Monday, February 9, 2015

My New Orchids!

Like I said yesterday, I bought four new orchids at the Orchid Fest yesterday. They're currently all situated near my southern window, so we'll see how they do right there. 
 Here's the Phaelonopsis I bought. I have one that bloomed purple so I picked a yellow one.
 Here's the bloom! It's beautiful and there's another bloom stalk growing right now.
 This is one of the hybrids I bought. I chose it based on the flower,. It's a pink and yellow color.
 Here's the closeup. It's a very vibrant bright pink, super nice in this grey winter weather.
 Here's another hybrid. I liked both the color and the shape of the flowers.
 The ragged edges on the flowers are really cool. These are big flowers too!
 Last up is the Lady Slipper orchid I picked. Obviously I went for the purple one.
 Here's what the flower looks like! It's got those funky hairs on the sides which make it extra cool.
And here are all four of them sitting in a nice group! They really brighten up the room.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Orchid Fest 2015 At Reiman Gardens

Today I went to the second annual Orchid Fest at Reiman Gardens here at Iowa State. I'm a novice orchid grower, previously having only one Phaelonopsis. I bought four more orchids today, which I'll showcase in a another post. But here are a bunch of photos I took of the beautiful orchid specimens in the conservatory! Included is one bromeliad that was flowering blue and pink and looked really cool. Enjoy these pictures! I definitely enjoyed walking through this exhibit, especially in the middle of winter.There are a variety of orchids in here, from Phaelonopsis to Dendrobium.