{"id":23723,"date":"2015-12-21T14:45:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T22:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=23723"},"modified":"2016-01-24T20:03:24","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T04:03:24","slug":"a-very-tropical-solstice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/21\/a-very-tropical-solstice\/","title":{"rendered":"A Very Tropical Solstice"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the severe drought in California, I can’t complain about today’s chilly solstice rain in the SF Bay Area. However, I can find warm, tropical inspiration in these photos from our summer trip to London. No orchids this time — instead these feature the Waterlily House<\/a> at Kew Gardens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Waterlily<\/a>\"Nymphaea<\/a>\"Waterlily<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s tough to take a bad picture in the Waterlily House. This small, enchanting glasshouse feels warm and humid inside. It’s just a few steps from the much larger Palm House<\/a>, and a short walk from the Princess of Wales Conservatory<\/a>, where most of Kew’s orchids<\/a> can be found. The Waterlily House centers around a large, shallow pool, full of lily pads and flowers. Algae-eating fish and a harmless black dye in the water stop algae problems. The black dye also creates beautiful glasshouse reflections on the water’s surface.<\/p>\n

\"Nymphaea<\/a>\"Waterlily<\/a>\"Nymphaea<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Water<\/a>\"Waterlily<\/a>\"Ludwigia<\/a><\/p>\n

These brilliantly-hued flowers and fascinating aquatic plants are the epitome of tropical. There are also blooming plants around the perimeter of the pool, and enormous carnivorous pitcher plants<\/a> hanging above. I’m sure that most of the flying insects which sneak through the doors on a warm summer day don’t get back out. Enjoy this tropical water lily paradise. I can still remember its warmth and sunshine.<\/p>\n

\"Large<\/a>\"Nymphaea<\/a>\"Waterlily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the severe drought in California, I can’t complain about today’s chilly solstice rain in the SF Bay Area. However, I can find warm, tropical inspiration in these photos from our summer trip to London. No orchids this time — instead these feature the Waterlily House at Kew Gardens. It’s tough to take a bad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-gardening","category-photos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23723"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23780,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23723\/revisions\/23780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}