and out. In the next photo, a cheery pink and yellow Spathoglottis basks in the sun outside Foster’s Conservatory. Inside the glasshouse, the next two Moth Orchids enjoy protection from the elements. Two Vandas and a Dendrobium hybrid also help fill Foster with tropical beauty. This garden is definitely worth a visit!

Hawaii’s beauty takes many forms. During a recent trip to Honolulu, Dave and I enjoyed warm sun and the clear, blue ocean, but with our cameras, we found much more. Amid the hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops, busy Waikiki is a good place to find botanical beauty. These first three photos came from our hotel and nearby shopping area.

To truly explore the island’s botanical treasures, however, you need to step out of Waikiki. A short drive away, in a different neighborhood, the tropical paradise of Foster Botanical Garden abuts Honolulu’s skyscrapers. We visited Foster in early 2013, but we enjoyed different summer blooms this time. In the next set of photos, a Spathoglottis, a Dendrobium hybrid, and a colorful gecko are a small fraction of Foster’s incredible collections.

If you don’t explore beyond Waikiki, you’ll also miss treasures like Lyon Arboretum, a tropical rainforest located at the upper end of Honolulu’s Manoa Valley. This 200 acre (81 hectare) garden is run by the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. It’s often overlooked on tourist maps, so you’ll mostly share the hiking trails with island locals. The final six pictures show views from Lyon Arboretum. Dave and I returned with more photos from all of these locations, so check back soon as I sort through them to find the best.

It might have been easier to list towns in Australia which don’t have orchid shows this month. In between the Aussies, there are plenty from the USA, UK, New Zealand, and Brazil. Even Sweden, Lithuania, and Costa Rica get in on the action. South Africa hosts three events this month, including one of the biggest orchid shows in the world. All over the globe, these are great chances to enjoy orchids, take pictures, talk with experts, and buy great plants.

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South Africa will host the 21st World Orchid Conference (WOC21) next month. Also known as the Orchid Olympics, WOC21 runs from September 10th – 14th in Johannesburg’s Sandton Conference Centre. The event is held every three years, with the last one in Singapore in 2011. It’s one of the biggest flower shows in the world, and attracts tens of thousands of visitors. The theme for this year is “Orchids: Gold in the Green Age,” tying into the area’s gold-mining history. Apart from WOC21, there will also be displays of South African plants, including cycads, aloes, proteas, and succulents. South Africa is home to a wide range of unusual orchids, like Disas, Stenoglottis, Mystacidiums, Angraecums, and more. Check the WOC21 website for additional info.

As Dave and I explore our new hometown, we’ve been enchanted by this beautiful area. We recently took a short hike on Devil’s Slide Trail. Until recently, this was part of California Route 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway. Nicknamed Devil’s Slide, this stretch endured decades of landslides, road closures, and drivers occasionally plunging down steep cliffs. With the recent opening of tunnel bypasses, the county turned this bit of old roadway into a great hiking trail. Now, instead of driving along steep cliffs, we can walk, and enjoy the views at a slower pace.

These gorgeous sights illustrate Pacifica’s coastal climate, with strong winds, salt spray, and rocky soil. There’s little rain, but lots of fog. Plants and animals need to be tough to survive the ceaseless wind and harsh conditions.

For years, I only knew these views as they passed by in a flash from a car window. There was hardly time to enjoy the scenery, or watch a soaring hawk ride thermals without once beating its wings. Even the crumbling cliff side holds fascinations when there’s time to study it. Slowing down makes for a great pace of life in Pacifica.

Singapore is in full bloom for the Singapore Garden Festival, and, of course, orchids are a big part of the show. The event opens today and runs until August 24th. The 33 foot (10 m) tall wall of orchids in this video is only one of the amazing displays.

In the second video, an enormous Tiger Orchid, or Grammatophyllum, is being moved into place for the festival. How do you move a 661 pound (300 kg) orchid? Carefully! It’s a rare sight in bloom, but this one is a baby compared to the biggest ones, which can weigh more than 1 ton (907 kg.)

The Singapore Garden Festival takes place at Gardens by the Bay. The displays include lots of tropical plants besides orchids, with landscape gardens, fantasy gardens, balcony gardens, and floral arrangements, among others. Check out photos of the event at The Straits Times.

Enjoy more photos from San Francisco’s recent Orchids in the Park. With so many incredible flowers packed into a small space, it can be tough to know which way to point the camera. Luckily, every direction brings great shots.

These different orchids have diverse colors, shapes, and sizes. They also have a range of temperature, water, and light needs. The final four photos show a few cool-growing orchid varieties, Masdevallias, Dendrobiums, and Oncidiums. which can live outdoors in San Francisco and other cool, foggy climates.

It’s San Francisco’s smaller orchid show, but Orchids in the Park always manages to impress. This past weekend was no exception. Here are the first of Dave’s photos from this year’s event.

This show and sale always exhibits so much more than the usual supermarket orchids. Phal and Dendrobium hybrids are great, but they are only a tiny fraction of the orchid world. No other flower family has the incredible diversity of orchids — their astonishing color combinations, mind-bending shapes, and wide range of fragrances. These unusual, uncommon flowers were great highlights of this year’s event.