Sunday, 24 February 2013

Orchids at Kew


The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, currently has its annual exhibition of orchids in its Princess of Wales Conservatory, until March 3rd - UPDATE, now extended to March 10th. 



Apparently they have planted more than 4,550 orchids, as well as 550 bromeliads (in the foreground of the photo above) and 350 assorted foliage plants in the conservatory.

The orchid is believed to be the world’s largest plant family, with more than 25,000 different species, with hundreds more being discovered every year.


We visited it recently, and it is certainly drawing the crowds, particularly as there is little of interest outdoors, although that should change over the next few weeks.

In the central pond, staff have also created floating replicas of the huge circular lily pads of the Victoria amazonica made from orchids, surrounding a central floral display.
Some orchids reflected in the central pool

Visitors can walk through archways of ornate orchids

There are also pillars of floral displays

A wall of many different varieties of orchid

What a "Charmer"... (for that is the orchid's name)

This orchid is called "Marsh Mellow"

Orchid "Morning Breeze"

Orchid "Tropical Beach"

Orchid "Silibama"

Orchid "Opera"

Orchid "Panda"

Orchid "Pebble Beach"

Orchid "Yellow With Pink Stripes"

It was difficult to put a name to many of the orchid varieties, as, unusually for Kew, there were no name tags near the flowers. There was a large poster with photos of various plants, but some of the orchids we photographed didn’t seem to be on it, while others could have been one of several varieties on the poster….

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